Creativity and Drinking Blood
I had this idea for a vampire character that drank menstrual fluid as his preferred way of getting his fix of blood. But he only seduces menstrual virgins. And the vampire can tell the difference between virgins and non-virgins just by smell. Before he was undead he loved going down on women. I was thinking of this kind of smooth 70s porn star vampire. Anyway I'm telling my friend Derek about this idea whom I'm having diner with, and Derek tells me that the idea has already been done! Not in the exact way that I was thinking of, but in a book a man who is 'cursed' ends up drinking blood from vaginas while travelling around Europe. The book is called Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas. The author of Loaded that later became made into the Australian film of Head On. I had never heard of the book and had thought of the idea myself. But I have read Loaded ten years ago now. I suppose most creative things have been done before and that it is very difficult to be truly creative in a unique sense. Alan Moore, a writer, talks about an 'ideas space' where people simultaneously come up with similar if not identical ideas merely due to operating in the same culture and having the same ideas around them. Perhaps this is an instance of that?
4 comments:
It's the zietgeist. All the previous ideas swirling round in everyone's heads lead to people coming up with the same idea at the same time.
It happens all the time in science - more than one person comes up with the same new theory at the same time.
Newton and Liebniz invented calculus at the same time.
Darwin and Wallace both came up with the theory of evolution at the same time.
The Mobius Strip was discovered by Mobius and Listing at the same time.
There are examples from quantum mechanics but right now they are eluding me (possibly I need more coffee).
A bloke called Robert K Merton had a theory about it - he calls these discoveries "multiples" and postulates that it's actually the norm in science rather than unusual.
It's an interesting thought in terms of intellectual property. Who then has ownership of an idea in any real sense? Assuming that is actually possible. Some ideas once they are out there take on a life of their own, so to speak. I suppose if we end up standing on the same shoulders of giants as other people, then perhaps they will see the same things as us?
Yes, exactly!
I also remembered later that there's also a scene in an Anne Rice novel (Memnoch the Devil) where Lestat drinks menstral blood.
Memnoch the Devil was the 4th book in that Anne Rice series? I remember I got as far as 'Queen of the Damned' and then decided I had had enough of the otherwise tasty Anne Rice. I guess I will use the idea for the character anyway. Except my vamp will be a smooth '70s pornstar vampire who hangs out with an overweight transexual with a five o'clock shadow who is prone to possession by spirits They hunt ghosts for a living and do de-hauntings. The tranny hates doing it, but unable to find other gainful employment after losing her job as a hairy pink fairy, which she also hated doing.
Post a Comment