One of the things that I am interested in at the moment are wiki pages. I'm not talking about Wikipedia when I mean wiki pages - but rather wiki pages that have been created for a specific product (such as a game, book, comic, etc).
Wiki pages seem to have taken off with a huge interest - and why not? Wiki pages are a great way to expand the universe a story is set in. It allows fans of the subject to put forward their own information and research on the subject (provided it's legit) and even gives them the chance to put forth information that may have not previously been known before. But it's not just fictional stories that have benefited from having a wiki - you can even find some wikis that share food recipes or knit wear - there is probably even a wiki based around drinking tea if you look hard enough!
Personally I love wiki's. If I like a story and am interested in it, I love checking out wikis of it. I love reading about character backgrounds and the history of the world and people that inhabit it - even going into finding out the strengths and weaknesses of the characters powers. They are a great way to introduce beginners to new material and open up the world for them. Although I do feel that some wiki's are too spoiler friendly for my liking and I think many of them should be a bit more careful in this respect.
For fantasy and science fiction stories, I think wiki's are a great idea and can act as a real companion piece to a series of books. So much so that I decided to create my OWN wiki, based around the world of Draconica, the world were my novels are set in.
This was an idea that I have for a while and only really decided to do this a few months back, but now I really enjoy it. However, I decided to do my wiki a little differently - in that I was careful not to include spoilers where it was necessary, so as to not spoil any surprises where the characters are concerned. Not only that, but I also added in some stuff that wasn't included in the books I have out - including some history or characters that aren't mentioned, but have a place in Draconican history.
You could argue that I could be wasting my time doing this - what if no one reads it? Well, that's always the problem with any website you put up. Heck, there's always a danger that any blog post I put up will never be read by anyone. But this is my theory, even if no one does read it, it's still there for when someone does. Also, for me, having a wiki page allows me to expand the universe of Draconica without needing to put this information in my novels. Personally, I am not a fan of books that go into long winded explanations of the history of a world when a new character is introduced as this can ruin the flow of the book. If I can just elude to a certain part in a story, then I've always got this wiki page people can go to if they want to find out more info about it.
Also, I think having a wiki page of events that HAVEN'T happened in the story yet will be great incase I decided to go back and see if there is anything I can use for a future story. I may even use it to put up some teaser pictures/chapters of any forthcoming works! And just in case anyone wants to write a fan fiction or their own story set on Draconica, they can use this as a reference. I dunno if that will ever happen, but you never know! The point is that I feel happier having this wiki page here as it gives me the option to really expand the world of Draconica and create an entire history for it.
So should you have a wiki page for your book? Personally, I think that's something you (the author) should decide yourself. I love the idea of having a wiki page and update it whenever I can - but I appreciate that it's not for everyone. Also, I think you need to be a little careful if you do as if you give away too many spoilers for the story, it will handicap people buying your book. That being said, it is a great way to expand your work and opens up possiblities for other stories.
To give you an idea of how my wiki page goes, I've included the link below in the picture. I will admit that this is still a work in progress, so if anyone has any experitise in this field and wishes to give me feedback, then please let me know via comment or email. All articles are 99% spoiler free and any important ones are marked so that you are aware of them.
Hope you enjoyed this little talk about wikis. If you're interested in creating a wiki of your own then please visit http://www.wikia.com/Wikia . Or if you have a wiki already, please let me know and I will happily advertise it on my website.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
Kindest
Pandragon
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