Showing posts with label Character Encounters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character Encounters. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2020

An Interview with Lysander and Flynn







The Bentley pulls up at the radio station and Sinclair gets out to open the door. Sir Lysander the Righteous Man and Oliver Flynn step out of the back and enter the station where they are directed to the recording room. 
            There is tea on the table, waiting for them as they take their seats. The Interviewer comes in and sits down across from them, pouring her own cup of tea as she sets a stack of papers down on the table.
            “Is everyone ready?” she asks.
            “Of course,” Flynn smiles as he plucks his cup from the table. “Thank you so much for inviting us today.”
            “Oh, it’s our pleasure, I’m sure everyone is looking forward to hearing what you have to say.” The Interviewer turns to the man in the sound booth. “We’re ready to go on.”
            He nods and does a count down.
            The Interviewer smiles. “Hello, London, we’re live here today with Sir Lysander, the King’s Righteous man and Oliver Ha—”
            “Ah, I prefer to go by Flynn, miss.”
            “Oh, of course, I apologize,” the Interviewer says, a bit flustered. “As you know we’re here today to talk a little about this book of yours.”
            Flynn smiles as Lysander gives a longsuffering look. “Ah, yes, well, as you know, it is my first publication, but I quite enjoyed the process of writing it.”
            “I think the question everyone wants to know is, whether it’s all true?” the Interviewer asks.
            Flynn grins and touches his nose. “Everything, of course.”
            “Aside from some poetic license,” Lysander adds.
            “Some small cases of poetic license—as all good writers know is necessary,” Flynn corrects.
            “Well, poetic license or not, it is certainly an astounding story,” the Interviewer sips her tea. “Quite revealing.”
            “You’d be surprised what I didn’t allow him to put in,” Lysander says. “National security and all that.”
            Flynn sighs and leans back in his chair. “Yes, I did have to omit a couple things, but I think the story itself survived as is.”
            “And everyone here highly encourages those to read it as a lost tale of our recent history,” the Interviewer says as she takes up the sheets of paper again. “We have a few questions people have written in with.”
            “Perfect! Ask away!” Flynn says, picking up his tea.
            The Interviewer glances at the paper. “These are from Deborah: “What is your favorite kind of music?”
            “I used to like Classical,” Lysander says blandly. “Now I’m a little weary of it.”
            “I like 2000s rock, and 1980s music is good too,” Flynn says. “And Lysander does keep soundtracks to his favorite movies. Lots of Star Wars…”
            Lysander shrugs. “That is true. I do like soundtrack music.”
            “How about your favorite animal?”
            “Oh, cats, definitely,” Flynn says. “They are the best companions. And a cat’s purring is scientifically proven to reduce anxiety. Can you get better than that? What about you, Lysander?”
            “I like dolphins, actually.”
            “They’re psychopaths,” Flynn comments.
            “You could say the same about cats.”
            “Cats can be sociopathic, there’s a difference, and it’s really only an act—they’re still high-functioning.” He folds his arms across his chest. “But whatever. Strong, silent types and their dolphin obsession…”
            “How about your idea of a perfect day?” the Interviewer cuts in, seeing that this could get out of hand quickly.
            “Well, I am usually quite content relaxing in my flat—with my cat—a good book, and a cup of hot, dark tea. Nothing quite like that,” Flynn smiles.
            “Well,” Lysander adds, “I suppose my idea of a perfect day would be one where I didn’t have to worry about anything and actually could relax. I might even pick up a book myself.”
            “But you can’t curl up with a dolphin,” Flynn comments.
            “I regret saying anything about the dolphins,” Lysander growls.
            The Interviewer flips her page. “These questions are from Sarah: First of all is what are the best and worst things about each other?”
            “Oh, here we go,” Lysander says, looking like he’s battening down the hatches. 
            Flynn grins and sips his tea. “Well, obviously, Lysander’s personality is the worst thing about him. Since he can never show what he’s feeling—except anger, he’s very good at that. But if he’ll promise never to repeat that I said this ever again, I have to admit that he’s very loyal.”
            Lysander smirks slightly and takes a drink of his own tea. “Flynn is annoying to a fault, but he’s good at what he does, and, dare I say it, smarter than me—on occasion.”
            “Well, don’t act like the compliments are being dragged out of you on the rack or anything,” Flynn scoffs, but also smiles like a pleased cat.
            “On a similar topic, who do you think has the best hair?” the Interviewers asks.
            “Oh, me of course, I actually do something with it,” Flynn instantly jumps in.
            “You don’t do anything with it, look at it,” Lysander accuses. “It’s a complete mess.”
            “It’s strategically rakish—that’s what the ladies like,” Flynn protests. 
            “It’s strategically ridiculous, is what it is.”
            “You’re just mad because I don’t have to spent fifteen minutes to get it to look like anything but a rats’ nest in the morning.”
            “I do not take that long with my hair…”
            The Interviewer sighs and signals for a commercial break.
***
Back on air, things have settled down. Sinclair brings more tea and the interview continues.
            “Another question we for you is possibly even more controversial than the hair,” the Interviewer says almost hesitantly. “But we at the station are curious: who is your favorite Doctor?”
            “Ah!” Flynn smiles. “A good question!”
            “Well, I like Ten,” Lysander says. “Though the show did pick up again with Twenty-Two, I’ll admit that.”
            “Ugh, how basic,” Flynn scoffs. “First the obvious choice and then modern Doctor Who? No, I do like both Ten and Eleven, but I have to go classic. Four is my favorite. Frankly anything but Thirteen.”
            “Well, I think most people can agree there,” Lysander shrugs. 
            “We have time for one more question before we go,” the Interviewer says. “What is next for you two?”
            “I’m doing what I have always done,” Lysander says with a shrug. “Keeping my country safe, serving my king.”
            “And I’m essentially doing what I’ve always done too, more or less,” Flynn says. “Just…different application.”
            The Interviewer smiles and folds her hands in front of her. “Thank you for agreeing to the interview today. I hope our listeners will take the time to read your book.”
            “Of course, we enjoyed being here,” Flynn smiles. “At least I did.”
            Lysander nods in agreement.
            “One thing before you go,” the Interviewer asks, reaching down to her side. “Could you sign my copy of the book?”
            Flynn grins and Lysanders sighs, running a hand over his face. 
            “Of course, my dear,” Flynn tells her and accepts the pen Sinclair instantly offers. “Anyone else?”
            The interview concludes and Sir Lysander and Flynn leave to go back to duty as the sun shines down on London and its protectors. 
            



Links


Get a Copy of Concerto



It's also the final day to get a free copy of "The Butler's Story" and to enter the giveaway!




Friday, March 24, 2017

Character Encounters feat. the Cast of Blood Ties!



For the final day of Indie E-Con I wanted to do something fun and take part in Kendra's "Character Encounters" which is a writing link-up she runs on her blog where the author writes about encountering their characters in a place Kendra chooses. She came up with a special one for the E-Con where you encounter the characters at a physical Indie (not)E-Con! I just thought this sounded like a lot of fun, and figured you guys would hopefully find it entertaining so I decided to give it a go. Go check out the other Character Encounters people have done for E-Con as well right here! Also visit Kendra's blog and see the rest of E-Con here.

Disclaimer: This is officially the strangest thing I have ever written. But I guess every author has to try to meta thing at least once :P This kind of turned into more of a satire on just my writing process with some in-jokes, but I hope it's still entertaining. Enjoy!

Character Encounters
Featuring the Cast of the Modern Tales of Na Fianna


Indie Con was a bustling place; so many fantastic indie authors out there that I got to chat with throughout the day about their books and the writing life in general. A couple of my bestie writer pals and I had done a panel earlier, which was part of what we fondly called our “Tour of Destruction” which was the ongoing tour of signings we did for people. Lot’s of dark humor. Lots of coffee.
            Now however, it was my turn to moderate a panel, which was made up of my own characters, and boy were there a bunch of fans waiting for them.
            “Hey everyone, I’m Hazel, and I’m about to introduce the brave heroes of the Modern Tales of Na Fianna series,” I said to the crowd who burst into applause. “Come on out, Lady and Gents!”
            They filed out from back stage. I knew Eamon wasn’t going to like this at all, hating to be the center of attention but of course there were also the ones like Keevan who were eating it up, and of course Deaglan wasn’t unhappy about all the fangirls.
            They took their seats, and I waited for the crowd to calm down before I started. “So, we’ve just gotten through book two, ‘An Earthly King’, and book three is due to be out the summer of 2017, but to avoid spoilers for anyone who is not yet caught up, we’re only going to be talking about the first book, ‘Blood Ties’. So, Ciran: as the main character, what are some of your thoughts overall?”
            “Well, our mission took a lot out of all of us, but we are happy to be here today to see all of you. I think, to avoid any spoilers, I will just say that we kicked butt and leave it at that.”
            “Some of us kicked more butt than others,” Keevan piped up.
            “Okay,” I cut in, knowing this could go on forever if it was allowed to continue. “So, Eamon, you’re the star of Book Two, what do you think about that?”
            Eamon shrugged. “Well, you know, it is what it is. I suppose everyone has to have a part in the story.”
            “Come on, Your Royal Selflessness, you loved it and you know it,” Killian cut in. “Mainly, I liked it, because it also meant I got to be in it more. There, see? I don’t pretend to be all humble.”
            “Oh, don’t worry, Killian,” I said. “No one ever accused you of being humble.” I waited for the jeers of the others and the laughter of the audience to die down before I opened the floor. “So, are there any fans who want to ask some questions?”
            Hands went up and I pointed at one of them.
            “Hi, my question is for Caitlin,” the girl said. “How was it having to be the only girl on the team?”
            Caitlin laughed. “Well, I grew up with two brothers, plus Eamon and Oran running around so I was pretty used to it. Honestly, it didn’t bother me. We all had our job to do and when you’re in that kind of situation, you just end up doing the job and watching your comrade’s back, no matter if they’re a boy or girl.”
            I picked another fan and she was handed the mic. “So, this is for Keevan. I was wondering what is your favorite kind of yarn to crochet with?”
            Keevan started. “I don’t crochet. Next question.”
            Riordan shook his head, turning back to the fan. “Of course he does. He just doesn’t like you to know it. He crocheted the scarf he’s wearing.”
            “I did not, shut up!” Keevan protested.
            “He did, I watched him,” Tierney offered. Deagland nodded in agreement.
            “Well it’s relaxing…sometimes!” Keevan said defensively and slumped back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest. “Can someone please ask another question?”
            “I like your sweater by the way,” Riordan told the girl before she handed the mic off again.
            A young boy got the mic next. “I have a question for Riordan.” Keevan proceeded to fake snore loudly so I shot him a look. “What’s it like being a berserker?”
            “Well, it takes a lot of training,” Riordan said. “You have to make sure you manage your anger. Which is why I do breathing exercises and sometimes yoga. I also find knitting to be very relaxing.”
            “Loser,” Keevan said, muffling the word with a cough before Ciran smacked him across the back of the head.
            “But you also get to be really scary in battle,” Riordan said with a smile.
            “Cool!” the boy exclaimed.
            The mic was handed off to the next fan I picked and this girl turned to Killian. “So, Killian, my question is for you.”
            “Finally,” Killian said as a loud aside to Eamon before he turned with a smile back to the girl. “What is it?”
            “Why can’t you ever just give Eamon some peace?”
            Killian scoffed, offended. “Excuse me? I am his captain of the guard! I do not have time to give him peace! His Royal Introvert just needs to learn to appreciate it!”
            “Besides,” Eamon cut in. “If he didn’t, I would probably never get any kingly things done. I would be lost without my captain of the guard.”
            “You know that’s right,” Killian grumbled.
            We moved to the next question. “So, I heard that Eamon is going to have to choose a bride to be his queen in Book Two, is that true?”
            Eamon groaned, putting a hand over his face and Killian quickly cut in. “I’ll take this one.” He gave a wicked grin. “Yes. But you’ll have to read the book to find out how that goes.”
            “Spoiler alert—horribly,” Keevan said.
            “Alright, next question!” I said, looking around the audience.
            “Hey! How come I didn’t get to be on the panel?!”
            “Prince Oberon!” someone in the audience cried in delight.
            “That’s right, at least someone cares,” Oberon said, smiling at the various fangirls swarming him. “Really? I’m the Prince of the bloody Unseelie and you don’t even give me a spot on the panel?”
            “Oberon, if you were here, no one else would get a chance to answer any questions, and that’s saying something when you would be up against people like Killian,” I told him.
            “Hey!” Killian protested. “I’m considerate of others!”
            “Sure you are,” Caitlin said, smiling at her brother.
            “Unless there are mini quiches, because then you shove anyone out of the way to get to them,” Keevan said.
            “Okay, so I like mini quiches. So what?”
            “Tell that to your waistline in Book Three,” Eamon told him.
            Killian turned around indignantly. “Really? Etu, Eamon? And here I was thinking you were like a brother to me.”
            An argument soon broke out and the convention security had to escort everyone out. Pretty soon, I was the only one left, along with Oberon, who came up on stage and took a seat, pouring himself a complimentary glass of water after picking up a spilled glass that had been sitting on the table.
            “So, do my adoring fans have any questions for me?” he asked the audience.
            I sighed. “And there you have it everyone; the essential writing process of Book Three.”
           

Fin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also this was something I meant to do back during the Earthly King blog tour, but here is a sketch dump of some Na Fianna sketches I have done so I hope you enjoy those too :)


(from left to right-then down: 1. Killian and Eamon, 2. Keevan and Riordan, 3.Tierney and Ciran, 4. Deaglan, 5. Keevan and Riordan, 6. Ciran and Caitlin, 7.Deaglan, 8. Jarlath and Gorlan, 9. King Lorcan, 10. Riordan, 11. Jarlath and Gorlan, 12. Eamon and Killian)