Character Interviews

[Peter2683]

So this idea came to me froma friends page that I thought might be interesting not only for my work but for all new authors work.

What if you could ask a question to some of the most interesting characters you've ever read about. Ask Luke skywalker about the force, ask sherlock holmes about watson, even ask a ships captain how much they really know about their ship.

Obviously alot is open to interpretation but sometimes a nugget you learn makes the characters story seem even more interesting.

Next mondaY ill be having an interview with my charcter Peter Farrell also know as the shadow from my work dawn of the shadow. But i wont leave it to just me to ask the questions. The story of a young man who becomes a ,masked vigilante for some might be interesting for others not. If this is successful this could be a recurring segment where new authors allow interested parties to learn more about certain charcters.

So what does everyone think?

http://dawnoftheshadow.webs.com/
http://dreambooksllc.com/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036TH352

[darkbow]

I've contemplated interviewing some of my own characters, but thought better of it when I realized most of them probably would not speak to me and wouldn't even like me. Heck, a few might gack me just for asking for the interview. And a particular one, when in a bad mood, would probably torture me, kill me, raise me from the dead, repeat this several times, then make sure I spent a very long time in the lowest pits of hell. Then hunt down my family, friends and pets and do the same to them. After setting flame to everything I own. But only when he's in a bad mood.

I figured it was best to skip the interviews.

[Lyn McConchie]

It seems quite an interesting idea to me.

[von Darkmoor]

Robert Rhodes has been doing a series of character sketches on FantasyLiterature.com. While I've not read them word-for-word, I have found them - and their artwork - fascinating and overall a great idea, one I would think would serve an author on his/her personal site a bit better, falling as it does in the 'free-to-the-fans' category. Regardless of where it is found I think it a way to encourage and reward fans - of course, it only works if you have them, so spending time doing this rather than writing and promoting your writing in order to get more fans seems counterproductive. Then there's always those problems darkbow brings up

[darkbow]

Yeah, Jason. I asked a few of my characters to check out this thread. Kron raised an evil eyebrow, glared at me, then said, "You've got to be kidding." Belgad hefted an ax over a shoulder, said "Don't even think about it," then walked away. Dee just laughed and laughed and laughed. Then said, "Idiot, I'd burn everything you own before I tortured and killed you and sent you to hell."

[SJHigbee]

Hm. I recall that Beatrix Potter had the same issues with Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny...

[Peter2683]

As i mentioned I wanted to do an interview with the main character of my story and here it is.

Join me here for a one on one interview with the nightly protector of the streets Shadow. A seemingly one man army on the streets of Philadelphia saving its citzens from the worst scum. Shadow has been a mystery from the get go for Philadelphia and its denizens. Today though we will meet the man under the mask. What sort of soul must live the life of a nightly guardian.



Peter Farrell was just a normal college kid looking for a path in life. Then one day and his entire world changed. What must have gone through his mind as he changed from the boy he was to man he was destined to become. Find out how he became extraordinary, how he gained his powers, and what made become a hero.



Mr. Farrell welcome.

Hello.

I guess the first question I have is how did it start. How did you become superhuman where did u get your powers?>

Believe it or not this question gets asked alot so I guess I"ll start from the beginning. It was a sunny day and me and my friends Mark and Tim where riding through the woods. We had this idea of finding this waterfall that was in the middle of my neighborhoods wooded area. Believe or not a small earthquake happened, we later found out wasnt a true quake, it knocked me off my bike. My bike was ruined the guys kept riding so I started back. Know i've known these woods forever so it shouldnt have taken me long to get back. But for some reason I got completely lost that day. Then just as I was about to get home after hours of walking with a ruined bike a neighbors dog chases me to an area Ive never been to. It chased me up a tree where I found this lever on the tree. I triggered it and fell down this whole. Now this sounds a little like Alice in wonderland and it should because it kinda was. I woke up in this Lab that looked like something out ofn a stars war novel. It was amazing, a hologram appeared named Steve and taught me a bit about its past. I dont remeber ever being so scared and throughly wowed in my life. Then I acrss this white room. Inside was this pillar where a loan ball was sitting. Curiousity got the better of me and I checked it out. I honestly thought it was just a ball. As I was leaving I must have activated without knowing and thats when it happened.



It?



Yea the ball opened into this three dimensional gun and fired at me. Imagine feeling like your on fire without the flames only magnify the feeling times one hundred. My skin, my bones everything felt like it was on fire. Steve the hologram was yelling but I couldnt hear a thing. when It finally stopped I dropped like a rock. Apparently I was out for hours. I crawled my way home finally passing out in my room. The next day I woke up I never felt better in my life. I had a six pack that looked like it was chisled out of granite, my gut was gone. I felt like a something awesome.



Thats incredible Pete I mean we always hear stories in comics of how heroes gain their abilities but nothing like what you experienced.

I can honestly say it was both the best and worst feeling of my life.



I can imagine. How did you change when you gained these abilties?

Well I guess I would have to say a great deal. Before the change i was just some chunky kid that was good for a laugh. I wasnt an athelete I wasnt anything special but i was Ok with it I guess or at least I thought was. When I started using these powers though I felt something different inside me. It was like now I had the power, now I was the one in control. When I was a kid this guy Tony Cap made my life a living hell. But i didnt have anyway of stopping him. Now I was the one who making things happen. People had to listen me.

It sounds like your better nature was taking from you?

Thats a double sided question. I mean I saw that i was getting arrogant but i thought why shouldnt I enjoy being the guy for once. My friends Tim was always the big man on campus either in high school or college. Now I was the one who people listened to. I kept thinking I was still me just not as timid.

I understand though things got really dark for you?

Im not sure what you mean.

what happened to you and your girlfriend during a date?

Oh.... I was afriad you would ask that. These guys jumped us. I had lived in Philadelphia my whole life yet never experienced crime. Maybe i was naive i dont know but when these guys jumped us I was pretty pissed. I had my abilities yet these guys were fighting me with weapons that gave them power over me again. I couldnt stand that i started fighting back and i nearly lost myself. I wanted to show that no one would ever have power over me again. I went to far....thats alll im comfortable with saying.

I dont mind to pry its just heroes dont usually have control issues like that.

I dont consider myself a hero. Heroes dont allow themselves to be taken in by two bit shyster.

I assume we are talking about the one called Bocchio.

.......

Im sorry if thats a soar spot

no its just that guy ruined my life....no thats wrong he didnt.....he just gave me the excuse. I wanted to fight to be dangerous to be something powerful someone in control. Bocchio nurtured that part of me brought it out. I hated myself but i also never felt more free. in the end that....that was the low point for me.

how so

Tim and mark kept warning me but i was to scared to listen. I was blind to this guys evil and it cost me something dear.

What did it cost you?

My soul.

Im sorry about asking its just from what everything we know bocchio did how could not see him heading for what he was planning?

I dont know i wish to god i did i just dont know.

Now what made you decide to fight back, was it vengence?

No....If it were vengence then i wouldnt have succeeded. If i learned anything from Bocchio it was i needed to remain in control I needed to move beyond what he was trying to make me it into.

Then what convinced you to take up this mantle of shadow?

I learned that the hatred, the darkness that existed within me wasnt there because of the machine. It was always there, just as it was with my father and my grandfather. I decided that allowing Bocchio evil to win i would be cowaring from him just as I did to everything i did my entire life. I couldnt be who i was before the machine and i couldnt be who bocchio wanted me to be. So i decided to be something else entirely. I would become something noble from among the darkness. I would protect those who strayed to far into the night getting their own light lost just as I almost did. I found this saying that seemed to resonanate Darkness rises....The shadow falls....light remains. I knew this dark part of myself would always be there i just would be its master not its puppet. I would control it, I would become the shadow among the darkness. I would become the thing evil fears in the night.

Do you ever fear that bringing that kind of violence to people would keep the darkness you spoke of alive instead of snuffing it out?

I always fear that. when i defended me and my girlfriend and i stopped i saw blood on my hands. I didnt know how i could do something like that. I fear that people cheer the name Shadow because of the violence he does, but in the end to stop others from ending up like me. I have to bear it, bare this curse because in the end i caused this...I was the one who made this all happen.

Do you regret having to take this as you call it curse?

Yes and no, this cost me everything. it truly did and the life I had was taken from me. The Pete Farrell that existed for 21 yrs before that was gone. In its place was the Pete you;ve been talking to and the one whose taken a life of its own. The one under the mask.

Do you have any last words

Dont ever bottle your life into a few moments or words. You may believe your own lie that your happy. But in the end all your doing is hurting yourself. I ignored my own nature and it cost me almost everything. I dont know where this life will lead but this is my curse this is who I am now.



The following is a interview with Pete Farrell. Join us again later for a sit down with Tim davis.






http://dawnoftheshadow.webs.com/
http://dreambooksllc.com/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036TH352

[ScrewMoonshine]

This is an idea I've always liked. An especially pleasing variation on it is those rare occasions where ongoing comic book titles have the heroes of the comic respond to comments on the letters page, instead of the editor. Probably the most famous incidence of this is on the Uncanny X-Men; for a brief while during the 1980s, the X-Men would take turns answering the readers' letters on an issue-by-issue basis. Champions (the one from Heroic Publishing, not the Marvel Comics series) even had one of the series's villains answer a few letters.

As I said, love the idea. Fiction is supposed to be an escape into worlds of wonder, after all. When you extend your make believe so that even your critical response to the stories is an interaction with the characters, that makes the escape all the more complete.

Sadly, I don't have the fans yet to do something like this. Part of it is that until I have sufficient fans, my time is better spent on writing actual stories and promoting them. But also, if I were to do an interview with one of my characters, I'd want the questions to come primarily from people other than me. Most of the questions I'd want to ask my characters are ones that they don't know the answers to, anyway.

Robert Orme

[Peter2683]

thanks moonshine Im hoping when I do this again ill be able to have others to ask the questions. I was first to show what i had in mind.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036TH352