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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Do your characters have a Twitter account?




I'm finally at the stage with Book 2 where the characters have started talking to me. My hero has told me that he'd like an iPhone. He would be on Facebook but only for work purposes. My heroine would be on Facebook but she probably wouldn't update her account very often. My hero would be on Twitter again for work purposes but at this stage my heroine won't be setting up a Twitter account. She may change her mind when I write Act 2.

One of the reasons I joined Facebook and Twitter in October last year was because Book 2 is set in the present day and I can't expect to write about twentysomething characters without knowing how Social Media works.

Most of the information about our ancestors comes from journals, letters and the odd photo. I wonder if my grandchildren and their offspring will one day read my Tweets, Facebook updates and blog posts (and it would be nice if they could read my published novel(s) too...)

In recent years technology has changed the way we live. When writing a novel the same themes remain as they did in Chaucer, Shakespeare and Austen. Love, marriage, the role of women and family relationships are some of those themes which feature in both my novels. I wonder if the same themes will always remain with technology unable to touch them.

I'd be interested to know which themes feature in your novels, if your characters have Facebook and Twitter accounts or if you have any other comments.

(Link to one of my first posts-How do social media and technology influence a character's life?)

18 comments:

  1. Another great post, Anita. My novel is very much contemporary so Twitter and Facebook do get a mention. As does Google - lol. It's interesting to think of your characters and their needs and capabilities re social media/smartphones etc. Funny too, to think that when you first write a scene, you may have to update the technology come the edits, as things move so fast. Love the sound of all the themes featured in your new novel. Relationships and emotional dilemmas figure heavily in mine too. Really enjoyed reading your post :) x

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    1. Thanks for your comment Jan-hadn't thought about Google (must add to list!)

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  2. Agree with Jan, another great post. My NWS submission is pre Twitter and Facebook, as is my second WIP. They might feature in the future, though.

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    1. Thanks Rebecca. I found it much easier with book 1 as it was set in the early 1990s so I didn't even need to mention mobile phones.

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  3. You make some good points here. When working up my characters, I think in future the question about what social media they use will be very pertinent.
    Mobile phones are problematic in writing. So many old movies and books just wouldn't work if their characters had had mobiles. That being said, because nearly every young (and not so young) person is always clutching theirs, I used forgetting hers as a way of showing how upset my MC is at the start of my novel (as well as a means of making her walk into a situation rather than call the cavalry). But I'm still uneasy that I haven't given her a laptop to at least google the man who wants to marry her.
    I've left social media out of book 1 completely, but think I'll have to bite the bullet for book 2, when the MC changes to someone a lot more sociable.

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    1. I agree re mobile phones. I watched a film last week where a whole relationship was carried out by text and mobile phone calls - I think that this made the film less exciting as the interaction between the two main characters wasn't the same

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  4. I only have one book at the moment and I've had to cheat like mad to make Iamo_and_Riga have a Twitter account because I've explained in "Witch, Nun, Shaman's Drum" that although it is set in the near-future, magic-users can't use computers, mobile phones or any other electronic equipment because their magic screws up the aparatus.

    So Iamo has learned a cunning spell that will allow them to use the computer in short bursts when I'm not looking. They refer to me as Scribe and sometimes make very disparaging comments about me ... and my husband.


    Obviously, in the novel itself they have to ask non-magic-users to operate phones and things for them ... which at least counter-balances the temptation to use magic to solve all problems. Good call.

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    1. Thanks Cameron-your characters seem to have minds of their own. When I asked the question at the beginning of the post I didn't think that anyone's characters would actually have Twitter accounts!

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  5. Hi Anita - great blog. I think I only managed to get google and amazon in mine, LOL - like you am new to twitter and facebook (okay have still to properly sort facebook :))

    You mention Jane Austen. I suppose letters within her books played the role that twitter and facebook might play today?
    Thanks Anita - enjoyed it. SX

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    1. Hi Sarah, thanks for your comment. Amazon is something else I need to remember to include (as well as Google mentioned by Jan). I agree that Twitter, FB as well as e-mail and text messages have replaced letters-I do miss letters!

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  6. That's an interesting point and one I hadn't thought too much about, my characters certainly use technology for their work but as I'm fairly new to Twitter I hadn't thought about giving them accounts. Would make sense for one of the characters who is a Kiwi in London and would more likely use FB than email.

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    1. Hi Shauna, thanks for your comment. Most people I know now have an FB account, it's amazing how it's taken off in the past few years-a great way of sharing photos if living abroad I expect. I would probably have used it myself when living in Italy if it had existed then.

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  7. Happily, my first and second novels are historical so I escape the dilemma of how technical to go. The next novel is rooted in the present, and I shall have to think about this.

    More people I know in real life do not go on twitter and Facebook than do, though, and that's a point to think about. It depends upon your characters' professions and lives as to whether they would involve themselves with the social media.

    The only must, that has changed everything, is the mobile phone.

    Liz X

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    1. Hi Liz, thanks for your comment. More of my friends tend to be on FB than Twitter. Those on Twitter have set up accounts and not used them or have set them up for work purposes but still don't tweet as much as I do. Mobile phones change a great deal when writing I think-characters are less likely to turn up somewhere out of the blue and if someone is running late, they're more likely to ring/text first. There are fewer opportunities to create confusion and misunderstanding with mobile phones -unless it gets lost I suppose...

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  8. Interesting post, Anita! My published novel is historical, so no need for technology there. The tween book coming out in March only features a mobile phone in the plot. But it's a great question and something to consider in my contemporary novel!

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    1. Thanks for your comment Rosemary. I think characters interact differently with mobile phones-I wonder if I'll end up including text messages and mobile phone calls in Book 2. I'd rather have the characters talking face to face. But-as I mentioned in my reply to Janet's comment-mobile phones are used so much in films now and I think they can spoil the story.

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  9. I have never really thought about it before ... I guess I always took it for granted that Twitter and Facebook would feature somewhere, but wouldn't be integral to plot progression etc ...

    I often wonder about whether people in the future will be able to look back on our blogs and facebook status updates and tweets etc. Technology is moving so fast and progressing at such a rate, I worry that in 10-20 years' time systems will become too advanced to look back at all this current day technology (like computer games that can no longer be played on modern computers because the systems don't support the games etc.)

    I also have a bit of a fear of us becoming a 'lost' generation in the sense that - books, manuscripts, etc. survive for centuries, but pcs and other technology have a very small life-span in comparison. I can't help but think that centuries from now when archaeologists are excavating, they won't find anything because it's all in cyberspace, and the means with which to access the information gone forever ...

    That was a bit of a ramble ... sorry!

    http://unpublishedworksofme.blogspot.com/

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    1. Hello, you're probably right, a lot of this stuff will probably disappear into cyberspace-who knows where technology will go from here-it's moved so quickly in the past ten years. (ps,no need to apologise for rambling-a thought-provoking comment, thank you!)

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