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Debra is gearing up for her blog tour.
The Vampire and the Vixen officially hits cyber shelves (although it's been available on Kindle for months now) next week, and I've been gearing up for my blog tour. For the most part it's the same old, same old...guest posts and/or promo information: blurbs, excerpts, cover art. But this time around I did a character interview, which was something new. At least for me. I've read them before on other blogs, but I've never done a character interview of my own.
It was a lot of fun. I chose to have my heroine, Kelsey, interviewed. Some of the questions I got to answer from her POV were story based, but others had me delving into a bit more of her background. Like why she chose her career. What she does to relax. It's those things that are probably already in our subconscious when we create a character, but never really get 'seen' by our readers. It's the stuff that fleshes out our characters and makes them more real and less two-dimensional.
I know some people actually do something like this before they start writing a book, so they can get a handle on their characters. During a critique session one night at my local RWA chapter meeting someone had us ask her questions as if she were the character. This really allows for some deep POV soul-searching. Next time I might try doing the interview with a new character before I even get started writing. But I think some of the questions won't be able to be answered at that point. For me, I know I need to get into the story and make some headway before I really get to know my characters.
I won't give any more away about Kelsey's interview, but I will post the link so you can read the entire thing when it goes live at the end of the month.
Have you ever interviewed one of your characters? What did you think of the process?
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
I will look forward to reading the interview, Kelsey-Debra.
ReplyDeleteI set up and read horoscopes for my main characters as a story development aid, but facets of their personalities emerge and evolve with the writing.
I love character interviews--they're great ways to get to know them, and also to get a feel for the author's writing style. And when writing, they're useful to me when I get stuck. Good luck with the blog tour.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I did interviews with my characters in 'Her Only Option' - and really enjoyed doing them. I'm in the middle of writing interviews for my 'Irish Inheritance' novel too. I tend to 'interview' the characters at the beginning of the story, but I don't think I'd be able to do the interviews if I hadn't written the whole story first!
ReplyDeleteDebra, I did interviews with my characters in 'Her Only Option' - and really enjoyed doing them. I'm in the middle of writing interviews for my 'Irish Inheritance' novel too. I tend to 'interview' the characters at the beginning of the story, but I don't think I'd be able to do the interviews if I hadn't written the whole story first!
ReplyDeleteAna, horoscopes would be a fun way to get to know characters, too.
ReplyDeleteJen, as I seem to be 'stuck' a lot these days, it's definitely a strategy I might employ more often.
Paula, That is the thing with a character interview. I think you need to interview them at the beginning of the story so you don't give too much plot away, right?
I interviewed Ross before he met Neve, and Neve just after she'd first met Ross.
ReplyDeleteWith my Irish inheritance characters, I'm interviewing them when they arrive at Dublin Airport i.e. before they meet each other.