Has anyone else tried letting their character write a blog?

Biskit

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Hawker Rosselini is a first-person character I've been writing - no brakes, no manners, social skills in silent-mode... annoying, offensive, and a very, very clever idiot. I have clearly been trying to write Hawker for too long because now, when something in the news sets me off in a grumble I have Hawker in my head, having a furious rant that just drowns me out... so I thought why not blog Hawker...

Time will tell if it was a good idea. On the upside, it gets him out of my head, which has to be a good thing. It was getting crowded in here, with funny echoes.

Anybody else tried this? Do I need a shrink?


(Hawker's first outing... Hawker Rosselini: Whose damn fool idea?)
 
Hawker Rosselini is a first-person character I've been writing - no brakes, no manners, social skills in silent-mode... annoying, offensive, and a very, very clever idiot. I have clearly been trying to write Hawker for too long because now, when something in the news sets me off in a grumble I have Hawker in my head, having a furious rant that just drowns me out... so I thought why not blog Hawker...

Time will tell if it was a good idea. On the upside, it gets him out of my head, which has to be a good thing. It was getting crowded in here, with funny echoes.

Anybody else tried this? Do I need a shrink?


(Hawker's first outing... Hawker Rosselini: Whose damn fool idea?)

That's a good idea. I didn't do this quite, but I did something that could be considered similar.
I had this idea for a futuristic society where time travel was a common as a cell phone in my head for years and I had outlined a timeline for it on wikipedia. Basically the timeline starts from present day and highlights how we get from here to there and that in essence is what my WIP explores. Then I just flushed out characters, places, and things and laws and religions and the politics of the world from there. Some which can still be found on the wikia
 
Covesea Island

Its been years since I thought about it and can't remember how to sign in lol Wish I could because I'd love to change the photograph and authorly name.

I was incredibly surprised when I stopped writing it to discover it had about 40 or 50 regular followers (it had only ever really been because I got a buzz out of it) but I got emails.
 
Covesea Island
I was incredibly surprised when I stopped writing it to discover it had about 40 or 50 regular followers (it had only ever really been because I got a buzz out of it) but I got emails.

I know what you mean. I've been running a blog as 'me' for a couple of years - whatever amuses or annoys me over the month (Writing On The Edge). I have one follower I know of, but I was really only writing for my own entertainment. I got an actual comment on the blog for the first time a month or so back - a bit of a wow moment, but not my motivation for writing it.
 
My current one is a bit different - I am starting to promote it. But I think Soc's blog was along the lines of what you were talking about. It started off as him writing it but it became conversations with.
 
I'm not really clear on the question. Are you talking about actually writing a regular blog as this person? Or are you talking about writing an epistolary-form of novel? If the latter, The Martian is partly written that way, and it seems to have been successful.
 
I'm not really clear on the question. Are you talking about actually writing a regular blog as this person? Or are you talking about writing an epistolary-form of novel? If the latter, The Martian is partly written that way, and it seems to have been successful.

No, I mean writing the blog as the character. All the stuff that has no place in the novel. I think a lot of it comes down to the character being essentially a very angry guy who has been dumped on by events for a long time, so when I am having a bit of a moment, I end up writing bits of my character in my head. On Sunday I decided to turn it into a blog. Perhaps I should have waited until I was off the paracetamol/ibuprofen, but if you can't make wild decisions just as the flu starts to bite, when can you?
 
Since my current work is set in a time-period based on the ancient Romans, all I can see now is my characters poking at a computer with a stick, wondering what hellish device they have come across now.
 
Since my current work is set in a time-period based on the ancient Romans, all I can see now is my characters poking at a computer with a stick, wondering what hellish device they have come across now.

It occurs to me that the Romans could be pretty smart. I'm sure they would look at the computer and see sharp edges, and brittle stuff that makes more sharp edges after an impact. In next to no time, one of them would figure out how to mount it on a ballista and weaponise the computer.

And now my head has really wandered off sideways. Could we call this an early Roman computer game? Can you reload fast enough to stop the incoming barbarians. RAM is no longer a technology but an alternative mode of operation.

As an aside, I have seen the Ermine Street Guard do a demo of a reproduction ballista. The projectile over-shot a little, probably by no more than a quarter mile, and landed in the car park.
 
Check out achewood.com it's a brilliant comic strip and the creator has blogs in many of the character voices. Amazing stuff, and truly funny.
 
Check out achewood.com it's a brilliant comic strip and the creator has blogs in many of the character voices. Amazing stuff, and truly funny.
Thanks - been and looked, but I had to stop. My throat currently only hurts when I cough, or laugh too much.
 
Hawker Rosselini is a first-person character I've been writing - no brakes, no manners, social skills in silent-mode... annoying, offensive, and a very, very clever idiot. I have clearly been trying to write Hawker for too long because now, when something in the news sets me off in a grumble I have Hawker in my head, having a furious rant that just drowns me out... so I thought why not blog Hawker...

Time will tell if it was a good idea. On the upside, it gets him out of my head, which has to be a good thing. It was getting crowded in here, with funny echoes.

Anybody else tried this? Do I need a shrink?


(Hawker's first outing... Hawker Rosselini: Whose damn fool idea?)

I have not tried this but it is an interesting notion. I am trying to picture the alien protagonist in my upcoming book series in a sort of "Anne Landers" capacity...

Could be a very strange Q & AA session...

"Just ask Krygan"???

Still an interesting idea. With a popular character or series it could take off too.

Cheers!
 

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