{"id":47038,"title":"Why Once Bitten?","description":"I\u2019ve always been a fan of vampires, and as a teenager I was a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. School was difficult and the series was an important escape for me. I absolutely loved the strong empowered characters, their deep friendships, the witty banter and fast paced action","content":"

I\u2019ve always been a fan of vampires, and as a teenager I was a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>. School was difficult and the series was an important escape for me. I absolutely loved the strong empowered characters, their deep friendships, the witty banter and fast paced action. <\/p>

I would go as far as saying the show saved me growing up, and it paved the way for lots more urban fantasy series like Charmed <\/em>and Lost Girl.<\/em> When the controversy relating to the show\u2019s creator emerged it felt like a personal betrayal. I felt I was no longer able to enjoy watching the series knowing that the cast that brought me so much pleasure and freedom during my teens had such an unhappy time creating something that made so many people so happy.<\/p>

I remember reading an article (I read all the articles and owned The Watcher\u2019s Guide<\/em>) where the creator said something along the lines of \u201cFans love it when Buffy\u2019s suffering\u201d and it never quite sat right with me. I didn\u2019t love it when she was suffering. I liked it when she was happy, but fighting for the right thing, and standing up to those with less power. As an adult, and following the revelations it struck me that perhaps it was just a form of cruelty. A way to punish a strong female character.<\/p>

Looking back there were many other problematic elements that we tolerated because we loved the characters:<\/p>

Xander\u2019s relationship with Anya, where he was constantly correcting her behaviour and telling her how to be \u201cnormal\u201d. Why he couldn\u2019t accept her was frustrating, and what a 1000 year old demon saw in a 19 year old man-child with a sulky disposition was far less plausible than the existence of a hell mouth, not to mention the relationship with Dawn, which was officially when I stopped reading the comics!<\/p>

Riley, and his inability to be in a relationship with a woman who was more powerful than him was incredibly frustrating, and fridging Tara in one of the worst \u201cKill your gays\u201d tropes ever seen, just to turn Willow into a villain was in very poor taste.<\/p>

So, why am I banging on about this now? Well, to be honest, it\u2019s taken me this long to process my feelings and be able to share them. And the recent news that they are revamping Buffy with Sarah Michelle Geller reprising the iconic role, and the original creator not involved, made me feel like perhaps there is something new I can enjoy, a new era in vampire slaying.<\/p>

However, a good thing that came out of the controversy surrounding the show was that it inspired me to write Once Bitten<\/em>. I wanted to explore ideas of consent surrounding vampires, create my own strong female characters that didn\u2019t need to suffer to succeed and reclaim the genre. I have created a diverse cast of characters, each strong in their own way, and each flawed. They come together to battle oppression and help themselves and those less fortunate.<\/p>

And I have just released this teeshop design as a nod to my exciting take on the vampire genre.<\/p>

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