16 November 2020

Wearing Book

 Hey all - sorry for the lack of posts.  I am still very much on a reading binge, which tends to make me want to reserve my writing energy for writing books, rather than writing posts.  I'm hoping to get Book of Firsts (the New Adult bit of fluff I've been working on) out end of December (though potentially in January).  Then I will probably spend my time swapping between writing Tangleways and the sequel to Book of Firsts.

But on to the subject of Wearing Book, which is a trope in Chinese webnovels used almost as frequently as rebirth (it's kind of a sub-category), and the type of story I'm reading a lot of currently (mixed with some metaphysical master is a teenaged girl stories).  "Wearing Book" is a plot where a reader wakes up suddenly in a book that they've (usually) read, often as a character with the same name as their real-life name.  These characters are rarely the main character of the book - they're usually the villainess, or the cannon fodder, or the friend of the heroine, or a total side character who barely gets a named mentioned.  Quite often they're the mother of the villain, in a kind of unwritten prequel to the book.

I somewhat prefer straight rebirth to wearing book, as the protagonist is considerably more emotionally invested, but there's also a lot of fun in seeing the doomed-to-fail rival for whoever's attention suddenly declaring that her Field of Fucks is barren, and romping off to do something far more interesting than follow the main plotline.

So far I've not encountered a Wearing Book which involves any actual written books, so they're not a variety of fanfiction, but I thought it would be fun to ask: If you could be anybody other than the protagonist of a book you've read, who would you be? [One for my books, one for all the other books.]

I'd say I'd like to be Nils, but I don't think I'd be very good at being a Setari, let alone Nils, so if I was going to go Touchstone, I think I'd be a pinksuit, someone in admin, doing the virtual equivalent of pencil pushing (while writing books in my spare time, of course).  However, if I could choose which book to wear, I'd definitely be one of the gamers who got the Starfighter Invitation.

16 comments:

  1. maybe i'd like to been the prince's sister in hunting, though we don't get to actually meet her, she sounds awesome! for other books id want to be one of the handmaidens of the queen of Attolia from one of the megan whalen turner books.

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    1. Morrion's sister is indeed awesome. Has some similarities with Taarel.

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  2. I would be Cassandra's aunt who is deaf and gets to hear the world through the interface. I want a computer in my head so the world can be bigger. Waking up as a hardware tech developer in a spaceship on any of the sci fi books I love would also be awesome.

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    1. Sue is a great choice - she's definitely out to enjoy life.

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  3. I've spent too much time and energy just learning how to be me to really want to be someone else. But as a mental 'what if' sort of exercise, being Sue would be a trip. Maybe i'd finally get the hang of that 'give zero fucks just go for it' attitude I keep trying for. Plus that whole amazing world to explore. Stella Nova would also be fun, as you just know she was chosen and made the transfer, and I want to see what that future looks like.

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    1. Nova is very cool. I can't quite decide whether we'll ever meet her in the future, but I hope Silent does.

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  4. If Touchstone: A rando Setari n00b that they save as a byproduct of their actual mission who nopes out afterwards to be an actor XD

    But otherwise one of Princess Sendel's people just so I can watch her run roughshod all the fools she has to deal with on a daily basis. Complete with pompoms, banners and a secret fanclub.

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    1. Lol - yeah, Sendel is great. She was one of those unexpected characters, a background name until you actually met her and she turned out to be 500%.

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    2. Aside from that! I didn't realize the trope had a name. I've read (or am reading) a few of those. I like the reincarnation ones a bit more too, though I'm getting some confused bc they're all trying the same things. Need to branch out more.

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  5. In Touchstone world, I'd want to be Kin Lara because I find it hilarious that Cass's first impression of him was that he was "so very relaxed he was almost unconscious."
    I'd probably actually be Rye though, so I could spend all my free time following Kaoren around lol. Or a member of fourth squad, the adult version of that.

    In non-Touchstone world, I'd want to be an adept at Finrathlar so I could hang with Sedesten, he seems like a pretty cool guy.

    In the broader world of books, would love to be some no-name wizard at Hogwarts so I could take all the classes and ride broomsticks and explore the hidden passageways and spend a lot of time pranking people and chatting up the portraits.

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    1. Ooh, Sedesten. Any friend of Illukar has got to be worth knowing.

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  6. Any updates on Book of Firsts? Can't wait to read it!

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  7. I already share a name with a Touchstone character, though stepping into her life is out as a main character....
    I don't think I would ever make it as Setari, but it would be fun to have an ability like telekinesis, living on the new world of Arcadia as a young adult.

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  8. I've read a Wearing Book novel! Its called Not Another Vampire Book by Cassandra Gannon. I definitely recommend it, its very fun.

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    1. The trope is definitely popping up in western literature.

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