Sangu over at
Echoes of a Wayward Mind is hosting a Character Interview Blogfest today!! Mine is available below.
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I interviewed my main character, Holly Price ( from my WIP
Shutter Click ). The interview is a second in my series of interviews I have conducted with Holly. So you're not lost, in the
first interview Miss Price pulled a knife on me, attempting very heartily to stab me for asking her a question. After we got permission to get her out of her cell for an interview, she was just a peach. Here it is:
CQ: Hi Holly! Nice to see you again…in handcuffs. No weapons with you today, eh?
(Holly glares at Charlie.)
Holly: I’m so glad to see you again…alive. (Holly balls her restrained hands into fists, her knuckles turning white.)
CQ: So right now we’re talking to dark Holly. Your split personality disorder is fascinating. How does having two personalities make you feel?
Holly: Fuck you. Can I have a cigarette??
CQ: Lovely. We’ll have to edit that out. I guess that’s what I’ll have to deal with. Anyway, how are you feeling today?
Holly: Just fucking great. Thanks for pressing charges, cause spending time in a jail cell is my idea of fun. I’m peachy, and you’re a bitch. Bitch.
CQ: Holly, I’m going to be frank with you, I don’t want to do this interview any more than you, but my publisher’s need to know more about you. Can you cooperate just a little?
(Holly’s grimace doesn’t prove promising.)
Holly: Gimme a damn cigarette and we’ll talk – a little.
(The guard puts a cigarette in Holly’s lips and lights it for her.)
CQ: So tell me what your experience with having a split personality is like.
Holly: Fine, don’t know why you’re so goddamn interested in it, but whatever. It’s like this: I remember being who I am right now, and I have blackouts where I don’t remember anything for hours or even days, and as far as I know I’m only Holly Price.
CQ: Have you sought help for your blackouts?
Holly: Hell no! I don’t need no shrink spouting his psycho-babble bullshit at me.
(Charlie knows that Holly has been seeing a therapist for years, but moves on.)
CQ: Well besides your “non-problem”, what do you do for a living?
Holly: You’re a dumbass, you know that? You know I’m a forensic photographer. I take pictures of dead bodies. You gonna analyze that now?
(Holly takes a long drag off her cigarette, and squints menacingly at Charlie.)
CQ: Thanks for that, but no, I’m not going to analyze you. I’m just interested in sharing your story with my readers. So do you enjoy your job?
Holly: Oh yeah, dead bodies just get me all excited. No, it’s not the kind of happy-go-lucky satisfaction that I might get with taking pictures of flowers. But it is what it is.
CQ: I love your sarcasm. And the fact that you made it through a whole sentence without cussing. Anyway, what made you get into the forensic field of work?
Holly: (feigns a laugh) My
father got me a camera for my 15th birthday. I loved that camera. (Holly stares longingly off into oblivion, obviously lost in thought.) I took pictures of anything and everything. And then my mother took it away from me. But I got it back. (She muttered something probably profane under her breath.)
CQ: Why such a negative emphasis on your parents?
Holly: I never knew my father, and my mother died when I was a teenager. The only thing I got from my father was my looks and that camera. My mother lent me only frustration and tears.
CQ: I’m sorry to hear you had such poor parents. How do you feel it has affected you as an adult?
Holly: Isn’t it obvious? I’m addicted to cigarettes and wine, I take photos of dead bodies for a living, and I haven’t had sex in god knows how long. I don’t even have any real friends. I’m super healthy, can’t you tell?
(Charlie could tell Holly was calmer, more subdued even.)
CQ: Jesus Holly. That’s a laundry list of negatives. It’s horrible to see someone sink so low due to the negligence of their parents.
Holly: Ya think? Thanks.
CQ: Well you had to have some positives in your life before now. Did you go to college or anything?
(Holly takes another drag, and gathers her thoughts. Several quiet, tense minutes pass.)
Holly: Yeah, I went to school. I went to the University of Washington. I did enjoy learning how to take better pictures. And learning the forensic side was fun. (Holly finishes her cigarette, flicking the butt onto the floor.) Your time is running out, and I need another cigarette.
(The guard readies another one and lights it. Holly takes a long drag, a satisfied look taking over her face.)
CQ: Okay, satisfied? Let’s move on. Are you originally from Washington?
Holly: Yes, I grew up in Seattle and the surrounding towns.
CQ: That’s a great area; I’ve visited a few times. It rains a lot though.
Holly: Yeah, that’s what everyone says. So why are we talking about the damn weather?
CQ: Sorry. Let’s get back to you. How did you afford such an expensive school? Was your mother well-off?
Holly: She had a little money that she wasted on herself and fancy curtains. I had to work through college the hard way, getting student loans and having 3 jobs on top of a full school schedule. Thanks mom. I didn’t get anything when she died. Just a couple of crappy years in a mental institution.
CQ: You were hospitalized? Why?
Holly: Because I murdered my mother, but was found to be mentally ill enough to not know what I was doing. When I was 18 I was re-evaluated and my illness was controllable with medication. I was free to live what life I could.
CQ: So you murdered your mother, and now you’re roaming around free. Wow. And without an ounce of guilt.
Holly: It was an accident, Charlie.
CQ: Riiiight. How did you kill her exactly?
Holly: I stabbed her, and she fell down the stairs.
CQ: Well thanks for your blunt honesty. So that’s when your personality split, to save your mind. Well it’s surprising that you are mostly fine now, considering what you’ve been through.
Holly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just do what I can; go to work, come home, drink, sleep.
(The guard interrupts, noting it’s time to wrap it up)
CQ: I guess our time is up Holly. I’ll be out of your hair now, at least for a little while.
Holly: Greeaaaaat. (Holly rolls her eyes dramatically)
CQ: Your attitude has been super today, and I’m glad I don’t have to press anymore charges.
Holly: This time.
CQ: Well then, until next time Miss Holly.
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Hope you enjoyed this little adventure into Holly Price's psyche!
= Unreadable. Unrecommended.
