My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion

Hey guys! The idea for this discussion came from the description of the Sister the Vamp series on the Amazon blurb of the most recent book (Fangs for the Memories):

A vampire book for girls who want to read about young love and innocent paranormal romance.

I don't know about you, but I'm really not happy with this description of one of my favourite book series. I mean, love and romance are basically the same thing, right? While I think the relationships in this series are certainly a credit to it (especially when looking at paranormal romance in general), it's definitely not the only thing it's about or the only thing it deserves praise for.

So, I thought we should try and come up with some better definitions and descriptions of MSTV in this discussion. I'm sure not many people know what's good about these books better than My Sibling the Mythical Being members!

Just a quick reminder as well - this is a NON-spoiler discussion, so please don't post major spoilers for the series here, or hide them in tags like this < spoiler > enter spoiler here < / spoiler > only without the spaces. Have fun! :)

That's a terrible description of the books! Young love AND innocent paranormal romance. You're totally right, that's basically the same thing. If I was to write a list of why I love MSTV, the romance elements would be on the list (I mean Ivy and Brendan, how cute!?) but way down the list after so many other things!

What are your favourite things about MSTV that you think other people should know about when picking up the books for the first time?

I think the friendships are something that would be great to include in the description somehow. The best way to explain why I think this, would be to refer back to our What the Critics are saying about MSTV thread. We talked about how there are plenty of unhealthy attitudes towards girls, friendships, make-up and relationships in a lot of books for young teens. My Sister the Vampire is a really good step in the right direction. Like Sage so wisely put it:

"Girls need more stories where the cheerleader isn't looked at as shallow, mean, or snobby, and where the goth isn't looked at as either better or worse than others. Girls need more stories where they work together, not compete for boys' attention. Girls need more stories where their schoolwork, hobbies, family and friends, etc. are just as important as healthy relationships with their boyfriends." (this is so brilliantly put Sage, I love it!)

That's my thoughts for now. I will definitely come back to this thread (which is a great one btw Daisy) to add more ideas.

I agree the friendships are definitely something worth mentioning. And like Sage said in that comment, Sienna Mercer is so great at breaking stereotypes, but also using them to her advantage at the same time. No-one could really say Ivy isn't a 'real' goth - she's got all the classic traits of wearing black, liking heavy metal music and being gloomy - but she's also really friendly, likes writing and cheesy TV shows, that kind of thing. Not really sure how we could put that into a synopsis for MSTV, but it's definitely something that it deserves credit for.

On the same note I think the vampires in the series are really original, but at the same time true to classic vampires. To me the vamps and their community add a ton of spooky secrets to unravel and new mysteries to solve, not to mention the fantastical abilities they have.

So I guess what I'm thinking right now for stuff I like most are:

-the spooky but cool vampire world
-the fun, unconditional friendships
-the mysteries to unravel
-the family relationships
-the romantic relationships

I can't think of any adjectives to describe the family and romance stuff. Any ideas? I also think the exotic locations they travel to is one of my favourite things about the series, but I'm not really sure how to phrase that. This is harder than I thought it would be!

It is giving my brain a workout! I love your point about how Sienna Mercer uses stereotypes to her advantage. The mysteries are quite a big part of each book, maybe that should be in the synopsis.

Cute romance works, as for friendship I haven't a clue.

I don't know if this is obvious or not so I will mention it but the description should not include "for girls" as it does above. It's not just girls who enjoy MSTV!

Now I'm stuck again. I love all the points we've got so far, it's just working out how to string them together in a sentence or two that is really hard. I'm just going to try a first draft (prepare for this to be terrible).

A book for people who want mystery in a paranormal setting with awesome characters and empowering friendships.

Hmm...this is fun!

OK, so I thought I'd try looking up some words that can be used to describe friendships. I quite like everlasting since it kind of plays on the vampire thing. Other words I like are loyal, special or true, plus your empowering is really cool, Sophie.

Actually, how about we try and come up with some adjectives to describe MSTV in general? That might make this easier. Off the top of my head... feel-good, funny, spooky, heart-warming, fun, cute, sweet, light, mysterious, laugh-out-loud.... can you think of any?

Ulk, yes, we are so not saying 'for girls'. I think accepting certain things are more popular with certain genders is fine, but marketing it to a particular one is just gonna put people off.

Oh, it doesn't have to be just a sentence, or in the format of the one that was on the books or anything. I mean, we could do that - I was just thinking of doing it any way we want. To be honest just the random ideas we've got in the thread so far are much better than that Amazon blurb in my opinion!

OK, so I like your summary as a starting point. The empowering friendships bit is great, but awesome characters just feels a bit... general? Like 'awesome' is more a matter of opinion, and it doesn't really tell you anything about what the characters are like. Also I think we could stick in a couple more adjectives around the 'mystery' and 'paranormal setting' so we really get across all the different dimensions this series has! That might seem a little overwhelming - sorry if I sound too critical. :)

Your comment is perfect, not too critical at all! I wanted to write that description as a point to build on. Everlasting friendships is a cool one, and I would like to keep the empowering.

Wow how did you come up with so many great adjectives and I could think of zero! I love all of those, particularly feel-good/heart-warming and funny. We can change the format if anyone thinks of a good idea but I quite like the short one or two sentence description idea.

You're right, awesome is not the best. What do you think of any of these alternatives? Realistic, generous, confident, considerate, kind, creative, delightful, compassionate, enthusiastic, funny. I'm not sure what exactly you envision to go with mystery and paranormal setting? Other genres, or feelings like feel-good and funny?

Hmm, I'm not sure what I like to describe the characters - maybe awesome is fine, after all.

Well, we could go with something like fun mystery in a spooky paranormal setting, though now it kinda feels like we're overloading on the adjectives. This is tricky!! (you can see why I didn't reply on this thread for ages, lol)

It is so hard not to overload the adjectives but I'm giving it another try:

My Sister the Vampire is a heart-warming story following long-lost twin sisters, one of whom is a vampire! The mysteries in this spooky paranormal setting will have you on the edge of your seat and don't forget the feel-good, fun moments that make this series truly unforgettable. With drop-dead awesome characters and their everlasting and empowering friendships this is a series you don't want to miss!

I added some cliches in so now it sounds like an advert, oops haha. I'm not sure about the 'feel-good, fun moments' part as the series is definitely more feel-good than spooky. Any ideas for a better way/different order to phrase that sentence? And feel free to de-advert my definition! ;)

Ahh, I was grinning the whole time I read that, Sophie! Love it! You did a great job of keeping the adjectives on the low. :) I do realise now though that the voice in my head was reading it like an exaggerated salesperson, so I see where you're coming from with the advert thing, lol.

That's good point about the fun parts only being "moments" - I can definitely see that misleading people who might expect something darker. How about this for that middle sentence...

Join Ivy and Olivia as they unravel the mysteries of the spooky vampire world, all while enjoying the fun, feel-good moments that make this series truly unforgettable.

I know this still contains the m-word, but maybe it flows a little better?

I love that 'Join Ivy and Olivia' part. Definitely makes it flow better. I don't think it needs to say spooky though. That's one adjective out. Also I've noticed we say heart-warming and feel-good which is basically the same thing. I guess we don't need both. That makes it shorter which is good I think...

My Sister the Vampire is a heart-warming story following long-lost twin sisters, one of whom is a vampire! Join Ivy and Olivia as they unravel the mysteries of the vampire world, all while having a laugh with drop-dead awesome characters and their everlasting and empowering friendships. This is an unforgettable adventure you don't want to miss!

Can we change the opening sentence to: "My Sister the Vampire is the heart-warming story of two long-lost twin sisters, one of whom is a vampire!", and the last one to "An unforgettable adventure to sink your teeth into!" (that's actually on the books and I've always liked it) I don't really like "having a laugh" either but I'm not sure what to change that to.

Oh yes I love that! Keep with the vamp theme.