So, for last Friday's writing group, I totally neglected to pick a prompt for everybody to do, and showed up unprepared. As a result, we came up with a spur-of-the-moment idea; it was something that I considered in the middle of the day, and we just rolled with it. This prompt is...
Interview a character. Any character. It could be a real-life person, like a friend or family member, or a celebrity, politician, historical figure, a stranger you might have seen or met. My first thought, however, was fictional characters, either in other people's stories or your own. Just pick a person, and start writing out a question-and-answer scenario (as in a radio or magazine interview). I generally made up the questions as I went, developing a narrative. I suppose in a well-planned prompt, you could have names randomly selected in a jar, and a set of questions pre-written for everybody. As it is though, we all made it up as we went.
For this session, I interviewed Mary Ethel Weiss, the main character from my novel in progress. Hopefully you can deduce the story's plot with the dialogue.
The most important thing, however, was to hear the character's voice in my head, and build her personality and character up. I would certainly encourage you to give it a try, for it could help you out in the same fashion. Coming up with a character and a starting point seemed to be the only hard part; the rest came out pretty naturally.
Without further ado, my made-up interview session went like this:
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Perfectly Inhuman, Mock Radio Interview
Q: Good morning Cascade City! This is 275.1 FM, NIRC Radio, and I'm here with the one and only Mary Ethel Weiss, once considered the most popular celebrity in the city, but recently seemed to vanish without a trace.
A: I didn't frakking vanish! I've been in Iron District* for the past few months!
Q: Iron District? Mary, you're a millionaire and a success! You had a penthouse suite in Golden District**, a nice car, and everything you could ever want! Care to share what happened?
A: Oh, I intend to. I want everyone to hear my story. I want the whole city to know that the Mayor kidnapped me, changed my DNA, tried to brainwash me, and tried to force me to be his wife! They couldn't change me, so I fought back and made it to the Cauldron***, where the Mayor and his goons can't reach me.
Q: Wow, what a story! I take it you didn't fancy the city Mayor at all?
A: The man enslaved me and had his people hurt me. Next time i see him, I'm gonna shove him out the window of the tallest building I can find, I swear!
Q: It was that bad, huh?
A: Like you wouldn't believe.
Q: So what's it like in the poor districts?
A: There's a lot of hard working folks there. They've all been friendly and understanding toward me; they helped me get back on my feet. Of course it's dirty, poor, and dangerous, but we're all just trying to make a living.
Q: I hear that the Cauldron has quite the night life.
A: You should come by the Free Radicals nightclub someday. I sing there every Saturday night. Just stay away from Suzuki's, that's where all the Tatsuya**** gangsters hang out at.
Q: Do you miss Golden District at all?
A: Not anymore. I don't need all that crap I had there. Sometimes I miss the shopping, the clubs, the fancy restaurants, but it all feels so cold and stiff in Golden District. And it's criminally expensive! Ugh. For the price of one meal there, you could feed an Iron District family for weeks! What's up with that?
Q: Word on the street is that you've been in contact with the elusive Mr. Zeta and his terrorist group: the Human Liberation Front¹. Care to comment?
A: Yeah. Don't believe the Mayor's lies. The HLF are freedom fighters. They just want to make things fair for everybody, and to bring back natural products into the commercial world. They aren't terrorists. Jeez, the government makes them out to be baby killers or something; nothing could be farther from the truth!
Q: So, since moving to Iron District, how has your career progressed?
A: It hasn't. I'm a frakking dock worker now. The only show business I do is in the Cauldron.
Q: You might be intrigued to know that Sylvia Lockhart˟ has taken your place as the top pop singer in the city.
A: Oh, that female dog! You know what, she can have it! I'm done with the North Island Record Company, and I'm done trying to play this stupid popularity contest. It's all BS; you know what happens when you're number one? You become everyone's enemy. Even the city's Mayor. So frakk it. Let Sylvia take over, I don't care. Maybe the Mayor can brainwash and marry her, and get off my back for a change!
Q: So, you'll never release any new music again?
A: Well, you never know. I've written a few ideas down. Maybe if I get enough of them, I'll put together that concept album I've been wanting to make. It would have to be strictly underground though: the record company would never release it.
Q: Why not?
A: Aside from the fact that I'm a freaking fugitive? Even if they wanted the project, my new music has way too much angst in it for them to approve it.
Q: Since learning that you're an artificial person, how has that affected your outlook on life?
A: You know, everywhere I look, everything is fake and man-made. At first, it hurt me to think that I was just another fake 'thing' in this city's landscape. But you know what? I have a heart. Right now, it's filled with rage over the Mayor and this city of his.
...how did you know that I was artificial?
Q: It's...on my little card here.
A: WHO SENT YOU?
Q: Nobody! You came to us!
A: Frakk it, this interview is over!
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* Iron District is the manufacturing and industrial center of the city, filled mostly with factories, warehouses, and oceanic docks. In contrast to Golden District, Iron is a low-class sector populated by the poor.
** Golden District is a secure wealthy district, providing homes and amenities for the upper-class.
*** The Cauldron is an area in the poor districts of the city that contains nightclubs, bars, and other seedy amenities.
**** The Tatsuya Clan is a remnant of the Yakuza, and is employed by the Mayor to maintain a street-level control of Iron District.
¹ The Human Liberation Front are indeed freedom fighters, whose goal is to remove the Mayor and his oppressive system from the city. Part of their mandate includes liberating the human race from the bondage of rampant commercialization and excess artificiality. The group is led by Zeta, a well-armed idealist.
˟ Sylvia Lockhart is a pop star who's a direct rival to Mary.
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