THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING … YOU BY RIO YOUERS

I’m not one for giving advice. Most of the writers I know have forged their own path, and apply the disciplines and methods that work for them, which doesn’t mean they’ll work for everybody. I do believe new writers should listen seriously to suggestions dispensed by more experienced writers and publishing professionals, and try everything—keep trying until they find their groove, a process that can take many years.
 
So the following is not advice, per se ... it’s a little tip I’ve developed over the years, one that I find works nicely for me.
 
Interview your characters.
 
Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but don’t be shy. These are your characters, after all. They live inside your head. You have 24-hour access to them. Take advantage of that.
 
Of course, the interview can be as low-key as you like. A written interview, perhaps. Or maybe it’ll take place in a small, dim room in your mind. Two creaky chairs, you sitting opposite your protagonist, asking the questions that allow you to probe deeper into his or her psyche. My preference, though, is to go full-on Tonight Show, complete with the live audience and the band, and with me—the host—dressed in a snappy suit, offering a comedic opening monologue before introducing my first guest.
 
This is clearly the result of an overactive imagination. I know that, and I embrace it. There’s method to my madness, after all. There are, in fact, three advantages to interviewing your characters.
 
1) You can do it anywhere. On a transatlantic flight. Lounging on the deck. In the shower. Just leap into that studio in your mind and go to work.
 
2) You stay in the book. Even though you’re not sitting at your computer or writing longhand in your favourite bar or cafe (which is something else that works for me; it’s nice to get away from tech for a while), you’re keeping your work in progress active. I can’t begin to tell you how valuable that is (although it’s important to take a step back every now and then; you don’t want the story to choke you).
 
3) You learn more about your characters. It may be in something they say, or the way they say it, or perhaps a certain mannerism or look in their eyes, but you can search their soul more fully when they’re sitting opposite you.
 
My new novel, Halcyon, features a host of characters, some good, some evil (some of them are very evil), but all different. Spending time with them, getting to know them, was an integral part of the creative process. I found these characters were a little reticent to begin with—as was I—but as we adjusted to one another, the comfort level increased and that all important connection was more deeply established. Martin Lovegrove, the novel’s main protagonist, showed me the truth in his heart and the brilliant love he had for him family, so conveying that on the page became much easier. His daughter, ten-year-old Edith, spoke openly about her psychic experiences and the “garden” she created in her mind to escape them. Mother Moon ... well, she just gave me nightmares. Terrible nightmares. The wild and dangerous hunger in her expression haunts me to this day. And don’t get me started with the man in the tiger mask ...
 
Okay, yeah, this is probably why I don’t offer advice all that often. The path I’ve forged over the last twenty years or so is an arrangement of crazy quirks and odd disciplines, but they work for me. And even if this one quirk—interviewing your characters—doesn’t work for you, I can assure you it’s still a lot of fun.
 
So give it a try. Dress in your snappiest outfit, get the band warmed up, and step into the spotlight. Go on … unleash your inner Jimmy Fallon.
 
The applause might well be deafening.