Casting Call Character Bloghop

This bloghop is hosted by Carrie Butler, Melodie Wright, and Lisa L. Regan.

About:

All you'll need to do is write one post (the week of the 24th) featuring a few characters from your book or WIP, using some kind of visual aid. (You're already picturing your post, aren't you?)

 Possible Ways to Participate:  

• Photo montage - Grab photos online, and post them with small descriptions of your characters. Let's be safe/smart about this. Don't take copyrighted photos without permission, provide attribution on photos with a Creative Commons license, etc. Basically, give credit, where credit is due. I'm sure most of you do that with your posts, anyway. :)
• Book trailer - You've seen them online, right? This is the perfect excuse to try one of your own!
• Paintings/Drawings/Doodles on Napkins - C'mon, we won't make fun of your art skills. It's all for fun. :)

For an example, check out Melodie's photo-centric post.

 Quick Details: 

WHO: All the cool kids. (We're serious. Join us, and you'll be you cool...ish.) 

WHAT: See explanation above

WHERE: Your blog. My blog. Everyone's blog! (We hope.)

WHEN: October 24th through 28th

WHY: Because it's Campaign season, we're awesome, and we can. 'Nuff said, right?

HOW: Use the Linky List below to sign up as a participant. Come the week of the 24th, share your post, then hop around to the others. Simple, right? There'll even be a giveaway, featuring a critiquish prize!

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For this bloghop, I decided to post some photos and inspiration for my NaNoWriMo project. I think I may have finally decided on an idea to work with for November (hooray!), but I'm still hammering out the details, so there won't be a ton of stuff in this post.

Now, onward with the images!

First, since participants aren't limited to people, the setting of my novel. For it, Moshe Safdie's architecture has been perfect. It's exactly the kind of geometric, precise structure that I was thinking of.

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Sigh. I love architecture. :)

And this little object is something that really got me thinking setting-wise:

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As for my characters:

MC (Ben Barnes):

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Supporting character (Alan Rickman):

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Supporting character (Jeremy Irons):

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Supporting character (Cate Blanchett):

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And there you have my (rather short) cast. I don't want to give away much about the project, but I will say that it's going to be Science Fiction. I had thought about writing Fantasy . . . but then inspiration hit for a SF novel.

And a DISCLAIMER: All images are from Wikimedia Commons.

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So what about you? Who would you like cast as one of your characters--or would you want to base a character on? Any favorite architects?


-----The Golden Eagle

Terry Pratchett Month: World Building Through A Series of Books: How And Why It Works

If there's one distinctive thing about the Discworld series--beyond Terry Pratchett's humor--it's that no matter which characters happen to be the main ones for a particular novel, the setting is the same. One flat world on the backs of four elephants, who are in turn standing on the shell of an enormous turtle called Great A'Tuin.

There is no particular reason why a majority or all of an author's books can't be set in the same world, over a variety of genres and/or age groups, with a collection of different characters. However, there are some features which make exploring the same place much more intriguing than if it had been left with only a single novel, that not all books have.

1. The existence of unexplored regions.

Rehashing the same places with different characters is interesting enough, but when they travel off someplace  mentioned in previous stories that remained relatively unknown, then it really adds a new dimension.

Example: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The Fellowship followed a different path than Bilbo Baggins, encountered different creatures, and existed setting that may as well have been a separate world--except for the knowledge of locations linked to the previous story. This can also be done by setting a story in a different time. Example: The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. A different landscape and people, many years apart, but the same continent.

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2. Different cultures.

There must be a range of characters (people or other beings, as it may be) that, like the setting, are put into the background for some stories but brought out in others. Again, it's much more interesting when you see another side to something that was less well-known before.

Example: Fire and Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Fire is the companion novel to Graceling, set a little while before Graceling begins, on the other side of the mountains. A very different kind of magic and people, but with connections to each other culturally that only the reader notices.

3. The world must be big enough.

This relates closely to #1. If, say, you set your novel on a small set of islands, you are limiting yourself to that range. And while an archipelago can be excellent for a slave uprising (Example: Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce), there is a limit to how much you can pack onto it.

Same if you pick a setting that is too closely like good old real life--unless you happen to write Literary Fiction (which, for the record, I think is awesome) that doesn't leave much to the SF/F-style world building I'm talking about here. Once you've explored it once, then you must leave world building doors open if you want to go further. It's much like writing the second book in a series: if there isn't any opening, trying to continue it will just feel like a pointless extra (Example: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare).

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How about you? Do you agree or disagree with the points I've made? What do you think are important elements of writing in the same world, for more than one book or series? Do you have a favorite cross-book world?

-----The Golden Eagle