Interviews with people who don’t exist

You might ask yourself—”How in the world can one interview an imaginary person?”

The phrase “…IN THE WORLD…” provides the key. If you’re referring to the external, physically existing, objective universe/world in which we live and move and have our being, the answer is: “You can’t!” But if you are referring to the author’s made up, synthetic world of his own imagination, then the answer is: “Simply re-enter that world, and ASK THEM!”

Recently, I did just that.

After completing and publishing The Stone Cutter, some of the book’s fans had questions for the author about why certain things happened the way they did, how a character felt when “X” happened, what about this, etc. Of course, I didn’t have any good answers for most of the questions, so I thought—”Why not ask the characters themselves? They’re more likely to know the answer than I would!”

Getting back into their minds

It turned out to be simpler than I thought it would be.

I sat down with a yellow, lined pad in hand, pen at the ready, and prepared to interview my first subject. I introduced myself, and said: “If you can spare a moment, I’d love to ask you some questions that have been burning in the minds of some of my readers.” The twins (Amru and Timrah) were agreeable, so we sat and chatted a while.

In answer to my first question, they launched into a convoluted story I’d not been privy to previously. It was great fun, hearing them chat back and forth, correcting each other with their own distinct versions of the story. When we’d finished, I went on to the next character and asked new questions. This continued until I’d interviewed a total of eight characters.

Bonus content for reviews

With interviews in hand, I wondered what I could do with them.

I’d been looking for the perfect premium to offer my readers, as a “thank you” for their posting of honest reviews for The Stone Cutter. These interviews seemed like just the ticket. I cleaned them up a bit, editing out their “uhmms” and “uhhhs”, and began searching for voice artists to audition for the characters. Their very brief auditions appear on this page. Let me know what you think.

——AND——

if you want to receive the COMPLETE TEXTS of ALL the interviews, just email me (use my contacts page and form) and tell me where you posted your review online for The Stone Cutter (a link would be helpful). These characters LOVE seeing their names up in lights!——

——As soon as the audio versions are available, I will send an exclusive link out to anyone posting a VIDEO REVIEW——

 Would you like to know more?

The specific questions I asked may not be the ones you’d like to know about. After reading The Stone Cutter, if there are questions nagging in the back of your mind, let me know what they are. Just go to the CONTACT page and fill out the simple form, asking me your question, and I will pass it along to the character who can answer it. Or, you can leave a comment below.