Interviewing...your characters?

[HLWampler]

I have been wracking my brain for uniueish ideas for self-promotion when this one kind of popped into my mind.

What are your thoughts on doing an interview with the characters?

I haven't done it yet, it's still a thought. Just not sure if it's a good thought, or a ridiculous one.

[Hiroko]

I've read of doing it before, and if done right, could really spark more interest in one's novel/stories/whatever you write.

[merrihiatt]

IMHO, I think your time would be better spent writing your next book.

[katci13]

I think it's a great idea. I would love it if JK Rowling had something like that on her website. It sounds fun and it's not all that time consuming so it wouldn't take away from anything else. I like it. ^_^

[HLWampler]

I thought I could use it as one of my blog posts. And it wouldn't take away too much time from my writing, which I'm stuck at a spot anyways, and I find writing other things usually helps me get over the hump.

Maybe I'll give it a shot, and see what how it turns out.

Thanks for the replies!

[Kreuse]

I love Characters' interviews. It's a great way to see/do things differently. Questions to authors tend to be always the same after a while.

[HLWampler]

I thought it would be something fun to do. Since I'm getting a ton of writing done while sitting here at work...bored. (Slow days are great for getting writing done.) I may write up a character interview tonight before hitting the hay, annnddd coming right back to work first thing in the morning.

[AnnikaHTDC]

whether it works as a promotional tool or not, I bet it would still be fun to write. Nothing to lose!

[HLWampler]

Well, I just did it while waiting for dinner to finish up. Even if it doesn't generate book sales, I at least hope people enjoy it, maybe have their interest piqued a bit.

http://hlwampler.wordpress.com/2012/...abigail-grimm/

[Dannica]

Well your post gave me a great idea for using an "interview" that I already wrote with a character who will be appearing in an upcoming Kindle book.

I believe it was Paula Danziger who recommended writing letters to or from your primary characters as part of your writing. She (or whoever was saying this at a writing conference) said it was a great way to get inside the head of your character and really understand their motivation and give them their own unique voice.

When I wrote a story several years ago, many in my critique group thought the mother seemed unrealistically harsh on her daughter. "Who would be like that?" or "What's the mother's problem?" were comments I got. So I wrote a section from the mother explaining why she had such a strained relationship with her daughter. Everyone in the group thought my letter was great and they changed from telling me the mom character needed to be changed to helping me make her more understandable in the story.

So now I'm thinking.... I could use that as a blog post, either on my blog, or perhaps on a blog about motherhood. I have one where i guest posted before.

Wow.... cool idea.

Oh and the advice about writing to and from your characters, it was followed by the caution that it is best to not let too many people know that you do that, or else they may cart you away to the funny farm! LOL!

[CJ Michaels]

Sounds like a good idea. I once interviewed my muse, lol.

[Pearl]

I did it for my blog tour, and I had fun with it! It could spark interest in your book or not. But hey, it makes for an interesting post on your blog or someone else's. Go for it!

[nkkingston]

It's fun to do, but I wouldn't give it any weight as a promotional tool.

[Polenth]

Character interviews don't usually make a whole lot of sense for people who haven't read the book. If you had an established fanbase, writing interviews could help keep fans interested while they wait for the next book. But for attracting in new fans, I doubt it'll do much.

It's much like the in-character Twitter accounts I get following me. They're dull as nails, because I've never read the story and have no idea what the character is talking about. The author would be better off talking to me as themselves.