Friday, July 23, 2010

Fantasy Book Team

You've all heard of fantasy baseball, right? That's where you pick your favorite players for positions across all the teams, group them together, watch their stats during the Season and see if your fantasy team would have beat out other people's fantasy teams.

Well, baseball stats involve numbers, and we all know I can barely add. So I'm out for fantasy baseball. But after seeing Alan Gratz's new cover for his book Fantasy Baseball, (<--click for the fun blurb!) I started thinking: what would be the very best group of characters, situations, and setting to make for the best book in the world? If I could pull any character from any book and put them in any world with any situation, which characters/worlds/situations would I pick?

And my Fantasy Book Team was born.

 
Beth's Fantasy Book Team

Why?
Simple. When I think about my favorite characters, I think of characters who were both strong in character and wits, not necessarily strong in brute force or power. So I don't want the character who's the best because it's his chosen destiny, or the one who won the battle by force. I want the characters who had to learn and struggle and outsmart. So my heroine and hero were simple choices: Aerin, who had to learn on her own how to fight dragons, then find the strength within herself to actually do it; and Gen who is one of the smartest characters, well, ever.

But these two characters are pretty serious, grave characters--I want a sidekick who can lighten the mood. Therefore, prankster Fred Weasley (obviously the better twin) gets the role. Can you imagine the three of them on a quest? Aerin would be trying to learn everything she could, Gen would be mulling in his mind how he'd out-clever them all, and Fred would light something on fire. Awesome.

With this team, I need a really good villain. Now, I personally want a villain who has motive. I don't want an anonymous baddie who's just bad to be bad. Darth Vader and Voldemort are, therefore, out. I want a villain who believes absolutely that he is doing the right thing--and who better for that than The Operative in the movie Serenity? He is willing to brutally kill, track down Mal and his crew, and slaughter innocents in the name of the Government--because he believes absolutely and entirely that the Government is right. Also--he's way smart, so Gen and Aerin will have a time with him.

Now for setting. I came very close to picking the world of Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, but that was a little too slap-stick for this crew. I wanted a world that had a little bit of fun, but also a little bit of serious--so I ended up with the islands featured in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This gives the characters a chance to sail around and explore new worlds, face dangers in the environment as well as their villain, and have brief moments of comedy. Can you image Fred Weasley meeting the Dufflepuds?

Finally, plot. Conflict. I definitely didn't want a romance-centered plot, so works like Twilight were out. And this is way to fantastic to be restrained by a contemporary conflict, so that was out. I didn't want to go as harsh as The Hunger Games--I wanted a quest. And the ultimate quest? As much as it pains me to admit: Lord of the Rings. Now, I'm not a Tolkien fan--but for me, Tolkien failed in characters and setting (as in: too much of both), not plot. So if I take the classic quest story in Lord of the Rings and add these characters--I think I just hit gold.

Pitch
This is based on fantasy baseball, right? So here's the wind-up pitch:

The Operative believes absolutely that the dragon Maur needs to own the One Ring and gain absolute power in his rule of the Narnia Islands. Unfortunately for him, Aerin and Gen disagree--and they've got the Ring. They're tired of the dragon's complete control, and know that if he owns the Ring, he'll become a even greater tyrant. They enlist the aid of Narnian pirate Fred Weasley to sail them through the Narnian Islands, fighting both the dangers of the world and The Operative along the way, until the final battle to see if Aerin and Gen can destroy the Ring...or fall to it.


AWESOME, right?! I think so. I wish someone would write this book! Talk about the ultimate fan fic...

Now I want you to share your Fantasy Book Team.  
What characters would you use, in what world, against what villain, with what main conflict?  
Add you team to the comments--or write up your own Fantasy Book Team on your blog and give me a link. I'll feature the best ones on the blog!

21 comments:

storyqueen said...

I love this idea! (side note- when I worked in retail in my college days, we would play a similar game called "Divide up the Men of the World" and create these super teams of dudes....yes, I worked at the Clinique Counter and on summer nights, it was dead! We were so bored.)

I will think of my fantasy book team and be back later!

Shelley

Kristie Cook said...

Excellent idea! But it takes lots of thought, so I have nothing good right now. It seems like it would be a really good writing exercise, though, because it makes you really think about what makes heroes, villains, plots and setting work well together. Thanks for sharing yours! I love it!

Katie Anderson said...

Okay, this is the funnest idea ever! too much fun :) I'll need to think on this.

Jodi Meadows said...

Love this!

I just read THE THIEF yesterday, and yes! I think Gen would be a great character to have in your plot.

storyqueen said...

Hero-Max (from Where the Wild Things Are)

Love Interest- Eloise (from Eloise)

Arch-Nemesis- Sam-I-Am (From Green Eggs and Ham)

Setting-Paris (from Madeline)

Plot-(From How the Grinch Stole Christmas) Max and Eloise are plotting to steal the Eiffel Tower because THEY HATE IT and want to destroy it once and for all. It is a symbol of France....and people eat escargot in France...WHICH THEY HATE. Or maybe they just thing they do....Enter Sam-I-Am and his pail of Green Eggs and Snail.......

Alan Gratz said...

Thanks for the plug, Beth! This is a great idea. Okay, here's mine:

Heroine: Pippi Longstocking - irreverent, individual, AND super-strong!

Hero: Kid Flash (Teen Titans) - super fast and easy-going. Love his humor.

Sidekick: Chewbacca (Star Wars trilogy) - Rrrrrraaaaawwr!

Villain: Mrs. Coulter (His Dark Materials trilogy) - Not always villainous, but always cold, calculating, and in control.

Setting: The Traction City of London (Hungry City Chronicles) - Honestly, has anybody EVER invented a better setting than a London on treads that goes about the "Great Hunting Ground" of Europe eating smaller traction cities through "Municipal Darwinianism"? No. No, they haven't.

Plot: Raiders of the Lost Ark - I'll go back to the movies for my favorite movie of all time, and put Kid Flash and Pippi Longstocking (along with their trusty sidekick Chewbacca) competing with Mrs. Coulter for clues to the Lost Ark of the Covenant on the moving traction city of London in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world.

I'd buy that book.

Misty Waters said...

Here's my link!!

http://mistydawnwaters.blogspot.com/2010/07/mistys-fantasy-book-team.html

That was harder than I thought!

L Parker said...

The better twin? He's not the holy one after all.

Carol Baldwin said...

Gosh Beth, I can't imagine coming up with any plot and list of characters than you did. What a fun play off of Alan's book!

Unknown said...

Re: "Now, I'm not a Tolkien fan--but for me, Tolkien failed in characters and setting (as in: too much of both)"

Ah, did all the places and characters hurt your wittle head? There there, try Winnie the Pooh, or if 6 characters is to many, there is always "Waiting for Godot". You should be able to handle 3 characters and only one location I hope.

Myrna Foster said...

I love all three teams so far. Shelley's made me laugh; I'd buy that one in a heartbeat.

elysabeth said...

I'm not that creative and can't think off the top of my head right now about creating a "fantasy book team" because I've been reading so much of everything, all over the place, that I don't even have any favorite books that I could pull characters, plot, settings, et cetera from. Thanks for sharing though - and I'm going to link back to you on my non-series blog - http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com - just to let my readers have fun - I think Alan's cover is really cool too, so it helps that you have a lead-in from another's covers. I may post something later on that same blog if I can come up with something - E :)

Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series

Where will the adventure take you next?

http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://junior-geography-detective-squad.weebly.com

Malika Horton said...

Your maturity is on an unbelievably high level, Jorad. No need to be rude. Thank you.

Anyway. If your choices were in book form they would definitely be on my TBR pile. I would need to look around to look for all roles, but all I know is that Hermione Granger and Katniss Everdeen would be apart of my team.

I would want the situation to be epic. Saving a country or the world in someway.

Miriam Forster said...

Hooray for a fun game!

Trying to sort through all the characters and settings I love kind of burned my brain out. But am I the only person who thinks that the cast of NCIS and the cast of Lie to Me would be hilarious in a crossover episode together?

I can just see Cal Lightman trying to read Gibb's poker face... :)

Kelly Polark said...

This will take a great deal of thought... so will think more before I list my fantasy book team. But I do have to say Fred Weasley will be on it, too! He's my fave character in Harry Potter! (Syrius being my second favorite)

Gail said...

I must admit I'm not a big fan of fantasy reads (other than Harry Potter books of course!) BUT I just finished a fabulous mentioned at our Spring regional SCBWI conference called Dark Life by Kat Falls. WOW! Exciting, not creepy, twists and turns, some predictable, others a complete surprise. I'd highly recommend this fantasy!

BTW, are you going to SCBWI LA? I'm going for the first time!

Gail said...

I must admit I'm not a big fan of fantasy reads (other than Harry Potter books of course!) BUT I just finished a fabulous mentioned at our Spring regional SCBWI conference called Dark Life by Kat Falls. WOW! Exciting, not creepy, twists and turns, some predictable, others a complete surprise. I'd highly recommend this fantasy!

John Claude Bemis said...

Great exercise, Beth! It makes you realize how much characters are defined by their relationships to other characters, the setting, and the plot. Okay, here's mine...

Heroine: Hester Shaw (Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines) – Ferocious, hard to love, and endlessly fascinating.

Hero: Jack (folk character from the Appalachian Jack Tales) – A trickster as captivating as the Norse god Loki. He’s hilarious, overly confident, and always has an ingenious way out of any jam.

Sidekick: the Tin Woodman (Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz) – A steampunk, axe-wielding ballast to Jack and Hester’s conflicting personalities.

Villain: The Cat in the Hat, along with Thing One and Thing Two (yes, Dr. Seuss’s)– Since I’ve returned to this bedtime classic as a parent, I’ve realized how sinister these characters are. The Cat uses his chipper personality to lure others in before unleashing his own brand of malice. And when he brings out the red box and lets out the Things saying “They will not bite you” and “They are tame. Oh, so tame!” I get chills. Are they human or beast? Whatever they are, they scare me.

Setting: The living prison of Catherine Fisher's Incarceron. A great setting is ripe with conflict and this prison world of metal forests, dog-slaves, and half-men provides plenty. But when the setting itself is alive, god-like, and cruel, it pushes conflict to a whole other level.

Plot: Hunger Games. Jack, Hester, and the Tin Woodman form a temporary alliance as they battle it out against the dapper Cat, his monstrous Things, and their sinister Seussian machines in a world that is out to get them all. I have no idea how it will end, but I don’t see Jack and Hester pulling the same love-truce as Katniss and Peeta.

Anonymous said...

Excellent idea! My Fantasy Book Team is on my blog, here:

http://littlescribbler.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/fantasy-book-team/

Vicki Rocho said...

That's quite the team you developed and I love our pitch at the end. I'm gong to have to mull this over a bit.

Titan Poker Games said...

I am very impressed with this list! Thank you. It's really going to help me out.