Vampires and Synchronicity

So how’s this for synchronicity?

I submitted the first 7500 words (about three chapters) of both “The Remaking of Molly Adair” and “Molly Adair, Beware” to the Orycon writer’s workshop. This is a great deal. You meet with two published authors and another writer who has submitted a manuscript. One pro critiques your manuscript and the other critiques the other author’s. The two submitting authors critique each other’s manuscripts. So you get two valuable critiques and the chance to ask two published authors questions about your manuscript. The whole thing costs $10.

I have been dithering about my second manuscript. Much as I hate to join the throng of YA fantasy authors who are writing about vampires, I’ve decided to add one to my cast of characters. The piece of information that Molly needs will have more impact and drama if it comes from vampire’s cold, red lips.

However, I know nothing about vampires, and started plotting a quick and painless way to learn about them. “Twilight” didn’t strike me as a reliable reference. A good friend of mine is writing a book about how Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is actually a detailed description of a magical initiation. Fascinating, but I doubted that “Dracula” would be an accurate reference either. And then someone on an e-mail list I follow that’s concerned with magic and spirituality inquired if anyone had read Claude Lecouteux’s “The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes”. He was working on book reviews for “The Invisible College”.

BINGO

I checked the book out at the library, came home, set it down next to the computer, and opened my e-mail. The manuscripts I’m reviewing for Orycon had arrived.

One was titled “Vampire Seminarian”!