And then what happens?

For all the things I love about movies, there are a few things I don't like about them. Two of the huge ones are beginnings and endings. Now, that might seem a little strange, but let me explain. When good (meaning interesting and well developed, not necessarily morally good) characters are involved, I always want to know what happened before we're introduced, and what happens after we leave them.

Why is probably why, as much as I love movies, I'll always love books more. And the books that I especially love are the ones that keep going. Usually, this is a bad thing, but not always. See, sometimes, an author thinks that just making the initial storyline drag on and on is the same thing as keeping us interested in the characters. Not true. We need differing plots to keep us interested, otherwise more books is just annoying. (For an example of annoyingness, see Robert Jordan's books).

But in a few great instances, the author keeps us interested by coming up with enough things for the characters to do. This is great, and these authors generally become my favorites. For examples of this, see David Eddings, and in some ways, Orson Scott Card.

But the best is the Star Wars books. Now, initially, they were all disjoined, with authors creating their own characters, and using the main characters however they wanted. The great authors shone through, but there were some not so great ones thrown in the mix. But recently, Lucas and his team of whatever have realized what potential there is in the books, and grabbed the better authors (and some great new ones) to create books where the plotline is planned out in advance. Then the authors are allowed to use the characters they previously created in the best way possible.

Of course, Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest are getting on in years, so this is going to have to come to an end soon, but there is my hope that the new characters who are just as interesting as the old favorites (and are usually their children) could continue the tradition of fun battles and mysteries of the force. That is, if the authors can come up with enough enemies for them to battle. There comes a point where you think, "Hasn't this battle already been faught before?" But so far they've done a good job, so I have my hopes.

More to come on the reasons I like the books I do later, because I feel like talking about books. And maybe a little about movies, too.