Exclusive Interview: Author Aiden Truss Talks ‘D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula’

Author Aiden Truss granted Love Horror the following interview about his new novella, D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula, which is now available from digital booksellers.

D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula retells the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula entirely from Dracula’s perspective. Therefore, fans of the original novel will finally get to know what Dracula was thinking throughout the famous story, making D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula an essential companion piece to the 1897 masterpiece. Truss carefully and accurately retold the sections from Stoker’s novel in which Dracula appears with great care in order to maintain a strong sense of continuity, while also adding in entirely new sections to fill in the gaps in the original book in which Dracula did not appear. And despite just as gruesome and horrific as you would expect from a story about Dracula, Truss also injected plenty of humour into D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula, making it a story which highlights the absurdities that inevitably come with being an immortal and centuries-old vampire.

Truss also authored an acclaimed 2013 horror novel called Gape, which dealt with demons and the inner workings of Hell. And he then wrote the screenplay for the 2023 short film Pareidolia, which was directed by his son, Aaron Truss, and which received a great response during its world premiere at FrightFest. You can read Love Horror’s full interview with Truss below, and you should also head over to Amazon to purchase your copy of D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula.

Love Horror: Why did you want to retell the story of Dracula from Dracula’s perspective?

Aiden Truss: Simply because we only hear about Dracula through the words of others in the original novel. This means that we can only assume his motives. I also thought that despite his evil character, he might also have, if not a sense of humour exactly, a way of getting comically caught up in his own machinations. It all boiled down to imagining things from another perspective.

And how did you go about filling in the blanks about what Dracula did throughout the portions of Stoker’s novel in which he did not appear?

I used the novel as a close reference and printed off a list of dates and his activities – almost as if I was shadowing ‘D’ in an undercover operation. I did, however, start the diary a week or so before Stoker’s version (on my birthday!) Other than his final journey which offered me free reign of my imagination as the ‘heroes’ have no idea what he’s up to, I mainly mirrored their accounts from his perspective.

How did you find Dracula’s unique voice? And what kind of personality did you want Dracula to have?

‘He who has commanded nations’ is arrogant and ruthless but also inquisitive – he has after all learned another language to fit in in London. Hence his argot is occasionally inappropriate and slightly flowery as he hasn’t yet learned to speak like a native. I think he’s like most people that move to a big city in that they fall in love with it, or they hate it. Samual Johnson said, “He who tires of London, tires of life.” ‘D’ is undead, so doesn’t have a life as well know it and this shows in his demeanour. He simply must find somewhere safe, and he must find somewhere to feed without being found. He’s constantly at odds with his surroundings but sees his pursuers as a nuisance rather than acknowledging that he might actually be not welcome among the denizens of the city.

Was it a challenge to remain consistent with the events depicted in the original book?

As mentioned in a previous question; I had several copies of the book to follow, along with footnotes, a list of dates and locations and kept copious notes. The challenge was that the original book isn’t strictly chronological as dates overlap from different characters. I occasionally had to use some artistic licence but kept to the timing as best I could. I’ve recommended that people have the original book on hand if they want to cross-reference events. This does probably leave me open to Dracula pedants correcting me.

And was it difficult to make sure that the personalities of the characters remained true to how Stoker depicted them?

Not really. Van Helsing and Mina are for me the biggest characters other than the count. The others are very dull outlines by comparison and so just had to go through the motions that Stoker laid out. The fun was getting inside ‘D’s head and imagining his reactions to them.

D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula features a great deal of comedic elements alongside its horror. Was it a challenge to balance the horror and comedy elements of the story?

Yes, I was very aware that although I wanted to have some fun with ‘D’s character, he had to have a very dark side, hence some of the comedic scenes also being very gruesome in an over-the-top manner. He has his funny moments but I never wanted the reader to feel too comfortable in his company.

Was it fun to showcase Dracula’s powers and the creative ways in which he used them? For instance, there was an amusing segment in which Dracula considers transforming into a bat in order to use a duster to remove a spider web from a high alcove in his castle.

Oh yes! His purported powers offered so many opportunities to have a bit of fun. I have to admit that I had a bit of writer’s block for a while, but when I went back to the story, I found myself visualising his exploits and giggling at them myself – particularly when he makes such an effort to fly straight as a bat, instead of in circles, only for Mina to whack him with a broom and sent him flying away in circles as his head is spinning so much. It’s silly, but very much my sense of humour.

And you also introduced a female vampire named Madeline, who was not in the original book. She was based on actress Madeline Smith, who appeared in several Hammer films, and the character was part of a group of several other vampires in your book. Can you discuss this character, and why you decided to include her?

Well, I’m a big Hammer Horror fan, and Madeline is one of my favourite actresses from their films. She even looks down on my writing desk from a poster of Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell which she kindly signed for me some time ago. We asked her if she’d write a foreword and to my great delight, she agreed. And so, when ‘D’ follows a woman from outside a jewellers shop in London, I decided that she should be that woman – a kind of literary cameo if you like.

Why did you use informative footnotes to supplement the narrative?

This was an idea that came to me as I had been using Leonard Wolf’s The Annotated Dracula as a guide to the story. I think it’s out of print now, but I have a precious hardback version that I managed to pick up a few years ago. He gives information on the story at the side of each page – everything from explanations of local customs to recipes and geographic and historical information. I wanted to have fun with my own notations from the point of view of the academic who discovers the diary, but the restrictions of the small novella format meant that I had to use footnotes instead. Occasionally these offer real insights, but mostly they are just there to inject some humour into the proceedings.

D: The Lost Diaries of Dracula is available now in paperback, hardback and on Kindle. amazon.co.uk/D-Diaries-Dracula-Aiden-Truss/