Monk’s assistant Natalie has a blog on the USA Network site. She is, of course, a fictional character and her blog is written by me. But that’s just one example of what’s fast-becoming a rampant marketing practice — blogs by fictional characters. TV critic Chuck Barney at the Contra Costa Times writes about this new trend and some bloggers are carrying on the discussion.
UPDATE: USA Today has an article today about TV shows with blogs that also touches on the "fictional blogger" angle.
There is now a real-world Amazon blog (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416524819/qid=1144248111/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2986324-4027110?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) written by a fictional character on “As the World Turns” who wrote a book which is being released both on the show and in the real world by an author who is being listed as Anonymous but who will turn out to be a character on the show, who is not the actual real world writer. Got that? Now lay down and take some deep breaths.
So I’d like your opinion on something Lee:
Who do you like better as a character, Natalie or Sharona? It seems to still be a raging debate among fans of the show.
Retired General Clark Braxton from my latest book Perfect Killer, has been blogging for a while (and running for President … see video of campaign party)
While Braxton may or may not exist, he is chairman of Defense Therapeutics…
Has a fabulous Napa Valley Estate, Castello Da Vinci …
And makes a great wine, Xantaeus red, which you can buy online.
He is joined in his online activities by Perfect Killer hero Brad Stone and Heroine Jasmine Thompson.
Many of the people in the Perfect Killer Acknowledgements are real. Some are not.
I enjoy the Natalie blog but what the world really needs is a Monk blog. Logistically, I don’t know how a perfection driven obsessive compulsive could blog and based on the amount of time it takes for Monk to sign a check, the time for him to compose a blog entry is incomprehensible.
Damn. Quite stupidly, I thought *I* was the only one doing this. Otto “Big Red” Amlingmeyer, the narrator of my novel “Holmes on the Range,” has been blogging on my site since early February.
Well, at least I can rest assured that I’ve got the only crime-solving 19th century cowboy with a blog. Unless someone’s going to turn around and tell me the Lone Ranger’s had a TypePad account for months now….
-Steve
http://www.stevehockensmith.com