The Lackluster Truth About Vampires

I'm sick to death (or perhaps undeath?) of vampires. Recently I've read several books about vampires and couldn't help but notice the similarities. Almost a decade ago, the publishing industry went through a vampire revival. If your book had the word vampire in it, you got published. The result? We have more books about vampires on the shelves than we have books about any other group of people, including us humans.(Ironically, if you write about vampires now, it's an auto-reject.) The vampire mother of them all, of course, would be the Twilight series.

The unspoken rules are thus:

Rule 1: Vampires are real. They've been around for centuries, yet somehow we mere mortals haven't figured it out.

Rule 2: They drink blood. This might seem too obvious, but in truth, it's their only universal characteristic.

Rule 3: (This is the most important.) Vampires are NOT what you see in the movies. The "movies" being only one movie. Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Rule 4: Vampires are misunderstood. They are not monsters.

What do you think it would be like to really be a vamp? My thoughts: Rare disease, hospital, blood transfusions, dental procedures, homebound schooling, low-self esteem, suicide.

The challenge: I know some of my blog followers are writers. But even if you aren't a writer, I still think you should participate in my challenge. Can anyone take the eight thoughts listed above and turn them into a story? I'd love to see what comes of it.

Happy writing!