Interview with the Vampire… Writer – Dacre Stoker
- What is your favorite piece of literature?
- Tough one. I like action/adventure, so anything by Ken Follett. Historical action adventure, with Ken Follett being my favorite. Although, obviously, I have to lean a little bit towards Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” but that’s more work than pleasure. When I want to enjoy reading and get really stimulated, I learn something from Follett and I like how he blends everything together.
- What was it like to continue with such a popular storyline?
- Intimidating, because I learned after writing the sequel that there are so many people passionately connected to it. Ian Holt and I (who co-authored the sequel) did not realize how many people had their own take or feeling on how the story should continue. One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t please everybody, and this was our take on how the characters have changed in 25 years after “Dracula” ended. Obviously, other people had other takes. The story was an international bestseller, but I still got my fair share of “Rotten Tomatoes” from people who didn’t like what we did to certain characters, so it was intimidating because I was trying to get it right, but I now realize: don’t worry about getting it right. Do a good job with it and some people will like it and some won’t, no matter what you do.
- I mean, I loved it, especially bringing in Elizabeth Bathory.
- It was the same thing as Bram bringing Vlad out of the history book. We needed to bring in someone new and original, but in the history book she wasn’t really a vampire, but she did bathe in blood, as we understand, and she did kill people, so it was a good connection.
- Let me jump to a question that one of our readers asked: “As a member of a family of well-known vampire writers, how do you feel about the vampire culture/genre now?”
- Well, it’s morphed a lot, and it’s morphed to the positive because what’s happened is very creative writers/screenwriters/graphic novelists have diverged from where Bram started, and I think that’s a great homage. They’ve taken it in different directions. They’ve shown that the vampire cliché is immortal and just as Bram created, they can shape-shift and adapt. Writers have done the same thing. They’ve adapted these vampires to be children, to be sexy runway models, to be gross old bodies out of the grave, to be up in space. It’s really neat the way there are more and more people who are inspired to do cool stuff with the genre; not that Bram created, but that he contributed to in a big way.
- Did you, as a relative of the original author, feel obligated to write your story a certain way?
- Great question! Ian and I were not strong enough writers. We were thinking and sketching out the epistolary style. We just felt we couldn’t do it. It was too complicated. I really learned that with the prequel to “Dracula” that has just been written and that is coming out this fall. J. D. Barker and I decided we’re gonna do this in epistolary style, and it was really hard. Not something that I couldn’t have been involved in back in 2009. I wasn’t developed enough as a writer to do it. Yes, I wanted to try to do the story in the way Bram did, but just flat-out couldn’t. So, we hired a historical researcher Alexander Gallant, to provide us with the same accurate detail as Bram got living in London, traveling to Whitby, and using guidebooks to show him where the action was in Transylvania, though he never went there. So, we needed to get the same feel of accuracy and period atmosphere as Bram had. That’s how we sort of had to make up for the fact that we couldn’t do epistolary.
- What is your favorite non-“Dracula” vampire story?
- You know, I really thought “Let the Right One In”, first done in Swedish and then as an American adaptation… It’s a toss-up because I really like that, because I thought it was really original and I have been to Sweden in my other life, which is sporting, and I felt they got the feeling of that place. But I also like “30 Days of Night,” which is the one in Alaska. I have been to Alaska to do one of the other things I like doing, which is fly-fishing and leading other people on trips. I thought: Here’s a place where they have 30 days of night and more, and much more. What a great place for vampires! Again, very original thought using real places like Bram did. So those are my top 2.
- What differences did you experience between writing fiction and writing non-fiction?
- Fiction you can fudge a little bit. You can combine dates, you can move things around a little bit to suit you. At the same time, you have to be creative to make an alluring picture. You have to create atmosphere, you have to create intrigue. Non-fiction, you can’t get anything wrong, but at the same time, you don’t want to make it dull as dishwater. You have to be able to, and this is the Lost Journal doing commentary on Bram’s writing, I couldn’t stray too much because my wife and I did the research to find out what we thought Bram was writing about in his journal. So, we had to do about 95% was factual-based. We had to take some leaps of faith by putting little kernels of information together and make a little bit of our own leaps of faith and guesswork, cause it’s not all there. But if we wanted to say “He’s named a couple of people in one of these little pieces in his lost journal. What’s this all about?” One, for instance, that just sticks with me, is “Only hand found in the coffin at funeral.” Look up the date, figure out this was connected to a terrible fire that happened in an apartment, that his roommate from college parents were in, and it burned because underneath those apartments were taxidermists. They made clothing with the furs and feathers using volatile chemicals. The fire was so bad that nobody got out alive, and only a hand was found of the servant and put into a coffin. So, I had to start with the hand in the coffin, look at the date, put these things together, found something else out about the fire at the Delaney’s, and boom. It falls together, and there’s a little bit of commentary. I thought it was the beginning of a horror novel, but it was true. So that’s kind of what non-fiction does. You can’t stray too far, but you have to make it interesting, and you have to put the pieces together to make it really captivating.
- What is your writing “kryptonite”?
- Grammar. Very weak, but thank god my wife is there. I tend to babble when I write, and I tend to just have run-on sentences and she just goes “uh…” Nowadays, good editors can take good storytelling and make a darn good story. And I do rely upon that. I am not a natural writer. My background in college was Physical Education and Health. I was an Olympic coach and an athlete. I wasn’t a trained, disciplined writer. Between my wife and editors, they help.
- Is there a storyline, other than vampires, that you would like to pursue?
- I like that! I’ve done one of the two. I can tell you which one I’ve done, and the other one I can give you without a spoiler, but I have to do it right. When I do my Stoker on Stoker PowerPoint presentations, with images of the notes and the cool stuff all about Bram’s life, I love to tell the story of Bram Stoker’s life. The prequel is all about Bram Stoker’s life but fictionalized. To make a bit of a jump, that this is why he wrote “Dracula.” So, that storyline has been done. J. D. Barker and I wrote the book, it’s been sold, the movie rights have been sold. Excited as all because I think it’s a hell of a good story. The next one I am really interested in pursuing is when Bram went to certain places, where I now know he actually did the writing: Whitby, Yorkshire, Cruden Bay in Scotland. This man went into a different mindset and he could only do that when he wasn’t working his butt off at the Lyceum Theatre, which was really hard and demanding work. I find the same thing with me when I’m involved in teaching and coaching of real tennis. You have to get to a happy place, a comfortable place, a creative place. Your mind has to clear. I started doing the research in both these places about what Bram went through, what was going on and what did he learn from the locals. How did that stimulate him to write parts of “Dracula.” So that’s the second storyline. Who knows? We’ll see how the prequel does, and this could be the story behind the prequel.
- Can you tell us a little bit about the prequel?
- There are some official lines I can tell you. The prequel starts in 1847 when Bram was born. Most of it is set in 1868 when he’s a young man, he’s growing up, and he meets an ungodly evil. And that evil ends up turning to be a Dracula-like character. How Bram and his family deal with that and the other real people in his life; how they deal with him finding this evil. This involves Bram writing “Dracula” as a warning to the world. Everybody in the story has their way of dealing with this. Bram’s way, being a writer, is “I have to warn people because this stuff is real.” So that’s probably enough for now.
- I’m very excited to read it! How do you approach your writing? Do you write an outline, or do you just write?
- What I come from, from my teaching and coaching background, I have to create “the plan.” So, I sit down and say “okay, I want action here, I want it here, I want it here.” I create a general outline like you would a lesson plan for a unit. Then I go for a run, or I go for a bike ride or other activity, and all these ideas come. Sometimes, they come but they have no connection, so I need to go back to my outline. When I have the outline, I can sit down and go “Okay, it’s gonna be Bram in Scotland, and he’s going to be at a bar. Okay, what’s going on, what’s he listening to?” and then it just goes. So, I perform better when the structure is created and then I can just make it happen and start filling in. Then it gets more complicated when you have to weave all those little pieces together. That’s why I have to have a guy like J. D. Barker along to help fill in the meaningful dialogue and things. Take my storytelling and put it into a good novel.
- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you prefer to write only when inspired?
- I try to make time first thing in the morning. I tend to schedule the other things that I do within my life about 12:30-1pm onwards. I like to get at my desk at 7 o’clock. Then I do a “brain dump” of any ideas that I’ve had. I have a cup of tea, walk my two dogs, and I can just sort of imagine and think. Then I come back and just get right to it and I usually don’t get up for about two or three hours. That’s all I can sort of do in a day, creatively. I can edit and do other things non-creatively, but when I want to create, it’s usually the first 45 minutes, a little break, then two or three hours, then I’m done for the day.
- When you finish a book, do you take time off or jump into another story?
- Well, I’d say it takes a long time to decompress, but also what’s required so much nowadays is the promotion of your own work. Now, I’m not a big-time guy like James Patterson or these guys who crank out all these books. So, I finish one, put everything into promoting it, which involves these PowerPoint presentations. But whenever I do get an idea, I keep a notebook handy and I will write down some thoughts. It’s funny how, when I’m telling my own story about a story I’ve written, and I listen to people who give you feedback, that might trigger an idea of something. “Oh, why don’t you do this?” or “Have you ever thought of that?” So, I write some of those things down because one idea leads to another and another. But generally, it’s not jumping into one right after the other. There’s usually a gap and then I do a lot of promotion. Then I sit down and say “Okay, now it’s time to plan something.” A lot of the stuff I do involves my wife and I going “alright, we have to start researching” because the research itself, when I find something, sometimes something just stimulates, and I just go with that idea. She’ll be off researching something else, but this just made me go “oh my god, that’s such a cool idea! This gun used by this guy. What about this?” You just go with it. Usually, it’s structure oriented, create the outline, and go. It usually takes about 6-8 months after the previous one’s done.
- Do you have any tips for any aspiring writers?
- I get asked that a lot. I’m not such a successful writer to give tons of tips, but what works for me, because I’m a note taker, a list maker. I just do lists. Evidently, I follow that from Bram, who kept his notes and those notes are sitting in a museum. I would say: keep notes. Even though we’re not writing things on paper that much, we’re putting things on discs or thumb drives, you need to keep notes. Even if you don’t think it’s going to go anywhere, it could later on. I’ve met so many people who go “I’ve got three or four outlines of stories with major notes where I don’t know when I’ll get back to them, but one day I will.” If you don’t have the guts to keep that and put it into place, you could go back and it’s gone. So, keep the notes, keep the ideas, and if you’ve got some cool sources, put them down and go back to them later on. You might look at it from a completely different standpoint, and you may have a great story to go with.
- Last one. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
- I want readers, especially readers of horror and “Dracula”, to know. Now that I’ve learned that there are so many cool stories about Bram Stoker as a person himself, there’s got to be some equally cool stories about all sorts of writers, and not just the Mary Shelly’s and the famous classic writers. I think the cool thing is if you take the time to find out about writers of the stories you like because that in itself is an interesting story. Why did they write the way they did, what influenced them? What motivated them? What inspired them? I’m sure that there are stories like Bram Stoker, who was a sickly kid that was most likely blood-let. There could be cool things like that when you take the time. So, read the books and love their fiction, but don’t overlook the autobiographies. Don’t overlook the biographies about them by credible sources. Don’t stop at Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a good starting point but remember: somebody put that out there that isn’t necessarily a factual source. Too many people go to Wikipedia and that’s it. I’ve found that a good first source, but many other good academic sources that fall into a little bit of a trap that sometimes you get too dry because they never want to speculate. Sometimes they can be very, very helpful in forming a broad opinion on your favorite author.
- Challenge:
- You know what would be cool? I tell this to a lot of people and I don’t know if this is interesting to you. One of the cool things, if you’re into this, is to get people to look closely at how everybody died in “Dracula.” If you want to peel back the “onion skin” of “Dracula,” look at that novel and you’ll realize there are far more deaths that occur in that story than you realize, and many of them are not at the hands of a vampire. Or so we think. Challenge all your readers and say “Hey, let’s create a list. Who are the people that died, and how did they die?” I call it “CSI: Dracula.” How did they die? So, I’ll leave you at that.
book, bram stoker, dacre stoker, dracula, dracula the un-dead, Elizabeth Bathory, interview, questions, writing
