Hello everyone! Slushpilemonster.com invited me to guest blog for them. I am honored they enjoyed my blog enough to feature me over there. I wrote about character interviews and provided a sample interview of how one might look. Find the post here.
One of my helpful tips included using different styles of interrogation. Today, I wanted to show how the same questions would elicit a different response for your characters. Let's get started!
Interview with Isaac by A well-established older light keeper
Me: Isaac! Good to see you. Glad you came for this chat.
Isaac: (wide-eyed, nodding and smiling while he sits) Yeah, of course.
Me: You seem very interested in your grandfather's death. I know you two weren't close, can you tell me why that is?
Isaac: No, we weren't, but it was just suspicious. Everyone was keeping secrets and being real short about it. I know now it's because he was a light keeper, and mom didn't want to be one and didn't want me to be one either.
Me: (Leaning in to whisper) Does it bother you they kept that from you for so long?
Isaac: I wish I had known for sure. If I had grown up knowing, you know, my grandfather could have taught me a lot of this stuff that I'm trying to figure out. Even my mom doesn't really have answers for me because she didn't train either. I think Yara said something like the blind leading the deaf, or whatever that saying is.
-END INTERVIEW-
I could keep going, but I don't want to give away secrets from the book! In this example, I start the interview the very same way as the original (with a professional and calm interviewer). Having the tone of this interview being from someone Isaac admires, he feels more comfortable to over-share, perhaps even going out of his way to say what he feels might impress the interviewer. Obviously, it is my choice what gets said, but as I type, I feel the tone of the responses changing, leading me down a different follow-on question path than the original interview.
Let's look now at an interviewer tone that is a more aggressive/interrogation style.
Me: Sit down.
Isaac: (Sits, his body is stiff, he hasn't made eye contact) What is this about?
Me: I'll be asking the questions. ( I sit cross my arms and lean forward, invading his space) Now tell me what you know about your grandfather's death.
Isaac: Nothing! (Tries scoot backward)
Me: Oh yeah? I think you do. In fact, (I stand) I think you know exactly what happened.
Isaac: (Crosses his arms) Well, I don't, okay? My mom told me he had a heart attack. Any time I tried to ask after then, that's all she says. I know now that he was light keeper, too, but without his journal, I don't even know what he was working on. So, maybe a faerie killed him or something, but I don't have any proof. I. Don't. Know.
Me: What journal?
Isaac: (Shrugs) I've never seen it. Couldn't tell you. (Isaac leans forward) And I wouldn't tell you anyway.
-END INTERVIEW-
Here I think it's obvious for a character like Isaac this is a terrible interview style. While he may be intimidated at first, he quickly becomes defensive and then ultimately shuts it down. This fails because Isaac is very proud and doesn't like being treated like someone insignificant. This interview style can be helpful, though, especially if you have another character who acts this way. Especially if you think your character needs to be knocked down a few pegs or is potentially keeping a secret. How would your character have a secret that you, the writer, don't know about? Well, that happens to me all the time, but let your questions guide you and see where you end up.
Let's try one more example now, this time someone who might admire Isaac.
Me: Wow! I can't believe you're here.
Isaac: (Smiles and sits, offering me a high-five) Sure. I can't wait. What questions do you have for me?
Me: Well, I actually wanted to ask about your grandpa. Is it true you weren't very close to him, and you don't know how he died?
Isaac: Yes, it's true. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with grandfather, so we didn't really do big family get-togethers, but that had more to do with my mom than me. I think he just died before I really had a chance to know him better. I was only nine when it happened. As far as how he died, I know only what my mom told me. I always thoughts something was fishy about that story, though.
Me: Like what?
Isaac: For starters, he wasn't here when he died. My mom even mentioned once to my aunts that he didn't have any heart problems. So because he was always traveling, I used to pretend he was a spy like James Bond or something, but now I know he was a light keeper, like me (Smiles). I think something happened to him, but I'm not sure what. And to be entirely honest, I don't think my mom or my aunts know either. I think they're suspicious of what happened, but they don't really have a way to look into it.
Me: Since you're a light keeper, do you think you'll try to figure out what really happened?
Isaac: That's tough. I would love to know, but we haven't found anything that could tell us what he was working on. All I know is he was in Germany.
Me: What's in Germany?
Isaac: (Shakes his head and exhales slowly) I'm not sure. I think in a few years, when my mom won't have a panic attack at the thought of me traveling, I might see if I can piece it together.
Me: What is your wildest theory about it?
Isaac: Besides being a spy? (Laughs) I think he was onto something. Found out about a really dangerous faerie or some plans to destroy humans, and I think they wanted to take him out before he could tell anyone else.
-END INTERVIEW-
In that scenario, Isaac is quite comfortable. When we are at ease, conversation flows, and characters, like Isaac, become chatterboxes.
Why would I bother with any other style if the last scenario elicits more answers? If you look at the information gathered across the four styles, you see some things don't change, but each had another fact to offer. Over at Slushpile Monster, that interview started to prod at Isaac's fears of being a light keeper and dying like his grandfather. In the idol interview, Isaac leans into discussing his frustrations with his family. While we don't learn anything from the interrogation-style interview through Isaac's words, his actions tell us a lot about his personality, that when backed into a corner, he leans into the fight, not away from it. In the last one, we got to dive deeper into Isaac's theories about his grandfather and his plans for the future.
Each of those interviews was cut short for demonstration purposes and to keep some secrets for the book. I believe even from those few questions, you can see how the line of questioning would continue and how I can get deeper and deeper into Isaac's train of thought. Now, if I were to put Yara in the chair in each of those scenarios, she wouldn't respond the same. Yara and Isaac are entirely different personality types.
I challenge you to try one small interview with a side character you'd like to know better. Post in the comments one new thing you learned from the interview.
Happy Writing!
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