Sunday, May 16, 2010

What Fictional Character's Blog Would You Like to Read?

As a fiction author, I often enjoy mentally getting into the minds of my characters. I'm not talking strictly about writing, but also the brain work that goes into the planning stages of writing. Before I sit down to the keyboard, I usually spend a few hours or even days or weeks working out plots in my head and sometimes even characters' conversations. Sometimes I try to think like my characters and try to envision how they look at the world.

This not only can strengthen the actual writing, but it also allows me to work out how a given character will react to a particular situation.

And it can be a lot of fun.

To take that a little further, as a reader I often enjoy getting into the minds of the characters about whom I'm reading.

That too can be fun.

So if I enjoy working out the mental processes and thoughts of my characters, from both a writer and reader's perspective, it stands to reason others might like the same.

I also blog a lot. Every day, in fact. Besides my online writings, I've got several blogs.

Which could me thinking further. And once the wheels finally stopped spinning so much in my head, it occurred to me it would be interesting to see fictional characters blog.

It could be a great marketing tool for fiction authors. If you've got a new novel coming out in a few months, you could spend those months blogging as one of the characters in the novel. The characters could guest post on your own blog if you already have one, or you could create a brand new blog just for the characters.

This might be a little tricky, as you don't want to give away too much about your upcoming publication, but I think with some foresight this could work.

City of Rogues (Book I of The Kobalos Trilogy)For example, the print version of my fantasy novel City of Rogues is probably coming out sometime in the next year. I'm not sure exactly when yet because the publisher hasn't given me a printing schedule, but the ebook version of the novel is already available online. The main character of the novel is Kron Darkbow, a mysterious warrior who dresses all in black, carries a big sword and a bow on his back. He's kind of like Batman set in a fantasy world, though he doesn't wear a mask.

I think Kron would make a great blogger. His view of the world is quite dark, though not necessarily bleak. He's someone who wants to get things done, and who wants to make the world a better place though through his own brutal measures. He's no tyrant in the bigger scheme of things, though he has no problems with handing out punishment when and where he believes it is due.

Knowing my novel is coming out sometime, I could use Kron's blog as a promotional piece. Again, I wouldn't want to give too much away about the story of my novel, but I could still provide background material, maybe even stories about Kron's days before the time period of the novel.

Or I could let one of the other characters blog. Kron's nemesis, an underground crimelord known as Belgad the Liar, has a lot in common with Kron. Belgad could have an interesting blog.

Or I could bring out a minor character, the small-time hood called Stilp, who is really a coward at heart unless he's got a bunch of goons backing him up. Stilp could definitely spin some interesting tales about the city of Bond where he and Kron and others find themselves during my novel.

I think this idea has potential.

Will I do it? I don't know. I've got enough other projects already, fiction and nonfiction alike, but the idea keeps intriguing me.

Do you think it would be a good idea? I'd like to hear some thoughts.

Another interesting idea would be blogs about known literary characters who are now available in the public domain, characters from books written roughly a hundred years ago and further.

Think of the possibilities! Imagine if D'artagnon from The Three Musketeers had a blog? Or what about Elinor in Sense and Sensibility? Heck, Moby Dick reads almost like a blog written by Ishmael.

I see possibilities here. Let me know what you think.

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