Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Character Facebook Pages

I saw on Maggie Stiefvater's Twitter (she is the author of The Wolves of Mercy Falls which include Shiver and Linger so far) that she made facebook pages for the main characters in her books. I am not sure if this will help with character development or be a giant waste of time. On the surface, facebook looks like a place to act as a giant advertisement (on the info page at least). Does it really matter what is a character's favorite bands or movies? Sure things like who they are in a relationship with or their religious/political views are important but that usually comes through in a story. However, I think there may be some advantages to making facebook pages for characters.
I think this may work in two stages of character development: newer characters and the stand-alone novel that begins to demand a sequel or even more. For new ones I think the reasoning is obvious. Sure, it's only a list of TV shows they watch, but what if they watch none, they don't have time, they could watch soap-operas, all the geeky TV shows (like me :D), etc... all of these things would help develop a character. Do they play video games? Do they read classics or romances? Though it looks basic and trivial on the surface it could help give characters more depth or more rounded personalities. Also, I have already finished a novel. I am not going to make facebooks for those characters. However, sequel ideas keep coming up. If I were to write another book, I would expand the universe, introduce new characters, and bring some minor characters to more important roles. If that were the case I would make them facebooks.
One other possible benefit. Say this is dream world and the book is published. How cool would it be to promote the book through those characters. They could add fans as friends (given the book does not reach the level of success Twilight or Harry Potter has). More over, fans could find more information about those characters that are not said in the books because they are small trivial things such as bands one likes. I know that there are characters in many movies/TV shows/novels who I would add as friends to interact with them (I am sounding more lame by the minute lol) and learn all those small things such as their favorite sports teams.
If this ends up helping I'll talk about is more. Lets hope this helps.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Zombie Invasion!

The world has been overrun with zombies (vampires are so last week and Dean and Sam have taken care of the rest)! These are no ordinary zombies but master minds who are a hair's breath away from world domination. Forming a team of fictional characters to destroy this foe is imperative.

Sam and Dean from Supernatural: This brother duo is a necessity to this team. They are experts in killing monsters of every shape and size having defeated adversaries physically stronger and faster than them and zombies. Since killing monsters is a part of their everyday lives this would be just another day at work. Also, they know every way possible to kill zombies, and to make sure they cannot come back.

Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sure, she is small, blond, and does not look nearly as tough as those Winchester brothers but the monsters run when they see her coming. Though she may be labeled as a "vampire slayer" she is quite adapt at killing every kind of monster. She has already survived a zombie invasion so why wouldn't she survive another one and do it in style.

Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments: Jace has more monster kills than any shadow hunter has at his age. Unlike those mentioned above, Jace actually enjoys fighting, the idea of killing zombies en mass would sound like fun to him as long as his family and Clary were safe of course. Being a shadow hunter Jace would only need a rune to heal from any injuries, gather more stamina, etc . . . Thanks to an extra dose of angel blood he is faster and stronger than any shadow hunter, and they are stronger than humans.

Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy: Being half-vampire and half-human gives Rose many advantages that vampires have (such as extra strength) with none of the defects (such as burning in the sun and desire to drink blood). She has spent her entire life ready to fight and defend the good vampires (Moroi) from the evil ones with no soul (Strigoi). By the age of 18 she had killed more Strigoi than any of her peers. She's been trained her whole life for this. I know I'd want her on my team.

Josh Gates from Destination Truth: Alright, so I said I was assembling a team of fictional characters and Josh Gates is not fictional but he is just that cool. He is a real life Benjamin Gates/Indiana Jones. While Dean and Sam have a lot of working knowledge of zombies do they know every legend about them? I'm guessing that is not the case. However, Josh Gates would. Though he would stay away from the front lines he would be the information center.

Ike and the Greil Mercenaries from Fire Emblem 9 & 10: The characters of Fire Emblem are always tough but Ike and his group are the, (nearly) undisputed, most unstoppable edifice in Fire Emblem history. If Ike was at his full potential he could probably take the entire group of zombies by himself. His group brings an array of different fighters including strong magic users, healers, boulders, quick and effective strikers, archers with aim that would make Robin Hood jealous, and strong mounted units. Also, with this group comes the leader, Ike.

Jason Bourne from The Bourne Series: The best way to describe Jason Bourne is killing machine. He would be the one assigned to steal the zombies' plans and hack their software. Unlike most characters that are adapt at navigating their way around technology and political intrigue, Bourne never needs rescuing and can handle himself better than some non-human characters who are stronger than him. He would probably be too busy to be on the front lines but would be an necessity for the team.

This team would ensure victory. However the pivotal moment of the battle would arrive when BBC's Merlin's title character showed up. Sure, he may not look like much but has an unlimited amount of magic and seemingly unlimited power. In some cases he does not even have to know the spell to set one in action, it is his instinct like jerking a hand off a hot surface.

With this team, there is no way the world would be overrun.