Well, here's a few ideas (most of them borrowed from other fantasy novels, though, alas):
They could write back to their readers - that's not direct action, but it's a way of interacting, at least.
They could physically move around - crawling on their pages, snapping at people, eating things, etc.
They could mind-control their readers (Either directly - giving commands - or a more subtle full-mental takeover - or just destroying their sanity).
They could rewrite the world, either in some mystical sense where changing the words on the pages changed the world, or in a universe where magic worked through words, writing, or diagrams, they could work spells directly, or write things that became real when they were read.
They could have some sort of power that lets them move things telekinetically, or lets them "haunt" the library where they live in the ways a ghost could, or lets them change the contents of other written things.
They could be able to manipulate or shape-change the paper in their pages semi-magically - I've read a couple comics with librarian superheroes (just go with it) where they can manipulate paper, making everything from bridges and pathways to razor-sharp cutting weapons to tentacles to complex origami machinery; and then disassemble it and return the paper to an innocent stack; so I can see a book having similar abilities with its pages.
ETA: Or they could manipulate their ink - a book with prehensile tentacles of black ink that it tucks back to words when it's in danger would be both a very creepy villain and a very cool protagonist.
They could have symbiotic bookworms or silverfish that did the fetching and carrying for them.
They could take part in a 'network' of other intelligent books that spend all their time gossipping with each other through L-SPACE connections.
They could turn completely inward, refusing to believe in any world outside what's on their pages, and the story could be about drawing them out and helping them figure out *how* to interact with wider existence...
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Date: 2010-09-10 04:40 am (UTC)They could write back to their readers - that's not direct action, but it's a way of interacting, at least.
They could physically move around - crawling on their pages, snapping at people, eating things, etc.
They could mind-control their readers (Either directly - giving commands - or a more subtle full-mental takeover - or just destroying their sanity).
They could rewrite the world, either in some mystical sense where changing the words on the pages changed the world, or in a universe where magic worked through words, writing, or diagrams, they could work spells directly, or write things that became real when they were read.
They could have some sort of power that lets them move things telekinetically, or lets them "haunt" the library where they live in the ways a ghost could, or lets them change the contents of other written things.
They could be able to manipulate or shape-change the paper in their pages semi-magically - I've read a couple comics with librarian superheroes (just go with it) where they can manipulate paper, making everything from bridges and pathways to razor-sharp cutting weapons to tentacles to complex origami machinery; and then disassemble it and return the paper to an innocent stack; so I can see a book having similar abilities with its pages.
ETA: Or they could manipulate their ink - a book with prehensile tentacles of black ink that it tucks back to words when it's in danger would be both a very creepy villain and a very cool protagonist.
They could have symbiotic bookworms or silverfish that did the fetching and carrying for them.
They could take part in a 'network' of other intelligent books that spend all their time gossipping with each other through L-SPACE connections.
They could turn completely inward, refusing to believe in any world outside what's on their pages, and the story could be about drawing them out and helping them figure out *how* to interact with wider existence...