Interviews From The Writer’s Desk: Blaze

Hullo, everyone! I present a fun interview with our favorite Twinepathy teleporter, Blaze! This is a thank you for all of your support, and for reaching 100 people adding it on Goodreads!!! Hooray! Enjoy, my friends!

“I don’t want to be here, Bri.”

When those are the first words I hear out of someone’s mouth when they walk into my office, I know it’s going to be a loooong interview. The boy sits down in the chair across from my desk, crossing his arms and giving me a challenging look.

Yup. A looooooooong interview.

I clear my throat and look down at my laptop, hiding a smile. “Blaze, I assume. I’m guessing you want to get this over with.”

He sighs. “Yes, please.” He runs his fingers through his brown hair and smirks at me. “You must be spying on me if you know me so well.”

“You have no idea,” I grumble under my breath. “First question: What is your real name?”

Blaze tilts his head to the side. “Do you honestly think I would tell you?”

I shrug. “It was worth a try. Do you have any siblings?”

He shakes his head. “Again, confidential.”

“Right, right.” I roll my eyes, then pause as I look at my list. “Um… I have to warn you that a lot of these questions were submitted by, uh, fans.”

Blaze grins. “I have fans? Nice.” He looks more enthusiastic now.

“Mm-hm, not exactly yours…” I return to my list. “Moving on. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nope, no time,” Blaze says.

“Good to know…” I murmur. “Who is your best friend, or friends?”

Blaze pauses. “I’m assuming you want an honest answer…” I nod, and he sighs. “To be honest, I don’t have any really close friends. Ever since I joined IDIA, I’ve made a point of staying on the superficial level in relationships. I guess I’m closest to Jen.”

That’s pretty sad. I give him a second and move on to the next question. “What’s your favorite part about being a superhero?”

Blaze smirks. “Being able to freak people out and spy on them. And helping people,” he adds as an afterthought.

Of course. “Do you like bacon, chocolate, and/or cookies?” I hide a smile at the confused expression on his face.

“Yeah, all of those,” he finally says. “Where’d you get that question?”

“Do you like them all together?” I ask. “As in, a chocolate bacon cookie?”

Blaze gives me the oddest look. “Um, I don’t know. That sounds like something Albany would try to make.”

This time it’s all I can do to mask my laughter with a cough. “Ahem. Have you ever tried to prank Jen?”

He turns his head to the side with a thoughtful expression. “No, come to think of it. I should try that sometime…”

“Don’t blame me,” I say immediately. “Final question. If a strange girl ran up to you and hugged you without warning, exclaiming over how you’re one of her favorite characters in a certain book, how would you react?” Fan-submitted question, you can be sure.

Blaze gawks at me. “Um… what?” I open my mouth to repeat the question, but he waves a hand in the air, stopping me. He rubs his hand across his forehead. “It would depend on my state at the time. If I was on edge, I would teleport us to Antarctica and hope they would let go. If I wasn’t on edge, I’d probably either freak out or enjoy the attention.” He frowns. “Who came up with that question?”

I stand up. “Thanks so much for you time today, Mr. Blaze. I hope you’ve enjoyed this…”

Blaze nods and walks to the door, giving me suspicious glances over his shoulder. The instant the door closes, I have to burst out laughing.

Best question ever.

Thanks so much to Alyssa, Sarah, Shine, and Merenwen for submitting questions! I’m sure Blaze enjoyed them. 😉 What do you think of our favorite teleporter? Comment below!

Interviews From The Writer’s Desk: Adira Billings

This is one of my favorite characters from a roleplay I’m doing with a friend, and she’s also Slade Ellery‘s cousin, along with having a pretty big part in his book. Please let me know what you think! 😀

I check my watch for the bazillionth time. Still five minutes. I’m both excited and nervous about this interview.

Benedict stick his head into my office. “She’s here.”

I nod. “Send her in.”

Half a minute later, a very tall, slender girl enters the room. Her light blond hair is in a French braid and pulled over her shoulder, and her green eyes glisten with excitement. She’s wearing a plain black t-shirt with a brown leather jacket, black pants, black leather fingerless gloves, and – yes – tall black boots. A gorgeous quiver is thrown over her shoulder, and she clutches her bow tightly, the only sign of her nervousness. I nod toward the chair and she sits.

I pull my laptop towards me. “Are you ready?” I ask. She nods. “Okay. What is your full name, and how old are you?”

“I’m Adira Billings, and I’m twenty-nine,” she replies.

“Where are you from?”

“I’m originally from Lerali,” Adira says. “But I recently moved here to Earth – more specifically, New York.”

I nod, typing. “Why did you decide to move?” I ask.

Her face reddens. “Um, well, I wasn’t exactly comfortable on Lerali anymore.” I raise an eyebrow, and she sighs. “Okay, fine. I was wanted on Lerali for quite a number of crimes, and I decided it would be best to lay low for a while. Hence, Earth.”

I nod again, not wanting to push her too much. “So since you’re a Leralian, I assume you have a Gift. What is it?”

“I’m actually one of the rare people with half of two Gifts. I’m half a Suspender, like Slade, and I’m half a Messenger, like Ellis. So I can send telepathic messages and read minds, along with doing some telekinesis, limited, though, not like Slade.”

I type. “That’s interesting. How would you describe your personality?”

Adira makes a face. “I’ve always been a bit of a rebel, seeking out adventure and excitement. Other than that, I’m sarcastic, and I tend to have a bit of a temper and go into things headlong without thinking.”

I smile. “Sounds a bit like Slade.” I hurry on when her face turns sad. “What about your family?”

Her face gets sadder. “Slade, his mom, and his sister are my only family. Both my parents and my older sister, Arza, are dead.”

Oh, goodness. How much more awkward can this get? “I-I’m so sorry. I just keep asking the wrong questions.” I pause. “What about your bow and quiver? Do you like archery?”

Adira laughs. “That might be a rhetorical question. Yes, I do. I’m pretty good at most fighting and martial arts techniques, and weapons are my forte.” She frowns. “But of course, after Slade’s dad died, I turned and used that for the wrong reason, the wrong people.”

The silence hangs awkwardly for a second and I clear my throat. “Well, I think that’s all for now. Thank you for coming.”

She nods. “I’m sorry if I made this more awkward than it had to be.”

I shrug, pushing away my computer and standing up as she leaves. “I don’t mind. Have a nice day.”

She gives a slight bow, a smile, and leaves the room. I slump back in my chair and laugh at myself.

Tales From The Writer’s Desk: A Little Help Here!

You step into the office you’ve become so familiar with, eyeing the book room. You want to get back to some more stories, but Bri said she needs to talk to you first. “You wanted to see me, Bri?” you ask.

Bri looks up from her laptop and stops humming. She pauses the song playing. “Yes, I do. Have a seat.”

You sit down in the interview chair, a little nervously. “What was that song? I didn’t recognize it.”

Her face flushes, embarrassed. “The Song of the Cebu. It’s – it’s a VeggieTales song.”

You hold back your laughter as Bri quickly continues. “Anyway, I need help. I just finished that series of interviews with the main characters of the Teen Warrior series and I have a huge list of other people to interview. I don’t know which one to start with, so I need you to help me decide which ones to do next. I’d like for you to pick out some of the ones that sound interesting to you. And I need some new questions, too. Do you think you can help?”

Please comment below with suggestions for interview questions! Your question could appear in a future interview. And vote on the poll for who you think should be interviewed next. Choose your three favorites, and feel free to comment on why you chose them! See the previous interviews for reference:

Slade     Iris     Wilson     Ellis     Haven

Tales From The Writer’s Desk: Invisible Invasion

I hum as I finish off the last bit of a short story. I smile as I click ‘print’. I still have to proofread, edit, and revise the story, but I’m pleased with what I’ve done so far. I’ve always heard that it’s best to step away from a story for a while before going over it to edit and proofread, and I’ve found that to be good advice. I stretch as I stand up before walking over to the printer and pulling out the newly printed sheets. After stapling them and laying them on my desk, I step into the book room. I should probably work on organizing some of these stories, and the interviews, better. Or maybe I should just re-organize the whole room.

The first thing I notice when I step into the room is that there’s an open book simply floating in the air. I stop in my tracks. The second thing I notice is that the pages are flipping slowly, like someone’s reading them. Yes, very creepy. The third thing I notice is that the window is open. I sigh and put my hands on hips. “Iris!”

The book starts to fall to the floor, but I manage to leap out and catch it before it hits the ground. I close it and put it back on the shelf. “What are you doing here, Iris? You know this space is supposed to be off-limits unless I say otherwise.”

A teenage girl with wavy dark brown hair appears in front of me, a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry. I was just kind of bored and needed something interesting to read.” Iris pauses, then smiles. “I knew the perfect place to find good stories.”

I smirk. “Ha-ha. You know flattery doesn’t work with me. And, although I thank you for your compliment, you should probably leave.” She looks like she’s about to protest, but I hold up my hand. “Come back later and ask for permission. Right now, I’m going to be cleaning out and organizing, so I need the room empty. Unless you would like to help…” I suggest.

Iris mumbles something about needing to get back to the group for a meeting and disappears out the door. I smile to myself as I begin moving stacks of books. The oldest trick in the book.