Interviewing Your Characters

I’ve blogged about the importance of knowing your characters before. Non-writers laugh at us sometimes when we speak of our characters like he or she is our friend or enemy. But this is how it should be. We should know our characters well, very well. That’s not to say that a character won’t sometimes do something that will surprise us, but when that happens it really shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to us, because we know him so well, right?

As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of interviewing my characters. Sometimes it’s very helpful. Ever see a politician or an actor get tripped up on a question? Makes you wonder about them, right? Interviewing your characters is a great way to keep him from getting tripped up within the plot of your story. It will keep him from behaving out of character, which is totally different than doing something surprising. And it will keep you secure in who this guy is that you have created.

I love the television show, Inside The Actor’s Studio with James Lipton. At the end of each interview, he has his guest answer the questionnaire made famous by French television personality, Bernard Pivot. Perhaps these questions aren’t for you. No biggie. Make up your own. I have another set I ask my character that help delve deep enough to really draw out my character’s personality.

The questions below are pretty light, but I think they help firm of the edges of a three dimensional character.

I’ve answered the questions like my mc Sayra from the novel I’m currently querying. Hopefully it will tell you something about her without a long drawn out summary.

1. What is your favorite word? Vrrroooom!
2. What is your least favorite word? Murder
3. What turns you on? Working on my car
4. What turns you off? Undeserved Entitlement
5. What sound or noise do you love? The purring engine of my 67 Mustang.
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Girls giggling. Ugh.
7. What is your favorite curse word? Shit.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I don’t have a profession, but I’d probably like to be a mechanic.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that would require me to wear makeup and nail polish on a daily basis.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? I gave you these psychic dreams so you can make a difference in the world.

Since I write YA, I also add:

11. What do you want to achieve by the time you graduate, turn eighteen, return from summer break…etc.? Whatever the setting is for your novel will help to fill in that question.
I hope to have my father embrace my gift, gain better control over my psychic dreams, and use my visions to help people. Oh and maybe get drag racing legalized in Monterey California.

Take some time out and set up and interview. Use these light-hearted questions or dig deeper and see if it helps round out your characters!

In Interview with a Light Bringer

This is the second in my four week series to interview my characters from Light Bringers...hope you enjoy!


Article by Rosepddle of the Telling Point Gazette.

After my interview with Venator Ryan Webb, I was contacted by a young woman claiming to be a Light Bringer. (For those of you who have no idea what a Light Bringer is, your questions will be answered below). Obviously, I was skeptical. Light Bringers have been a rare—if not extinct—breed for as long as I can remember. With the assurance of Ryan Webb that this was not a hoax, I agreed to meet this young lady, because after all, I’m more than a little curious to see if she really is a Light Bringer.

The day before I was set to meet this supposed Light Bringer, I received a call from Ryan laying down the rules. Now, I’m no stranger to rules when interviewing someone. People are always trying to tell reporters what we can and can not ask, but these rules were a little odd. I am not allowed to know her full name. I am not to take any photos, or even bring a photographer, nor am I to describe her too completely. Also, I am not allowed to ask any questions that will lead to her identity. I have to admit, the rules only made me more interested.

I arrive at the designated area, but I am unable to get there first, like usual, and watch my interviewee arrive. We are in a national park on a beautiful fall day. Several Venators, in full combat gear, have created a perimeter. I’m not sure if they’re here to protect her or keep me in line. Her name is Kalie and she is seventeen. I can not tell you what she looks like, other than to say that she is petite and cute as a pixie in jeans and a light-weight blue jacket.

We walk down a path where the reddish-orange leave flutter from the trees. The Venators keep their distance, with the exception of Ryan who walks a few paces behind us.

Rosepddle: It’s nice to meet you, Kalie. This seems like a lot of fuss for a simple conversation.

Kalie: [Jerks her thumb over her shoulder with a smile] He’s a bit overprotective.

Rosepddle: It’s obvious that your safety is important to Ryan. Have you two known each other long?

Kalie: All of my life. I was raised by his— [Kalie is interrupted with a warning from Ryan not to go any further about her childhood information. She opens her mouth, possibly to argue, but then understanding sets in and she presses her lips together.]

Rosepddle: Tell me, Kalie, why did you want to speak with me?

Kalie: Because the Gazette is a respectable paper and I wanted to…well, I don’t really know what I hope to achieve with this interview. I just don’t want to hide any longer. I want to be free to shout out in a room full of strangers that I am a Light Bringer and not have to fear for my life.

Rosepddle: Explain that. Tell us about Light Bringers and why it’s so dangerous for you?

Kalie: Well, I’m endowed with the ability to heal others. And the reason I fear for my life is because people can be irrational when faced with death. I don’t believe the majority of the population wants to hurt Light Bringers. It would be counterproductive. But, imagine if you were sick or dying and knew there was someone out there who could heal you, wouldn’t you do anything and everything to get that person to help you? The problem comes in when people don’t understand the limits of my gift, don’t understand or care that I can be seriously harmed if I’m not strong enough to cure them. Our history has shown that the fear of death, especially when a cure is within reach, can make people do things they wouldn’t normally do. It’s like the mob mentality.

Rosepddle: But it’s more than that, isn’t it? I’ve done some research and your gift can be deadly to people, correct?”

Kalie: Yes. If it’s not utilized correctly, or if it’s used malevolently, Light Bringers can kill.

Rosepddle: Can you show me? Explain to me how your gift works.
[Kalie glances back at Ryan and they communicate something silently. Then, she stretches her arms out in front of her, palms down. White Light rains from her palms and fingertips. The brown grass around our feet begins to grow, lush and vibrantly green. Instinctually, I step back and immediately see how my reaction upsets the young Light Bringer as she shuts down her rain of Light.]

Kalie: This can’t hurt you. There are two facets to my endowment. When I give Light—like what I just did—it heals wounds, regenerates tissue and replenishes living things. The other part of my gift is to cure. [Her hands glow white, no drizzling or pouring this time, just a blinding glove. She turns them, flexing her fingers.] Like this, I can touch you and extract disease, pain or any illness from you and take it into my body. I need water to get rid of any ailments I take from someone. Usually, I just rinse my hands, but any part of me in water will cause the sick energy to leave my body.
What makes the gift deadly is, in this state, I can simply absorb all of your energy, your life force and you will die. [Her hands stop glowing and she folds them demurely in front of her. She seems painfully aware that she has frightened me.] We are misunderstood, ma’am. I’ve been taught to use my gift to help others, but because of the dangers I face from people who want to harm me—before I supposedly harm them—or people who would hurt me or the ones I love to force me to help them, I am forced to hide and I don’t want to any longer.

Rosepddle: Do you have any ideas on how you can be yourself and be safe?

Kalie: We need to make it illegal to threaten, coerce or blackmail Light Bringers into using their gifts. Crimes against Light Bringers should have harsh punishments. I’m not against helping people. In fact, I really want to. But it needs to be controlled and protected. Just like there are laws to protect doctors as well as patients, there should be the same with Light Bringers, but stronger. And just as you need to make an appointment to see a doctor, you should have to make one for me. [She shrugs.] I haven’t really thought it all out…

Rosepddle: Oh I’d say you’ve thought it out plenty and I hope you get all of that and more.

Kalie: Thank you.

Rosepddle: It was fascinating meeting you, Kalie. I hope to get a chance to speak with you again.

She thanks me again, shakes my hand. I am briskly escorted to my vehicle and all but forced out of the park. From my rearview mirror I see Ryan and Kalie embrace. He no longer looks like a soldier, but a comforting friend. Something tells me that there is more to their relationship than what meets the eye.

An Interview with a Venator

As promised, the first in a four week series of interviews with characters from my novel LIGHT BRINGERS.


Article by, Rosepddle of the Telling Point Gazette

I arrive at the trendy café, Vintage, in downtown Telling Point, before Ryan Webb. It’s something that I like to do with interviews, get a chance to watch people make an entrance when they aren’t aware they are being studied.

I sip caramel macchiato and only wait five minutes for my interviewee. Having only seen a file photo of Ryan Webb, I am not prepared for the utter power that radiates from him. Arguably one of the most powerful Telekinetics in the nation, perhaps the world—I believe he could level the café with a mere flicker of thought—and at only nineteen. His entry doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by the females. It’s impossible not to glance in his direction, standing at six-foot-four, lean, blond and tanned with sparkling green eyes, he certainly garners attention.

He swaggers toward me with the confidence of a much older man. There’s a smile in his eyes until they land on the recorder I’ve placed on the table. Apprehension passes over his face and now he looks his age.

He greets me with the respect of a well-mannered, well-trained soldier. He sits and we exchange pleasantries until the waitress arrives. Ryan smiles up at her and asks for a grape soda. She is flummoxed by his order, in this oh-so-trendy café, but the dreamy way she looks at him makes me wonder if she’d bring him all the money in the register if he asked.

Rosepddle: Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Webb.

Ryan Webb: You can call me Ryan. And my Chief ordered me to come.

R: Why’s that?

RW: [Shrugs] ‘Cause I had a few high profile, erm, incidents in the past few weeks and the PR department thought it would be good press for Caligatus Defense Unit and the Venators. Probably shouldn’t have told you that, though.

R: So let’s talk about your career. It’s very impressive that you’ve achieved the rank of sergeant at the age of nineteen.

RW: I’ll be twenty soon.

R: Explain to our readers just what a Venator does and how you became one at such a young age. What’s a typical day for you?

RW: Well, um, Venators are a special ops team of soldiers designed to police the endowed society. I’ve wanted to be one since I was seven, so I tested when I was seventeen and made it into the program. After two years on the job you can take the sergeants exam. [Shrugs again] I don’t think anyone expected me to pass, not even me. There really isn’t a typical day as a Venator. The job is a mix between the marines and police work. Like last month, we tracked down a serial rapist who had the ability to move through solid objects, making him impossible for standard police to catch since he could slip right through walls.

R: That’s a creepy endowment to have.

RW: [His eyes harden at my answer] My partner has that ability. It’s not the endowment that’s flawed, ma’am. It’s the person.

R: You’re right, I apologize. You were the youngest person ever to become a Venator, correct?

RW: Yes ma’am.

R: Did you find it difficult being so young?

RW: In some ways. Venator training is physically and mentally demanding, and being young gave me an advantage with energy and stamina. But then sometimes it’s hard for the older guys to take me seriously. Doing this interview isn’t going to make it any easier.

R: Sorry.

RW: Not your fault.

R: You’re a powerful Telekinetic, is that something that runs in your family? Do you find it helps a lot in your job?

RW: Everyone in my immediate family is a Telekinetic, just not as strong as I am. And yeah, I use my gift quite a bit in my duties as a Venator.

R: Could you demonstrate?
[Before I’ve finished my question, the items on our table are floating. He sits at ease, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had just asked him, I wouldn’t have known he was responsible.]

R: Not to sound jaded, I really am impressed, but could you do something to demonstrate just how powerful you really are?
[Something nearly undetectable passes through his eyes as everything that isn’t nailed down in the café begins to rise. As squeals and yelps scatter around the establishment, my attention is drawn to the blaring horns and screams from outside. The parked cars lining the block have also risen several feet in the air.]

R: Wow, I stand impressed.
[His smile is quick and slightly embarrassed as everything lowers with quiet grace.]

R: Ryan, what would you like to see in your future?

RW: Well, I’d like to continue to move up the ladder. Maybe make it to Chief one day. And I’d like to make the world a safer place for those endowed people who have to hide their gifts. None of us should have to hide.

[He looks far away as he answers. When I questioned him further on that topic he shakes it off. But it’s obvious he has a deeper reason for wanting safety for all of the gifted society.]

R: Before I conclude this interview, once we add a photo of you to this article, my readers will string me up if I don’t ask if you’re single.
[He hesitates, blushing shyly and then he nods. Yes, he is single, but I doubt he’ll be that way for long.]

R: Thank you, Ryan. I enjoyed speaking with you.

RW: No problem. [He shakes my hand and is out of the café quickly, attracting the same attention as when he walked in.]