There are a lot of good books, movies, and games. A few of them are great. I’ve been trying to figure out what components elevate a story to greatness; The next three or four blog posts will discuss this.

There are a lot of characters I like to spend time with (by reading their stories or interacting with in games). A few of them I can see myself as. I become a part of these characters, and they become part of an awesome story. Let’s take a look at some examples:

• Uru Live: I remember one of the DRC Restoration Engineers complaining in his journal about the numerous puzzles he encounters. Puzzles, and reading journals, are expected in Myst games. But as soon as you start thinking these places are real, this is exactly how I would react. What are these puzzles doing here? This is the game poking a bit of fun at itself, but it’s also so much more. It transforms it from a game into an alternate reality. I could be a member of the DRC because they react as I would. On the contrary, my enjoyment of Myst V was dampened because I didn’t connect with Yeesha or Esher.
• Serenity/Firefly: When I first starting watching Firefly, I didn’t like many of Serenity’s crew. But as I continued to watch, I started to realize that I didn’t like them because they weren’t “all good” or “all bad.” They, just like real people, changed over time. In the dorm, I’ve grown a lot this past semester. I’ve established a core group of friends here. We’ve sort of become a crew. Although we’re not space pirates, we still struggle with classes and adventures.
• Harry Potter: When the first Harry Potter book came out, I read part of it but wasn’t too interested. Since then, some movies have come out and I’ve moved into college. My environment now is similar to Hogwarts. This, along with seeing the characters in the film, allowed me to more easily connect with them. Instead of being this foreign magical world, I can now make connections between my college and Hogwarts.
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: This book is unique because I enjoy all of its characters; Normally there is at least one character in a story I don’t enjoy reading about. Similarly to Myst, this is a fantastic story that somehow seems grounded in fact and completely believable.

The best part about having characters you can identify with is that you can apply the lessons they learn to your own life. This makes a story not only entertaining, but beneficial and practical.

As a reader, what characters can you see yourself as?
As an author, how can you create characters that people can connect with?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2006 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Myst, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.