Interview with a Protagonist; May 3 2020

It’s May, at last! I’m not alone in feeling like these past four months have felt more like four years, with the onslaught of stress and tragedy. In my attempt to keep things light, I decided to do a different sort of blog post today!

Earlier this week, I sent two wonderful writers a list of identical questions to ask the main characters of their books, and got fascinating answers! I’m going to put my interviews below.

If you’re a fellow writer, I’d love it if you interviewed your own protagonists and put their answers in the comments! Now, without further ado...

Interview with Dawn Dolan, from ‘Blood of the Covenant’, by author Alana Turner.

Q1: Hello, and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to me! Incidentally, what did I catch you in the middle of doing?

A1: Oh, hi. Well, it’s a bit of an awkward time. Me and two friends, Ishiko and Y, are hiding from the police, a vampire gang, and another group we don’t know anything about.

Q2: I’m not familiar with this place. Where are we, right now? Any fun facts you happen to know about the area?

A2: Well, we’re outside Chicago. More specifically, we’re in a serial killer’s house. He’s dead – we’re not in danger from him. I kinda saw the memories of this place when I drank his blood – I’m-we’re vampires, by the way – and well, it was the only place we could think to go to hide.

Q3: So, as I understand it, you’ve been facing some struggles recently. Can you tell me about them?

A3: It all started when my car broke down a bit ago, maybe a week? Maybe two? It’s hard, keeping track of the days. It broke down in a bad part of town and my phone died, so I tried to find a gas station or something. I got attacked and turned into a vampire.

Ishiko saved from dying. I don’t know if she should have, to be honest. Anyway, she took me in and introduced me to her clan of vampire vigilantes. I tried to balance this and my family and college, but a vampire gang tried to threaten us away from the area. Animal blood is... awful, and it was too risky to hunt on the streets anymore so Sergio (he’s part of the clan too) had this plan to infiltrate a prison.

It…didn’t go well.

Now Sergio and Mary Kelly are kidnapped by the weird mystery group, and we have no idea what to do.

Q4: That’s rough, buddy.

Do you have something – or someone – special in your life to help ease those burdens? If not, what would your ideal way of de-stressing be?

A4: Yeah, my little sister, Dani. She’s always been a little spit-fire. I miss her so much. I can’t even talk to her because I can’t risk the cell signal being traced. She’s probably worried sick.

Q5: Do you have any plans in mind for when this is all over (assuming all goes well)? Aspirations, flights of fancy?

A5: Huh. You know, I hadn’t really thought about it. Everything is just a nightmare right now. Honestly, I just want my sister, Sergio, and Mary Kelly to be okay. Maybe I can tell my sister what happened when all this is over. I hate keeping things from her, even if that mean her knowing I’m a blood sucker.

Q6: Out of curiosity, what do you think the worst thing that can happen is?

A6: Finding out Sergio and Mary Kelly are already dead would be pretty bad. Though to be honest, for myself, I’m really worried about the police finding us. Ishiko had to break me out of jail and I doubt they’d give any of us another chance to escape. Then either we die on accident and/or the whole world finds out about vampires, and that definitely doesn’t sound good.

Q7: Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. If someone were to send you a sympathy card in that situation (or write a eulogy, you know, just in case the answer is death), what would you want them to say?

A7: I’d want it to say not to worry, that our best is enough, and that those that matter know I tried my best even if we do fail.

Q8: Do you wish you had more friends? What are the qualities you’re drawn to in people?

A8: The people that took me in have quickly become my friends. I never really had any before them. They’re easy going and patient with me which I really love.

God, I hope Sergio and Mary Kelly are okay. Ishiko and Y don’t deserve to loose family like that.

Q9: What do you think YOUR best quality is? The one that stands out above all others?

A9: Me? Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. I’m a pretty good listener. Helping people figure out their problems is always something I love to do, and I guess I’m pretty decent at it.

Q10: Thank you for answering all my questions! I have one more, if you don’t mind. If you could accomplish one entirely unrealistic thing, what would it be?

A10: I’d wish to be human again. It would solve so many problems right now.

Thanks for checking up on me, though I don’t know how you even got in here. It was nice.

Interview with Francesca Helen Hayes (“- but call me Frankie. My father always called me ‘Francesca’ and I hate it with a passion), from novel by author Hester Grove.

Q1: Hello and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to me! Incidentally, what did I catch you in the middle of doing?

A1: Haha! Busy schedule... Sure.

Well, I just came home from work and I’m relaxing on my couch for a bit, enjoying this glass of wine. Help yourself to some, if you want. Just don’t mind the mess, I haven’t gotten around to do the house, yet.

Q2: I’m not familiar with this place. Where are we, right now? Any fun facts you happen to know about the area?

A2: We’re on the Oregon coast. Small town called Florence. It’s nothing spectacular.

A fun fact... Hmm... Well, we have plenty of lakes. And the Siuslaw river, of course. So if fishing is your thing, you might like it here.

My ex enjoyed fishing. Me, I hate it. Whenever he brought home the fish he caught that day, I made him clean them outside. The smell makes me sick. Usually he cooked them on the barbeque as well, outside. But I never ate any, either. Fish just isn’t my thing. I felt bad; he was always so proud when he came home with it. Of course, after a while he knew he wasn’t doing me any favors showing me what he’d caught.

But anyway, I’m rambling, I’m sorry. Yeah, I wouldn’t know any fun facts about this area. It’s a nice quiet town to live, that’s all I’ve got.

Q3: So, as I understand it, you’ve been facing some struggles recently. Can you tell me about them?

A3: Some struggles... Talk about an understatement. I don’t like talking about it, but here it goes.

When I was eight years old, my mom abandoned me, and I never heard from her again. My father remarried within the year.

Part of me can’t blame her, my father was a horrible man. He beat her up regularly. And now I’m an adult myself, I can understand more of why she had to leave. But I have always struggled with knowing she decided to leave me behind. Why didn’t she bring me with her? Didn’t she love me enough? Where was she going that she couldn’t take me?

My father never laid a hand on me. But to me, it is clear he never loved me. He was always putting me down. Told me I’d never be special. That I was useless and worthless. And I wonder what made my mom so sure he would never hurt me after she left. After all, she was his punching bag, what would stop him from turning to me when she was gone?

Six years ago, in 1988, my father died, and for the first time in my life I felt I could breathe freely. Isn’t that bizarre? An adult woman, late 30s, married, two kids, and still it took my father’s death for me to be able to relax a bit. And it kinda feels to me I started to have a better relationship with my stepmom, Louise. I resented her for a long time, because with her living in our house, my mom would surely never come back. Of course, throughout the years I managed to let go of that, but I never felt comfortable in their house. My father was always there. I avoided going there as much as I could. But with him gone, visiting her was easier, and we started to get along a lot better.

So this makes the betrayal even worse. A few weeks ago my daughter and me drove to Louise’s, and help her pack. She was moving into a senior community, and I promised her I’d give her a hand. And in one of the last closets we went through, Louise found these letters. And she gave them to me, they were mine, she said. And she said how sorry she was she had forgotten about this. I was a surprised, I mean, her and my father had been living in that house for so long, and I hadn’t lived there in forever, so how could these letters be mine?

Well, they were my mom’s. My mom had been writing me letters, and my father was there when the first one arrived, and he told Louise I was never to receive them or know about them. He ripped up the letter. Louise said she secretly saved the ones that came after that, and never told my father. But she never gave them to me. I never knew about them. Now Louise can tell me she forgot about them, but how the hell do you manage such a thing? It’s kinda big, isn’t it? And even if she was afraid of my father, she could’ve given them after he died. And she didn’t. And I just can’t forgive her for this.

Q4: That’s rough, buddy.

Do you have something – or someone – special in your life to help ease those burdens? If not, what would your ideal way of de-stressing be?

A4: If it wasn’t for my daughter, Olivia, I wouldn’t know how I’d manage. She’s finishing her last year in college, becoming a social worker. She’s everything I’m not... She’s beautiful, and very intelligent, and she has such a big heart. No surprise there when she told me she wanted to become a social worker. I totally see her doing that. I can always call her and talk about whatever is bothering me. Not that I do that often, of course. I don’t want to burden her. But now, with the letters and everything, I’ve called her almost every day. And she listens so patiently! Yeah, I love her to bits.

Other than that, oh well, I got my job. It helps distract me. And of course, when I am home, I like to just relax on the couch, watch television, enjoy a glass of wine... Well, that’s how you found me, so you already know about that.

Q5: Do you have any plans in mind for when this is all over (assuming all goes well)? Aspirations, flights of fancy?

A5: I have no idea. That feels so far away. I have decided, however, to try to find my mom. She gave me an address in the last letter she sent – she stopped sending them when I turned 21. She never heard from me and figured I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. She said as much in that last letter. But did want to give me her address. Just in case.

I realize it’s been 23 years since that last letter, but I just need to try this. I mean, my father and Louise have lived in their house for about 30 years, Louise stayed for another 6 years… there’s no reason why my mom wouldn’t still be living in hers. But yeah, the address is in Los Angeles, quite a way to go from here. Olivia is coming with me, and we’re going to turn it into something of a road trip. We’ve gone over the map already, and figured out how long we would want to drive every day, and which towns would make good stops and everything…

I’m so glad she’s joining me. I would’ve gone either way, but I was quite scared of the whole idea. Knowing she’ll be there with me is quite the comfort.

Q6: Out of curiosity, what do you think the worst thing that can happen is?

A6: Well, to get there and find out she’s dead, that would be terrible. I need to be able to talk to her. To hear what she has to say, to let me know why she left, and why she didn’t take me with her.

On the other hand, what if she tells me she didn’t want to take me because she didn’t love me? But the moment I think that, I think of the letters she sent. So I don’t really believe that being the case. However, she could give me a total BS reason for why she left me behind. So I don’t know, maybe it’d be for the best if she’s dead? Ugh, I don’t know. It’s so confusing!

Q7: Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. If someone were to send you a sympathy card in that situation (or write a eulogy, you know, just in case the answer is death), what would you want them to say?

A7: Oh god, I don’t know... Maybe ‘I hope you find the answers you are looking for?’ And that the answers are valid, and not the BS as I am worried about? I hope they’ll think I deserve getting these answers. And that it’ll do me good, of course.

Q8: Do you wish you had more friends? What are the qualities you’re drawn to in people?

A8: Yeah, I don’t have that many friends. After my divorce I lost a few. I guess they weren’t real friends to begin with. One of my co-workers is a good friend. We regularly hang out together, she has a great sense of humor, has her shit better together than I do, but she is also able to be super silly. I always have pain in my jaws after seeing her, from all the laughing we do. But don’t get me wrong, she was also there for me in the last couple of weeks, after getting the letters. It’s not just fun and silly things, she’s a really good friend and there for me. But yeah, she’s just about the only one, it would be nice to have a few more friends.

Q9: What do you think YOUR best quality is? The one that stands out above all others?

A9: Oh come on, I really don’t have a quality that stands out above all others. I’m just little old me. If anything, I feel I could do better, make more of my life. But I’m in my 40s already, it’s kinda late for that.

Q10: Thank you for answering all my questions! I have one more, if you don’t mind. If you could accomplish one entirely unrealistic thing, what would it be?

A10: Well, of course I hope I find my mom, and that she has a really good reason why she didn’t bring me with her, and then we’ll live happily ever after. I’m just not sure that is such a realistic expectation, so why not make it one entirely unrealistic thing to accomplish.