Recently, on CampNaNoWriMo was a note from one of the camp counselors (Sona Charaiporta) that recommended that if we were having trouble to interview our characters. Which I thought was a great idea; the last time I interviewed Oliver and Jack, I used a fountain pen and left the papers beneath an open window, and then it rained and all the ink ran. The only thing I could read, just about, was Jack saying, “I love him because I do!”
So I thought I’d try again. I used many (though not all) of the questions offered by Crystal Stranaghan and The Write Practice. I answered each question as quickly as I could, in the mindset of the person answering them, either Oliver or Jack. What I found interesting was not just the answers they gave, but the way they gave them. For example, Jack responded critically (but comically) to questions that he thought were foolish, whereas Oliver answered any foolish or pushy questions somewhat diffidently, or by pointing out that the question was rude. Also interesting where where their respective answers either varied widely or were almost identical. Again, I did my best to answer as that character and not as myself.
Here’s Jack’s interview followed by Oliver’s interview. I thought about trimming down to the most interesting question and answer, but that would be trimming it down to what I found most interesting, and therefore be somewhat limiting. So heeeeeeere they are!
(Dear Reader, please feel free to skim. I ended up marking the answers I thought were the most interesting with a red asterisk.)
*
Jack’s Interview
Q: Where and when were you born?
A: Hale, England, 1828 (That’s what Nolly tells me an’ I trust him.)
Q: Where have you lived?
A: London; Port Jackson, Australia; and Lyme Regis.
Q: Family members?
A: Pa, Ma, Sis. Don’t ask.
Q: Schooling?
A: None!
Q: In what situation is your self esteem most at risk?
A: It never is, you blighter!
Q: What are you keeping a secret?
A: Somethin’ bad that happened in Port Jackson, but I don’t want to tell Nolly ‘cause he don’t need to know about that shit. *
Q: What are you lying to yourself about? To others?
A: That I love with the purest heart that the world has ever seen. That my soul is far less blemished than even I can imagine. (But who would believe me if I tried to tell them?) *
Q: Is there anyone in your life that you are attracted to?
A: Nolly, an’ who else? Bloody hell, what a stupid question!
Q: What scares you about this person?
A: That he’ll get tired o’ me because he’s decided that I’m not a good enough person to be around.
Q: What do you think he/she can do for you that no one else can?
A: You’re mad to ask such a question! Nolly doesn’t do now’t for me, he just is.*
Q: What does this person know about you that no one else does?
A: Nolly ain’t much for inquiries. He accepts me at face value, though I suppose I’d like it if he were more interested in me.
Q: How do you decide of you can trust someone?
A: I trust them till they let me down.
Q: How do you know you love someone?
A: When they fill my heart with joy.
Q: What parts of loving come easy to you? Hard?
A: My cock is hard easy, if that’s what you mean! :::snickers to self::: *
Q: When you walk into a room what do you notice first? Second?
A: Is there a place to sit? Is there beer on hand?
Q: How would you change the world? The things around you? The people around you?
A: Food n’ drink for all! I wouldn’t change Nolly, though, not for the world.
Q: How do you learn best?
A: By doin’ with my hands.
Q: What are your goals in life?
A: Ain’t got none, ‘cept to be with Nolly always.
Q: What unusual hobbies or interests do you have?
A: I pick pockets. That’s pretty much it.
Q: What are you most afraid of?
A: Of pain. Of being alone.
Q: If you had one wish, what would it be?
A: That I could make Nolly happy. He’s so miserable sometimes. Also, I miss London an’ wish we could go back there.
A: What do you like best about yourself?
A: I’m damn clever, plus I’m good with my hands. I’m good at card tricks. Plus, as everyone knows, you can depend on me.
Q: What do you like least about yourself?
A: Are you mad? There ain’t now’t I don’t like about myself.
Q: What do you like best about your best friend?
A: He’s like a shining thing, so glorious and good and decent an all. And smart, with all them books he’s read.
Q: What do you like least about your best friend?
A: He’s so unhappy, it seems, with himself. That boy wants to be fucked into pleasure, only he don’t know it yet. Also, we ain’t had the time or private place to do it. *
Q: What do you think other people think of you?
A: Don’t care, ‘cepting for Nolly, and he loves me pretty well, I reckon.
Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Nolly’s my best friend, that’s for sure. He ever despairs of my uncouth ways, but loves me just the same.
Q: What’s your greatest source of frustration?
A: That I can’t get through to Nolly just how uptight he is, that he just needs to let go and pull that pole out of his ass. Things’ll be better after he does.
Q: What’s your greatest source of joy?
A: Bein’ with Nolly, that’s it.
Q: What are you especially proud of in your life?
A: My day in court, when I shouted at the magistrates and made them remember my name!
Q: If you could change anything about your life what would it be?
A: Not to get pinched over a two-penny-half-penny snuffbox.
Q: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
A: None, you fool.
Q: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
A: Stupidity.
Q: Which living person do you most admire?
A: Nolly.
Q: What is your greatest extravagance?
A: Ain’t got none! I deserve my smokes an’ whatever else I enjoy.
Q: What is your current state of mind?
A: Worried about getting out of here (the workhouse). About Nolly coming undone on account of he hates this place. *
Q: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
A: Them folks who go to church and still do cruel things.
Q: On what occasion do you lie?
A: When I have to, sos I don’t get pinched. But never to Nolly, except sometimes by omission.
Q: What do you most dislike about your appearance?
A: That I ain’t as beautiful as Nolly.
Q: Which living person do you most despise?
A: Anyone who has ever made Nolly feel bad about himself. An that Marine in Port Jackson. That farmer—(breaks off) *
Q: What is the quality you most like in a man?
A: I like ‘em clever and handsome. Like Nolly.
Q: What is the quality you most like in a woman?
A: Big bosom. Saucy mouth.
Q: What or who is the greatest love of your life?
A: Nolly.
Q: When and where were you happiest?
A: When I was with Fagin’s gang.
Q: Which talent would you most like to have?
A: Don’t know, other than the ones I got.
Q: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
A: Nothing.
Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
A: Finding Nolly after I came back from being hextracated.
Q: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A: I would come back as anyone who could stop me from taking Nolly to Fagin – that really messed him up. *
Q: Where would you most like to live?
A: London.
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
A: Ain’t got one.
Q: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
A: Bein’ without Nolly.
Q: What is your favorite occupation?
A: Picking pockets, tho Nolly don’t want me to do that n’more.
Q: What is your most marked characteristic?
A: Nolly says its my laugh. He says I show all my teeth when I laughed and that it does something to his insides that he likes.*
Q: What do you most value in your friends?
A: Loyalty.
Q: How would you like to die?
A: To hang at Newgate, but don’t tell Nolly I said that.
Q: What is your motto?
A: That it’ll get better by-and-by.
***
Oliver’s Interview
Q: Where and when were you born?
A: Hardingstone Workhouse 1829.
Q: Where have you lived?
A: Hardingstone, London, Chertsey, Lyme Regis
Q: Family members?
A: Aunt Rose and Uncle Harry and two nephews
Q: Schooling?
A: Private tutors, lessons at the workhouse.
Q: In what situation is your self esteem most at risk?
A: When circumstances are dire and I have to do things that I consider only suitable for the lower orders. When I’m being punished and afterwards. *
Q: What are you keeping a secret?
A: From everyone but Jack, that I killed a man. That I assaulted my master. That I’m responsible for Dick and Martin’s death.
Q: What are you lying to yourself about? To others?
A: That I don’t want Jack as badly as I do. That I’m actually a horrible person and the moment Jack finds out he’ll be gone. *
Q: Is there anyone in your life that you are attracted to?
A: Jack. :::considers it both an impertinent and personal question:::
Q: What scares you about this person?
A: That the ugliness of his life, his profession, will infect me with its darkness. That he’ll leave me.*
Q: What do you think he/she can do for you that no one else can?
A: Jack makes me a better me.
Q: What does this person know about you that no one else does?
A: That I regret my past. That I killed a man. Well, Noah knows that part, but that’s different.
Q: How do you decide of you can trust someone?
A: I don’t trust anyone, except in positions of authority. As for Jack (because I presume you mean him) it was through experience and time.
Q: How do you know you love someone?
A: I hardly know myself. (That’s a rather personal question!)
Q: What parts of loving come easy to you ? Hard?
A: Being that close, physically and emotionally. Letting Jack touch me for no reason at all.
Q: When you walk into a room what do you notice first? Second?
A: Whether its clean. Whether it’s well appointed.
Q: How would you change the world? The things around you? The people around you?
A: You can’t change the world. As for what is around me I wish that people would be kinder to each other. As for Jack, the only think I would change would be his bathing habits.
Q: How do you learn best?
A: By reading; a schoolroom setting.
Q: What are your goals in life?
A: To own a bookshop.
Q: What unusual hobbies or interests do you have?
A: I love to read, but that’s not unusual. I’m a fairly normal fellow, generally speaking.
Q: What are you most afraid of?
A: The dark. Of going or being hungry. Of shame, of being ashamed.
Q: If you had one wish, what would it be?
A: That I was already twenty one, that I had my inheritance and could set up my own bookshop.
Q: What do you like best about yourself?
A: That I have goals, that I’m going places.
Q: What do you like least about yourself?
A: That I have an inflexible mind. Jack would agree with this.
Q: What do you like best about your best friend?
A: Jack? You must understand that—I love him blind, do you see? I can hardly comprehend it myself, but if I close my eyes and reach out, he is always there. He’s like a part of me, the solid, constant part.*
Q: What do you like least about your best friend?
A: This might sound horrible, but if only he’d learn some manners, those in polite society might go easier on him.*
Q: What do you think other people think of you?
A: I don’t actually know, though I’d like to imagine that they’d think I’m an upstanding young gentleman.
Q: What’s your greatest source of frustration?
A: That I’m unable to make a life for myself. That every decision, every time I determine what to do, is the wrong decisions and everything ends up horrid.
Q: What’s your greatest source of joy?
A: It is when I am with Jack.
Q: What are you especially proud of in your life?
A: That I had a job at a haberdashery, a nice one.
Q: If you could change anything about your life what would it be?
A: Not to have lost my mother on the day of my birth. To have run away from Sowerberry’s sooner. To have taken Dick with me when I left Hardingstone. To not have been so gullible to Jack’s lies about Fagin. To not have been so green about the ears that I believed Fagin about what he and his boys did for a living. To have seen what Jack and Charlie were up to that day we picked Uncle Brownlow’s pocket. To have checked on Martin before I went to bed that night.*
Q: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A: To be well fed and comfortable. To be accepted in society.
Q: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
A: Filth and cruelty.
Q: Which living person do you most admire?
A: Jack and Mr. McCready.
Q: What is your greatest extravagance?
A: Books. Staying with Jack. (It’s risky.)
Q: What is your current state of mind?
A: Worried about my next meal. Worried that Jack will leave me.
Q: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
A: Piety, for what good has it done anyone?
Q: On what occasion do you lie?
A: Unfortunately, I lie a lot, especially to Jack, and especially since he came into my life. But this isn’t Jack’s fault because I was too afraid to admit the truth to myself and do something about it. Plus, Mr. McCready never would and never will understand about Jack, so I had to lie about him.*
Q: What do you most dislike about your appearance?
A: That it makes me stand out.
Q: Which living person do you most despise?
A: Mr. Grimwig. He’s a cruel, stupid, and vindictive man.
Q: What is the quality you most like in a man?
A: Good breeding and manners and a well-educated mind.
Q: What is the quality you most like in a woman?
A: The same as those I like in a man, except women don’t need to be as well educated.
Q: What or who is the greatest love of your life?
A: Jack.
Q: When and where were you happiest?
A: After I left Fagin’s gang, and lived in Chertsey with the Maylies. Before Uncle Brownlow passed away.
Q: Which talent would you most like to have?
A: The ability to fence, which is a gentleman’s sport. Or boxing, since Jack says I have a tremendous left hook.
Q: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
A: That I was not so afraid of change.
Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
A: Getting a job at the haberdashery.
Q: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A: Someone who could stop Jack being kidnapped by gypsies. I would have raised him as my own and given him a good start in life.*
Q: Where would you most like to live?
A: With Jack.
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
A: It used to be the miniature of my mother’s portrait, but now, through experience, I’ve learned that most possessions get destroyed or taken, so there’s no sense in having them.
Q: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
A: Being without Jack.
Q: What is your favorite occupation?
A: Working with books.
Q: What is your most marked characteristic?
A: Jack says that I act and talk as though I know I’m being watched.
Q: What do you most value in your friends?
A: Understanding.
***
There you are! Way to much information about lads who don’t exist in this dimension!
Word Count 4/9/2015 – 1,700
Total for April – 17,568
I love this post! Oh, the teasers!
You are more than welcome! I was interviewing my characters for fun – didn’t realize there were teasers in there, but I guess there are. : D