Welcome back to Mikayla Talks About Her Story Whether You Wanted to Hear About It or Not! Today, we’re going to interview Rory and One from Family of Nobodies, my WIP. Mostly because I want to. So… yeah, let’s do this.
Before we start, I have to give a big shoutout to Julia Witmer. Her interview with Mira Miller from her book, A Wilted Willow (the revised and updated edition is coming out on December 8th of this year — be sure to check it out!), inspired this post, and she was gracious enough to let me steal her questions and her idea. Thanks, Julia!
Her blog will be linked below. Mira’s interview is really fun, so you should check that out as well! =)
Julia’s Interview with Mira Miller
An Interview with One
Q1: Do you prefer living in the city, or in the country?
One: The country, definitely. I don’t like the city. Or, I don’t think I would. I haven’t actually been to a city, so I don’t have much to go on. But, yeah, I wouldn’t like it. It would have all the wrong colors — I mean feelings. I have synesthesia. I said colors when I, uh, meant feelings. Sorry. *looks down at his feet awkwardly*
Q2: How would you describe yourself?
One: Um… *leans over to Rory, who is sitting next to him* Do I have to answer this? I do? *long sigh* Okay. I guess I would describe myself as quiet, non-confrontational, kind of useless… yeah. *Rory whispers something fiercely in his ear* What? But — fine. And artistic and kind and loyal, I guess. According to some people. *grunts as Rory elbows him in the ribs* And not useless, actually. Can we go on to the next question… please?
Q3: What are your greatest strengths?
One: *sighs again and looks hesitant* My telekinesis, I guess. Not much else. * he blocks another elbow blow from Rory* Will you please stop that! Fine, I’m good at helping people too — according to Rory, who should be answering these questions herself if she thinks she can do it so well *glares, and Rory smiles unrepentantly* — and doing what needs to be done, even when I’m scared. *shoots another glare at Rory, apparently forgetting he’s supposed to be non-confrontational* There — you happy?
Q4: What are your greatest weaknesses?
One: *opens his mouth, seeming ready to let loose a long speech, but Rory elbows him again*
Rory: Can we go on to the next question? He can go on about this for hours, and it’s *frowns at One* a bad habit.
Q5: What is your greatest accomplishment?
One: Escaping with my sisters from my old life and coming here — to Saoirse. That was mostly Rory though, so —
*Rory cuts him off, and proceeds to explain the extent of his involvement in the escape in great detail until the interviewer manages to stop her*
Q6: What’s your favorite pastime?
One: Painting or wyvern riding. Although wyvern riding is kind of a new interest, so… painting.
Q7: How do you handle difficult situations?
One: Badly. *Rory glares again, interviewer sighs and waits* I mean, I do my best. And some people say I do pretty well. And my sisters trust me — I don’t know why — so… I guess I don’t do too bad. I just try to do what seems best… and pray… trust God. Yeah.
Q8: Are you a leader or a follower?
One: A follower.
Rory: No, don’t listen to him. He’s a leader, he just won’t admit it.
One: Whose interview is this, Rory?
Rory: I’m just trying to tell them to the actual truth, and you’re just…
*Pair proceeds to bicker for ten minutes before the interviewer can stop them*
An Interview with Rory Forde
Q1: Do you prefer living in the city, or in the country?
Rory: Country. I’ve been in cities, and anyone who enjoys that kind of living is an eejit. I need elbow room. And an open sky. And the ocean, while you’re at it.
One: Are you making a grocery order?
Rory: Shut up, it’s my interview now.
One: You interrupted mine!
*Interviewer hurriedly intervenes before they can start arguing again*
Q2: How would you describe yourself?
Rory: Fierce. Odd. Stubborn. Motherly — but not in nice, soft way. More like a bear. Sometimes I don’t know why people stick with me, but they do. Not all the time, though.
*She looks sad for a moment, but One proceeds to make a long speech, enumerating all the reasons people love Rory, which makes her smile and give him a fond shove*
Q3: What are your greatest strengths?
Rory: I guess the fact that I don’t stand by and let bad things happen. Or, really, I can’t. And helping people… making them see how beautiful everything can be. *she looks down and blushes, and One smiles at her*
Q4: What are your greatest weaknesses?
Rory: Thinking I don’t have any. And pushing people away… I guess. *she looks at One uncomfortably*
Q5: What is your greatest accomplishment?
Rory: Helping One and his sisters escape from the horrible place they were being kept.
One: She didn’t help us. She orchestrated the whole thing. We wouldn’t be here without her.
Rory: Do shut up. We can’t argue again — the interviewer looks like he’s about to hang himself.
One: I’m about to hang myself.
Q6: What’s your favorite pastime?
Rory: Wyvern flying. And spending time with family. And wyvern flying while spending time with family. Yeah, that one — that’s my favorite pastime.
Q7: How do you handle difficult situations?
Rory: I find a weapon. Or I start yelling. *pauses* That’s probably not healthy, is it?
One: Not really, no.
Rory: You’re worse — and I wasn’t asking you.
One: Are you going to find a weapon or yell at me, then? Or yell at me while holding a weapon?
*Rory glares at him*
Q8: Are you a leader or a follower?
Rory: A leader. But mostly because I’m bossy. Are we done now?
*Interviewer nods (looking relieved), closes his notebook, and runs away from the pair as fast as he can*
Thank You for Indulging Me
I hope you enjoyed this interview! I know I did. Thank you again, Julia, for coming up with this!
Tell me all about your own characters in the comments! I’d love to hear about them.
Truthful Storytelling 
I absolutely loved reading through this! Your characters have such strong personalities!!
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Thank you!!!
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Well, I have so many characters! So many main characters, actually!
In Return of the Dragonriders we have Silmavalien and Noren. Silmavalien is definitely not a leader by personality; to start with she’s very devout, but discovering that her religion is a monstrous lie when she bonds to Minth completely shakes her world. She’s generally kind and sympathetic and doesn’t want to hurt anything. Her greatest weakness is doubtless fear, but this is exemplified in a particular kind of fear/action which I’m not sure if it would be a spoiler to share. Noren is a skeptic; there’s a confidence/competence to his personality that Silmavalien lacks, but that might have something to do with the fact that he never had to discover his whole world was a lie; it’s a much gentler experience, in some ways, to discover there is much you did not know, especially when you already know there might be lots of things you don’t know about out there, than to discover what you thought was foundational is a disgusting lie.
In Legend of the Singer (the first in this series will be released next year – 2021) the main character is Tara-lin, who’s probably a little too independent-minded to be much of either a leader or a follower; she chooses to disobey her father and pursue him on a dangerous mission because she doesn’t think he, an aging human, can survive it on his own – she’s a half-elf with magic. In general, I find these “tell us about your characters” practices a little too narrow and constraining for really explaining what they’re like or giving you much of an idea of them, so I’ve kept this fairly short!
For the Kaarathlon Series there’s so many sort-of main characters I wouldn’t know where to begin! But you might be able to catch just a notion of what they’re like from the back-cover synopsises here: http://www.enthralledbylove.com/novels
Your characters sound interesting, and I want to know more about wyverns!
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Ooh, your characters sound fascinating! Especially Silmavalien! I get what you mean — characters are so complex that it’s kind of hard to answer people when they ask what they’re like LOL. For what it’s worth, I think you did a great job! =)
Wyverns in this story are similar in look to the mythical beasts, but, since the story is sci fi, they’re actually genetically modified hybrids of theropods and pterosaurs. They prolly have some special sciencey (isn’t that such a professional term LOL) name, but people without a scientific background tend to just call them wyverns. =)
Thank you for reading, and I’m really glad you liked my characters!
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Thanks 🙂
Sure! I think you did better than I could at a character interview! For one thing, I’m not sure most of them would know the answers to all/most of the questions!
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Well, I stole my questions so I definitely can’t take much credit LOL
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I mean, you could answer them. I might not be able to come up with the questions, but I wouldn’t be able to answer them for sure!
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I get that. I was kind of surprised I could answer them LOL
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