Monday, June 14, 2010

Character Interview Blogfest

I was once a reporter for the Business/Science section of Weber State University newspaper. However, I have only done character interviews during pre-nano prep month, October, and those interviews are very short. The characters don't stand out or show their personalities at all and I hated doing those exercises.

So, why did I sign up for the blogfest? 1. I forgot all that information. 2. Blogfests are awesome. 3. I learned a little how to show character personality by pretending to take part in online chats as my characters so it may go better this time.

Here it is.
The Character Interview Blogfest

Host: Sangu @ Echoes of a Wayward Mind
Rules: "Pick any one of your characters, and interview them. Then post that interview on your blog." and "Try to limit your interviews to about 500-700 words."

Check out the link to go see the other entries. Trust me, there will be some great ones for sure.


My Character: Lucas, near the beginning of the book not long after becoming a demon.
He's the one I wrote for the chat, so I figure it will be easier to do an interview with him about what his new life is like as a demon. That and it won't really spoil any plots or novel endings.  He's also one of two main characters for the novel. And yes, despite some people's views that this could be contradictory, but he's a nice demon.

The Interview

DE (that's me): Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to answer a few questions. *I prepare my notepad and make sure the tape recorder is working cause that's how I roll*

Lucas: Huh? oh, yeah. Umm, sure. Not like I had anything better to do. *He pauses and a look of concern flashes in his eyes* I mean for real. I don't do much these days, so this does give me something to do that doesn't involve fights or any other demon activity.

DE: Wow. That would be a good spot to start but we should probably start simple. What's your name?

Lucas: Well, my name is Lucas... um, something. Wow. I'm already forgetting my last name from when I was a regular human.

DE: Odd. Do you remember much from your human days?

Lucas: *ponders while crossing his ankles and then uncrossing them again* Some. Nothing big really. I remember the last few days the most but everything else has started to fade. There wasn't much great, so it's not that bad forgetting everything.

DE: *scribble notes. Considers asking about parents but need to get to the demon stuff, must move forward* Okay. What was dying like?

Lucas: It was sudden. I didn't even notice it really.

DE: What happened?

Lucas: Well, it was weird. I was walking home from church because my stepdad forced me to go that morning even though I would have preferred sleeping in. Kind of wish I hadn't gone really. Then I heard a loud noise and blackness. What seemed like a minute later, I was standing up and a friend was coming over to me. He said it had been days and told me I was dead. I didn't believe him at first.

DE: I imagine it would be hard news to take, dying. And now you're a demon? Right?

Lucas: Yep. *he laughs and shakes his head* I never believed in demons, angels or God and now I'm a (bleep) demon. It's crazy.

DE: What's life like as a demon?

Lucas: Cold.

DE: Cold? What do you mean by that?

Lucas: I mean I'm cold. They sent me to Detroit of all places where it's (bleep) freezing all the damn time. As a human I lived in Southern California. I thought it would be all fire and brimstone, but no... I get gray city with below zero winters. Guess that counts as hell though since I sure as (bleep) don't enjoy it.

DE: Guess that could make sense. What does a demon do? Do you have a job?

Lucas: Ugh. *he looks away, starting to pick at the seat of his chair* From what I can tell, though I'm still learning about all this crap, there are different things a demon can do. I work in message delivery and sometimes handle dirty work surrounding those messages but not often. Most the details are not to be shared with humans or anyone other than those specified. That's my only real job at the moment though I might need something so I can get a place to live. Staying on another demon's couch kinda sucks.

DE: I'm sure you have much to do, so I'll skip ahead to a question I'm sure many people would be wondering, since you're a demon. Have you ever met Satan, the devil, and if so what's he like?

Lucas: I haven't met Satan, I haven't met God. Wish I could tell you something cool, I really do but I know nothing for this question. Maybe one day I'll meet someone important but right now I just get to meet lesser demons.

DE: No worries. Thank you so much for taking the time and answering my questions.

Lucas: Eh. It's no big deal.

DE: You're so nice for a demon. How is that possible?

Lucas: *smiles and shrugs*



The End

22 comments:

Kris n' Kels said...

Cute :) I like your character, and I'm intrigued by your story too :)

<3 Kelsey Leigh

stu said...

I like the character, though I might possibly have liked for slightly more depth about what makes him work. The loss of memory angle intrigues me, because if memory has a lot to do with identity, then at what point does he cease to be himself?

Ju Dimello said...

Wow :) Like your character interview. My latest hero is a demon too - albeit a confused one with too many ladies seeking his attention ;)

I dropped in here from the top title blogfest and have one more nice blog to follow :)

Rigel said...

Oh, wow. I like your character and I, too, am interested in your story. :)

Sangu Mandanna said...

Wow! I thought it was fantastic how you managed to incorporate information about the story as well as show off your character so perfectly!

Thank you for participating!

Mia Hayson said...

NICE :)

I really like how open and honest he is. You got yourself a brilliant character there ;)

Dawn Embers said...

Thanks everyone.

Kels - Great to have someone like it and guess I should work on writing the novel.

stu - Yeah. Good thing interviewing characters isn't necessary because I'm not good at going in depth at this point. My other ones from pre-nano were even less so. And the memory thing is new. That just came up last night, but part of it probably is not letting their old self affect their new demon life, or something like that.

Ju - interesting. Demons can be fun though this is the only book of mine with them. And if ladies go for him, he'll just stare at them from confusion. lol Not really. He'll tell them easily he's not interested but did have fun not letting his orientation known to the demons he works with for awhile.

Rigel - :-D Thanks.

Sangu - aww, you're gonna make me blush. I really did it after midnight cause I had nothing better to post. I'm so glad it works for you.

Mia - hehe, yay! Glad you like it.

Amalia Dillin said...

Very interesting that his memories are slipping away! Sounds like an intriguing story!

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Aww! this is so cute! i LOVE his personality! you made me laugh when you had asked Lucas if he has met Satan, that's so cute...!
read my interview and let me know what you think! ;)

Writer Junkie said...

I hate to say, I just adore Lucas! My favorite part was when he was talking about disliking the cold. I think that's when he really came alive for me. Gave me something to relate too.

FYI- Since the days of Charmed I love demon good guys. :)

Nicely done!

Writer Junkie said...

Okay... that was suppose to read "I have to say NOT HATE!! Grrr.. my fingers were ahead of my brain again.

Sorry!

Unknown said...

Awww I like him! Great interview, I can almost hear him talk.

And when he says 'Cold' when you ask what it's like to be a demon? Best line ever.

Keep it up!!! (I want to read this book)

Tessaxx

RaShelle Workman said...

Ah, your demon is sweet. I like that he hates the bleeping cold. LOL

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I believe there are demons in Detroit!

Anonymous said...

Like Stu, I too would have liked more depth, but I wonder if it was really possible with the memory loss...how much depth does a person's character have when they have no sense of identity? In that respect, it was very well done.

And yeah, that's be a bummer to have to go to Detroit on demon-duty. On human-duty too, for that matter... ;-)

Dawn Embers said...

Amalia - I hope it's an intriguing story. We'll see how it turns out.

Elizabeth - I'll get to everyone's posts when I can. Been gone all day. That Satan question was last minute, comes from writing this after midnight.

Suzie - Glad you like him. I remember Charmed but the demon ended up not so nice towards the end of when I watched it. I stopped not long after Pru died though. Still loved the show.

Tessa - hehehe, I enjoyed that response too. It's simple, not expected but works. :-D

RaShelle - Indeed. He can be very nice, which will make his years as a demon complicated.

Alex - it seemed like a fitting location for demons. *nods*

Dawn Embers said...

sharongerlach - Thanks for the response. Part of the in depth problem is just my lack of writing it well. I didn't want to do too much because people sometimes post entries for these things that are way too long. Glad I didn't post the interviews I had done because those were very lacking in depth at all.


Now for the memory thing. I don't think that has to do with the lack of depth. He still has most of his self understanding and his personality in tact. It's just easier for someone, in my mind, who dies and has to live for who knows how long afterwards as anything else that they be able to forget the past ones they loved.

He doesn't care for his stepdad, for example, but his mom he really loved. And if he remembers her constantly, wonders how she's doing and has the desire to make sure she's okay, that could be a problem. In fact, that's where shows such as "Dead Like Me" got some of there drama/tension, from her desire to see her family after she is dead. I'm not going for that because he has enough tension in his new life and the boy he falls in love with, cause he still knows that he's gay. Dying didn't change that.

It's something new that came up and I may keep it, may toss it. We'll see. Yay for first drafts.

Kristie Cook said...

This was truly great stuff, Dawn! Not flat at all. The body language helped him come alive, but the answers were real, too. I liked the "cold" answer and I have a feeling he means more than just the weather. I hope we get to know Lucas more soon.

Haley Jo said...

I can't wait to read about all the things Lucas does. He seems pretty interesting to me!

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Another person here who liked the part about Lucas hating the cold!

Andrew Rosenberg said...

Aww, he seems nice.
Now what exactly did you bleep?

I kinda want to know what else he's struggling with besides the cold & bein dead n stuff. what's really driving him at this point...

Dawn Embers said...

Kristie - :-D Good to know you didn't think it was flat. I hope to get to know him more to, and his counterpart as it's a 2 main character book. It's taking so long to write with the mutant ones getting in the way.

Haley - Maybe I'll have him come back in another blogfest. He was in the fight one, my very first blogfest but not much since. He's all nice but mess with his boyfriend and see his wrath.

Sandra - Yay! He complains about the cold and gets made fun of for dressing like an eskimo. It's good times in that part.

Andrew - The bleep is curse words I don't want on the blog. "Damn" I think is okay but watching the rating, so bleep the rest. It's only chapter 3 of the novel, 1 being when he dies, so there will be more to come. I just need to get further along in the novel.

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