Fictional Character Crush Support Group

*Steps to the podium* Is this on?

Ahem. Hello, my name is Stephanie and I have a crush on a fictional character. Or, rather, characters.

Ah, Mr. Darcy how I adore thee.  I was 11 when first we met.  I always saw past your proud facade to the man within, to what you had to offer.  You respected Lizzie, admired her fire and spirit.  I think you even looked for ways to provoke it.  You captured a million more hearts in the process.  Your confession letter to Lizzie trapped another when I read it to a friend of mine.  We had a sleepover that night for her to watch the entire BBC mini-series which we watched at many a sleepover.  I'm sorry for all the hair bands we fired your way in the first half of the mini-series.

Mr. Rochester, you were a late discovery.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't learn your full story until I was in college.  But once I read it, I was yours.  Yes, you lied to Jane, but you redeemed yourself and gave Jane the strength to both leave you and return to you.  Despite your manipulations, you were vulnerable.  Little Jane held your heart in her hands and never used or abused the power you gave her.

George Cooper, the thief who stole a piece of my heart. Alanna abused you and took years to find her way to you.  But you stood by her side, helping her when and where you could and stepping away when she needed to grow.  You never lost faith in her and through you I saw that not all people who do bad things are bad at heart, that people can change and love each other through and despite those changes, and that true love doesn't have an expiration date.

Other fictional character crushes:

Duke Crocker
Nathan Wournos
The Ninth Doctor (sorry all you fans of 10. At the time of writing this part of the post I haven't yet watched any of 10's episodes and am still mourning the loss of 9.) (If you don't know why that would be see last Thursday's post.)
Han Solo
Lord Deveraux
Mr. Knightley
Silk
Data

*Steps away from the podium*

Who are your fictional character crushes? (Also, bonus points in my book of coolness if you know who some of these are. Some are obvious, others are not so obvious.  Hint: The obvious ones are Darcy, Rochester, Han Solo, Knightley, and Data.  Oh, and the Doctor.)

Luke Skywalker vs. Harry Potter

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a friend, following many many Star Wars references.  (Not least of which was naming our entry to the Spudwood Derby, Darth Tater.)  We began debating who would win in a fight.  Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter.  (Said friend is not a fan of HP.)

We ultimately decided it would be Luke.  I mean, he has the Force.  He may be a whiney kid, but he can kick serious tail when it comes to a fight (so long as the Emperor doesn't get involved with his lightning bolts).

Why Luke would win:

1- He has the Force.  All he has to do is tell Harry that they're not enemies.  Fight over.
2- If all else fails, Luke can just pull out his blaster.
3- Luke can deflect spells with his light saber.  Those spells can be bounced back at Harry.
4- Luke can dodge spells.  Those Jedi acrobatics?  Awesome.
5- Luke has C-3PO and R2D2.  All he has to do is re-install those jet packs in R2 and he can distract HP.

Any other reasons you can think of?  Do you think differently?  Argue for your side in the comments!  (Prize?  Title of biggest nerd.  I've held it for a long while.  It's a little heavy, but it's fun.)

Series Writing 101

My last project, Oracles Promise, was the first of a trilogy.  Trilogies are different beasts all together.  I may address those in a future post.  We’ll see.  For today, I’m discussing series.

My bright shiny new idea that came to me in a dream (literally, it was a dream I had) almost two weeks ago would be potentially the first in a series.  I’ve been wondering off and on just how many books I could milk out of this idea.  I don’t want it to become the fourth Indiana Jones movie or the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy.  (Meaning, superfluous, unnecessary and totally ruining the concept, charm, and appeal of the original.)

Yes, I’m a total nerd and proud of it.  Give me a flag to hoist on a flagpole and I will.

Anyways.  So I’ve been researching series writing and thought I’d share what I found.

Series:

A number of things, events, or people of a similar kind or related nature coming one after another.

A set of related television or radio programs, especially of a specified kind.

A set of books, maps, periodicals, or other documents published in a common format or under a common title.

There are several types (courtesy of this post by Kaye Dacus).

1- Spinoffs: Taking a minor character, setting, or concept from the first and creating a separate plot for that element.

2- Serials: Taking one character and writing multiple stories about that person, all unrelated, standalone episodes but with each book still deepening our understanding of the character.  The Indiana Jones series of movies would be an example.  Each movie was unrelated to the others save only for Indiana and his reluctant search for various objects.  He also came to a better understanding of himself.  In the third film, he even began to reconcile with his father and the final resolution of that thread came at the end of the movie.  (Why did we need that fourth one?)

3- Sequels: One continuing story in a finite number of novels.  A duology, trilogy, quadrilogy, etc.  (Maybe I’m making up terms here.  But Glam just proved me wrong.)  Examples would be Tamora Pierce’s series.  The Song of the Lioness books all follow one character in a continuing story.  Same with Protector of the Small, the Immortals, and Trickster books.

Tips.  (Courtesy of this post at the Keep Me In Suspense blog.)

1- Don’t assume that your reader has read the first book in your series when he picks up number two.

2- Introduce your main characters in detail.

3- Add some reminders with enough details that someone who didn’t read the first book can still understand what’s happening.

4- Each story in the series needs to have a resolution.  In the case of a romance that won’t be resolved until the last book, each book needs to act as a step toward that conclusion.

5- Include threads that continue through the series.

6- Keep good notes as you write the series including descriptions of characters, setting, habits, etc.  More than likely you’ll have to use them.

So, what’s the point of all of this?

I think it means that to write a series you have to be a plotter.  Or an in-betweener.  You can’t be a straight-up pantser.

And you have to do your research.

Thanks for reading everyone.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for what I hope to be an entertaining study in genre.  I’m still formulating the series so it may not start right away.