Immortal Characters

Hello KC Writer's readers. Amy here.

So, like a lot of 20-something adults, I've lately been interested in teen things. I watch Gossip Girl more than I go to church, and I've missed an entire night's sleep plowing through book II (New Moon) of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. My mother asks me on a weekly basis when am I going to start watching and reading things about people who are closer to my age, maybe who go to college? (and by weekly basis I mean sometime between 8-9pm every Monday, which happens to be the time Gossip Girl is on).

So, Twilight series. Mrs. Meyer started writing the series just for fun, after a dream came to her about the love story between her two characters: the immortal Edward Cullen (who is a very sexy vampire, btw) and the very human Bella Swan. The thing that impresses me about this whole series of books is that she wrote four books, all around 500 pages each (2000 or so pages total), that only span the time period of, oh, let's say two years. Two years for an immortal character, oh that's nothing!

This got me thinking about how brilliant this idea is for the author. Immortal characters never die. Immortal characters can live multiple lives (multiple lives=multiple stories). An author with immortal characters can, if these characters become popular, have an entire career based on writing about these characters. For me, money isn't the number one (or even number five) reason I enjoy writing, but for those who really love to write, money is nice. When you have it, you don't have to focus your time with a real life job and real life worries (or so I romanticize in my head). No more typing at 12am on Sunday night, no more waking up at 6am to finish your chapter. How nice would that be?

So, Stephanie Meyer signed her first book deal for a $750,000 advance according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenie_Meyer . That's for one book. She has four now, which are widely popular and topping Best Seller lists, and her first book is coming out on the big screen here in November (I am so excited). My personal dream is to have a book so loved that one day it can be turned into a motion picture.

Basically, Stephanie Meyer is living MY dream. So, needless to say I'm paying attention to how she did it.

I came up with my plot for a fallen angel story just yesterday. I can't wait to finish it. I wonder if I can belt it out in 3 months like Stephanie Meyer did.

If nothing else, reading this series has inspired me to write. It has caused me to think; to consider marketing and who my potential audience might be. It has inspired me to write fiction even. Fiction isn't even something I've taken a stab at yet, since I am a poet. Now I'm all interested in writing paranormal fiction--and now there's a huge market for it.

Maybe not all of you are interested in the paranormal, you want to write something a little more vanilla. Gossip Girl is a tv show on the CW based on a group of spoiled socialites going through high school. It also happens to be based on a book series. Even if you keep your characters human, they still have many stories to tell. I get nervous as the cast from Gossip Girl approaches high school graduation. What will I do with my Monday nights if it goes off the air? Never fear, their drama may continue into college (and I can smugly tell my mother I watch tv about college students!!! I'm not sure this will appease her though). Maybe even Gossip Girl's characters will have friendships that last late into adulthood, much like the girls in Sex in the City. Oh, there is hope. Even for those of you that want to keep it human, there is still wiggle room for many books with your beloved characters to last a life time.

Who would have thought? So next time you think about writing, consider the advantages and disadvantages of immortal characters. Also, if you're in your 20s or bravely embracing your high school years up until your 30s, watch Gossip Girl and read the Twilight series. And come get coffee with me.

Til next time...