Your characters favorite fiction? Other than your own of course

So If your characters have a favorite fiction(books, games, movies, anime , other media) other than the ones that YOU make, what would it be and why?

edited 14th Oct '10 8:22:46 PM by PsychoFreaX

From Est Machina:

Gant: The Dogs Of War. He likes the idea of war as a business plot, which is similar to his own motivations.

Itou: Death Of A Salesman. She doesn't like the idea of people wishing for dreams, acting as something of a motivator for the team.

Holz: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Practically his religion's holy book in easy quatrains.

Interesting topic; most people these days aren't interested in these rectangular objects with print on them in the middle.

Aglaeca (one of my characters from a Mutants And Masterminds setting) is a Robert Howard fan. Of course, being the Big Guy of the team, with a dash of Large Ham, this isn't really surprising.

Adrian, a high-school-aged character who's a closeted Tyke Bomb (along with his friends), is into Robert Heinlein (having read Starship Troopers nearly a dozen times), some British television shows, and the writings of Jean Sheperd.

I hint that the co-pilot in my story likes some wierd sci-fi tv show with saurupods protagonists in it (although I could always flesh that bit out more). Other than that, I have no idea. I haven't gotten to that level of detail with the characters much, or it just hasn't came up yet. Interesting question, though.

The Hot-Blooded main hero is a fan of westerns, he adapts a cowboy motif and thinks of John Wayne as the standard of all manliness.

The Supporting Protagonist is sort of sheltered, mostly digging philosophy and epic poems. Which suits him both as a Meta-guy when it comes to any theological or mythological references in the story, as well as a proto-teen genius/Nietzsche Wannabe of sorts.

The Action Girl digs Kung-Fu flicks and Pulp Magazines mostly, seeing Bruce Lee in a similer way that the protagonist sees The Duke although not taking it quite as far as him.

All are sort of Badass Bookworm or Pop-Cultured Badass however aside from them I haven't considered most character's tastes on the matter.

edited 15th Oct '10 12:16:49 AM by toalordsothe

Phil is a science fiction fan. His favourite books are eighter The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy or Jurassic Park, and his favourite movies are the original Star Wars trilogy.

Howard is interested in the supernatural (which is why he ends up becoming an actul mage) and horror. He often reads pulp-style magazines with fantasy- and horror-themed stories.

Zaran doesn't read all that much. She wathes a lot of tv, usually stuff that falls squarely in the WTF-territory (her in-universe favourite show is an anime featuring magical girls, giant mechas and lots of explosions).

edited 15th Oct '10 1:27:53 AM by Nomic

As for the characters in my movies:

Feelgood and Longbottom like Ninja Gaiden (although neither has beaten it). Longbottom also loves Donkey Kong on Game Boy (interestingly enough the GB was just a prop before the actor got hooked on it.) Princess Cowabunga is a fan of Ghost Rider.

Not fictional, but Feelgood enjoys Motley Crue documentaries and teen magazines from the early 90s. Longbottom likes Donna Summer.

edited 17th Oct '10 12:10:47 AM by DrFurball

The Keet Badass Normal Hero enjoys watching wrestilng matches and Adventure series starring The Drifter.

The insufferable Smart Guy and foil for the hero, oddly enough, likes soap operas and Romantic movies.

The Friendly Sniper and Team Mom likes super hero comic books like Green Lantern.

The Heroic Sociopath Action Girl prefers Lighting things on fire, hurting people and reading 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes.

edited 17th Oct '10 9:19:58 AM by heartlessmushroom

I've thought about this for exactly two of my characters. One of them was a construction worker with a no-nonsense attitude and a(n overly) strong belief in self-reliance. When I tried to come up with a Long List of things he'd use to describe himself, one of the things I realized was that he'd really love Atlas Shrugged. The other was a cheerful, slightly dimwitted psycho with a determination to be a "hero" and a fascination with the graceful movements of cats. She'd somehow watched an unspecified anime in the original Japanese, without actually understanding Japanese, and nobody could convince her that the main character was the guy with the sword rather than the girl with cat ears.

I can imagine Private Inspector Heathers greatly enjoying the works of HP Lovecraft. Horror in general, really.

I have a character that really loves the X-files. Which is strange because I've never actually watched any of it

Ace: loves Stargate especially SG 1 she loves its Nakama vibe and more or less optimistic outlook. She may have once had a crush on Daniel Jackson. She is also a fan of Sci-Fi in general. She is also probably a closeted Twilight fan (or has at least read the books).

Ghost: is a fan of Scifi and comic books. He associates himself with Batman.

edited 30th Dec '10 10:07:13 PM by HistoryMaker

Only four I've thought of, and in three cases they become directly plot relevant in the form of Wrong Genre Savvy.

Isaac like classic science fiction novels (I named him after Isaac Asimov, after dropping his previous name because I had too many names starting with "A"), and named Destiny III in the manner of science fiction (it's the third planet from a star his boss named Destiny). But he's got enough experience with the world to know there are things best left buried, For Science! be damned.

Alexander also likes Science Fiction, in his case Star Trek, Firefly and Doctor Who (though he detests most of his fellow fans). He therefore assumes Clarke's Third Law is in effect when dealing with magic, and has science teams to study it. This ends poorly for said science teams.

My main protagonist, Julia, raised on earth by Muggle Foster Parents, is the daughter of a monarch. She has watched far too many Disney movies and has an idealistic view of what her title entails. Her genetic father is a deranged sorcerer-king who started as The Caligula, and worked his way up to a Humanoid Abomination as he gained more power, and lost what little sanity he had, over the centuries of his existence.

Julia's muggle brother, Greg, is a red-blooded, all-American star athlete... and a Closet Geek with a taste for Shōnen. But being Hot-Blooded proves to be a bad idea when dealing with Deadly Decadent Courts where almost everyone carries a sword and has been training with it since the age of six. Except the ones who will just Mind Rape you instead.

edited 30th Dec '10 11:06:21 PM by KillerClowns

Morgan Kelgrave writes poetry and short stories; he never shows anyone, but he writes in his spare time. Autumn enjoys pulp mysteries and penny-dreadfuls...such is her guilty pleasure as it is not considered "proper" for a woman to read such things (or to be well-read in general). Her oldest daughter Selene likes to read anything she can get her hands on.

I think Aurus would like Captain Underpants. Well, Aurus likes anything kind of goofy and with a possibility of (mildly) grating adults' nerves. Rampant slapstick is also good with him so he'd probably like Tom And Jerry too.

Oddly, I have no blithering clue what Aiden would like and Aiden explicitly mentions repeatedly that he is an aspiring writer so he must read something! x_x *author fail* But considering how jumpy he is, I'm sure he doesn't like the horror genre very much. He probably reads whatever is considered "the classics" in his universe because he seems to look down on Charlie's love of mindless explosions and Two-Fisted Tales.

Landon likes action and thrillers, but based on the fact he seems to be totally aware of vampire tropes, someone at some point has shoved lots of vampire fiction down his throat, though I'm not sure if he liked it or not.

edited 31st Dec '10 1:20:21 AM by Kaxen

Elliot is a Speculative Fiction geek with a focus on classic science fiction, which... isn't terribly surprising.

Jennifer has a private obsession with 19th-century poetry, especially T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost. I have a vague sort of idea that she'd really like Agatha Christie, but I don't know that she's ever run across her books.

I think Morgan reads mostly non-fiction, but I don't actually know what else she likes, which is rather odd considering how open she tends to be about her tastes. She must have consumed a decent amount of science fiction at some point, though, considering she's the next-most Genre Savvy after Elliot...

Arthur's tastes are similar to Morgan's, with a lot of political philosophy, but also psychological thrillers and detective fiction. He also apparently has a soft spot for romance novels that he is not prone to discussing.

edited 31st Dec '10 10:08:27 AM by Noaqiyeum

From my My Immortal fanfic:

Tara Gilesbie's favorite books are Harry Potter and her own awful, awful work.

Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way's favorite book is Dracula because she's a vampire, but she's never actually read it. And she doesn't have to.

Caroline reads light novels, especially set in exotic locations, some romance, and she likes poetry as well.

Kestrel likes reading poetry as well, and classics, although she'll read most genres given the chance. I can picture her favourite being Paradise Lost - she was growing up around the time it was written.

Joseph prefers nonfiction, especially politics and science, but he also reads a lot of legal books since he's a solicitor.

Here goes

• Alex reads classical books like Pride And Prejudice and Dracula. She has a great appreciation for Sherlock Holmes too, but is inclined towards practical things like The Art Of War.
• Neth, while reading The Prince, likes manga. Especially harem like Rosario To Vampire. He's a funny little psychopath.

edited 7th Jan '11 4:40:36 AM by StolenByFaeries

My current protagonist, a depressed outcast, owns an autographed copy of A Clockwork Orange. I wasn't sure why until I started thinking about it, and realized that he probably likes the book because reading about Alex's sociopathic behavior makes him feel better about his own depravity. (Yes, this character is intentionally over-the-top.)

He also read Lolita at the age of eight, but only understood about 10% of it, and got the idea that Humbert Humbert was jailed and otherwise shunned for his usage of big words. This misunderstanding became disastrous when he casually mentioned in school how he thought Lolita was a heartbreaking tale of a man being irrationally crushed and destroyed by a society that hated him just for being different. Yeah.

At around the same age, he thought The Little Engine That Could was a heartbreaking tale of the deepest kind.

He is also familiar with To Kill A Mockingbird, but I'm not sure what his views on it are. (Jeez, I'm talking about him like he's real.)