Hello! My name is Katelina, and welcome to Weekend Character Interviews. Using state of the art-mumbo-jumbo author magic, Jo has temporarily bent the laws of fictional space and time to allow various literary universes to converge long enough for me to ask different characters a few questions. Since I spend a lot of time in the Amaranthine series quizzing vampires on what they’re doing, where they’re going and why, Jo thought I would be the perfect interviewer.
Today we have Lacey… um… Lacey…
Lacey: Yes, my name is Lacey (no last name, I know, it’s weird, thanks for calling attention to it).
cool Ghostwriter cover
Katelina: Oh. Well, today we have Lacey from Ravis Harnell’s modern horror novella Ghostwriter. As an aside, don’t feel bad about the last name. My author does that, too. I didn’t have a last name until she wrote the trailer for the first book and needed one, suddenly. She picked it by giving some people on yahoo messenger a couple of options. Talk about making you feel unimportant… Oh, sorry about that. Anyway, thanks for dropping in today! Where are you from?
L: I live in the St. Petersburg, Florida. I tend bar in downtown St. Pete and attend the Stetson University School of Law – as Chris Skinner says, I’m a “hard-drinkin’, tort-reform lovin’ Republican hippie,” or something to that effect.
K: That’s one of the most interesting character descriptions I’ve ever heard! In that case I’ll let you tell the readers what you look like, I bet you can do better than I can!
L: I don’t know, it’s weird talking about my own appearance, I don’t really pay a lot of attention to it. I’ve got too much reddish-brown hair, and I used to be what fashion magazines condescendingly and wrongly call “plus size,” but most of my curves have been lost to the stress of law school, a crazy work schedule and drinking my dinner.
K: How do you evolve during the course of Ghostwriter?
L:Well, I’ve been a fiercely independent and closed-off person for most of my adult life, but my new neighbor turned out to be so unique and fun and self-destructive and in need of someone to worry about him that he’s managed to draw me out of my shell quite a bit.
party time - stu_spivak via Flickr
K: Okay, he’s got my attention. So are you guys an item or….
L: I don’t know if what Chris and I have is a romance. There’s a lot of fun and drinking and hooking up, but things got pretty weird before we reached what I would consider “relationship status.” Plus, as I said, I’m a pretty independent person by nature.
K: I hear you. There’s a huge step between fun and a romantic partner. And there’s always the “do I really wanna go there” question because who knows what could happen with it!
L: Yes! You start down a road with the smallest action – shaking someone’s hand, filling out a job application, or whatever – and soon you look up and realize exactly how far you’ve wandered away from the reality of the familiar. How you react to that, if you’ve wandered far enough away, sometimes dictates whether you live, or die, or spend the rest of your days in a padded room. I would say that’s the hardest thing for me in this story; it’s dealing with the situation I find myself in, processing it, you know?
K: Yes! Especially when things get weird or people are trying to kill you! Do you have enemies after you, or…
L: I think my only real enemy is myself, in the sense of the decisions I make – not just the fact that I haven’t been the greatest judge of men, but also my tendency to try to fix the world.
K: I had a friend like that, though she was trying to mother the whole world. Things didn’t end up good for her. Okay, topic change. What would you say is the one event that helped to shape your personality?
L:I’d really prefer not to talk about that. It’s in the past, and I’d prefer that it stay there.
by Peter Sigrist via Flickr
K: Gotcha. Okay, if you could have anything in the world, what would it be?
L: To get through this, completely, to heal and be on the other side and be able to take a look and find my mind and heart haven’t been permanently damaged. I’m sorry if that sounds cold, but this is so huge, I can’t think about the future or the good of the world or someone else’s well-being. I’ve just got to concentrate on not letting it drive me crazy.
K: Not at all! I think people who haven’t been stuck at the mercy of some of these really evil, character torturing authors don’t understand how much we just want to escape and have some normal life once in a while. Is your author as evil as mine?
L: I don’t know about yours. I just want to say to mine, “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Not even you could’ve made me completely happy and satisfied – it’s just not in my nature.”
K: Mine doesn’t even try. But since it looks like we’re running out of time, I do want to ask, if you could say one thing to your readers, what would it be?
L: Don’t judge me if you haven’t been through what I have.
K: I like that! Thanks so much for stopping in, Lacey! It’s a shame we had such a short interview!
L: I don’t know. I’m not really comfortable talking about myself, so for me, fewer questions is better, I guess.
K: Then I guess it worked out perfectly! Thanks again!
You can find Lacey in Ravis Harnell’s digital novella Ghostwriter, available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ghostwriter-ebook/dp/B0049H93QC
And a special thank you to Ravis Harnell for playing along!
If you’re an author and would like your character(s) to be interviewed by me, then check out this very cool page that has all the details:
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/character-interviews/
Amaranthine by Joleene Naylor 
julihoffman
/ June 25, 2011Interesting interview! I have to say, I look forward to reading them each weekend, esp. since it’s one character interviewing another. He! He! Authors are so mean! Have a Great weekend!
sue
/ June 25, 2011Great interview! Novella you say?