Friday, March 18, 2011

Five Question Friday: Mark Murray

Today we have five questions with Mark Murray:

What do you think makes a good story?

Characters. It's what makes us read stories. We have tons of different settings from fantasy to romance, but it's the characters that pull us in. Whether it's a pirate on the seas to a female detective in love with a vampire, the story is driven by characters. They have to be written so that the reader is taken along on their journey, whether fantasizing they are the character or just going along for the ride.


Is the book always better than the movie?

Not always. I could never read any of Tolkien's books. I tried many times but just couldn't get through them. But, I love the three Lord of the Rings movies. I think they are a hundred times better than the books. So, in some cases, the movie does turn out much better. Another example is the Spiderwick Chronicles. I really love the movie but didn't like the book.


If I could read a diary of one of your characters, what would I learn about him/her?

I actually snuck into one of my character's room one day and found her diary. Her name is Alisandra and she's the lead villain in my book, Warders of the Gate. I wrote her character as an intelligent, beautiful, powerful woman who wants to rule the world she's in, even though she'd have to do that through a puppet of a High King. I figured I'd read all about how wonderful I was for creating her smart instead of just another dumb villain. Boy, was I wrong. She grumbled about how she had to overcome all these obstacles and that I should have made it easy. She whined about not being powerful enough and that I should add more power for her. And then she complained that there wasn't a love interest for her. Sheesh, and here I thought I was doing good. The moral of that is to not read other people's diaries. :)

Warders of the Gate:
http://www.markmurraybooks.com/warders.html


If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

I'd like to have healing like Wolverine of the X-Men. I would live longer so that I could have time to do everything I wanted. I wouldn't have to worry about getting sick, so no health insurance costs. I could take getting hurt so I'd be able to do wild and crazy things without worrying about dying. And then one day, when science advanced enough, hey, maybe there'd be a chance of an adamantium skeleton ... with claws.


Cats or dogs? Why?

Dogs definitely. Dogs are man's best friend. Cats are just aliens sent down to earth to torture people. Dogs will help you out with all kinds of things: playing, tracking, hunting, etc. Cats just stare at you like *you* should be groveling before them and spoiling them with all manner of things. Aliens, I tell you. Aliens waiting for their chance to take over the world.


Learn more about Mark's work at his website:

http://www.markmurraybooks.com/

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I've read LotR several times. The movies are better than the books. Not as important, but definitely better.

But if you only get one choice of superhero powers, the obvious answers are either super-scientist or super-sorcerer. Then you get every power, duh!

Paula RC said...

Very interesting posting, Aaron. I like booth the film and the books. Each to their own, but it still interesting to hear other people's views. Thank you.

Daniel Powell said...

The Godfather is, perhaps, the best example of a film outpacing its book counterpart. Puzo's novel is stunning; the film is staggering, though.

Danielle Birch said...

Someone who shares the same opinion as me about cats :)