An Interview with Brame
Sitting
across from the darkly-handsome man, Starry is quickly aware of a lingering
mystery, something she probably won’t get close to about the man, but still,
he did agree to the interview. She already planned to keep things as light as
possible. Starry feels the weight of his brooding stare as she flips through her
notes, knowing her first question could make or break the entire session. Tread
too heavily and he’s likely to be too condescending—too lightly and he’ll
most likely be bored before they ever get started. She clears her throat and...
"First of all, thanks for meeting with me, Brame, on such short notice. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to start right in by asking how you, the writer, happened to come to Pan Historia?"
I came here because someone told me to. They said it would be good for me.
That I should come here and tell my stories. So I was told to come here and
that’s what I did. I do what I’m told. That’s how it usually is.
"Interesting. You don’t seem the following type." She laughs a
bit, unsure if he’s playing with her or not, but he smiles and winks so she
presses on. "I see you prefer the darker locations around Pan in which to
craft your stories; 666 and FLESH." She smiles. "It
seems both lend to some comedy amid the horror, which can be very entertaining,
and you do this so well in your posts. Tell us a little about your thought
process when writing Brame in the Horror Genre."
Brame just happens. He just sort of pops up and wants out and there he is.
There’s usually no revision to him. Whether that’s good or bad I can’t
say. Although I did promise him a popsicle and he hasn’t gotten it yet. *Tilts
head and raises eyebrows.* And promises must be kept. Yes, they must. Sometimes
he surprises me because he’s very childlike even though he’s a killer, but
tragic too and I look back at him and realize things about him that I didn’t
know before and I think, I wrote that and didn’t even know that about him.
"I love that. The mystery is there, even for you. Fabulous. On that
note, I'm curious. Do you have a favorite film or piece of literature you cling
to as a writer? A book that inspires you perhaps?"
I
don’t know that there’s a book or movie that inspires me as a writer. It’s
every day little things I see that inspire me. My favorite book to read is “Good
Omens” by Pratchett and Gaiman. The book I think everyone should read is
“The Little Prince.” My favorite movie is “Harvey” with
Jimmy Stewart. That’s my inspirational movie. Like Dowd says, “I always have
a wonderful time, wherever I am, whomever I'm with.” I think that’s how
Brame wants to be. He wants to have a wonderful time. It just doesn’t work out
that way for him. And Dowd in the movie has a Pooka. The box is a bit of a Pooka
only a sinister one.
"Harvey. Great film." She makes a note on her pad.
"Okay. If you could place Brame in any location in any given period of
time, where would you most like to find him?" She gives Brame another
smile. “And would Brame still have the 'box' with him?"
Brame will always be in the here and now. That’s why he’s written in the
present tense. He has no past and no future. *sad smile* He can’t or refuses
to remember his past and I don’t think it occurs to him to contemplate the
future because it doesn’t exist. Brame will always have the box with him. He
can’t function without it. In 666 it’s a physical necessity for him,
or so he believes, and in FLESH he is emotionally dependent on the box.
And finally, if you were faced with the choice, what type of character or
animal would be most challenging for you to take on as a writer?
I would be hard-pressed to write a character totally devoid of a sense of
humor. I have written some serious posts and even Brame has very dark moments
that are completely devoid of his odd playfulness, but to write someone who had
no sense of humor, or who was unhappy and hated life, I would have a really
difficult time with that.
The remainder of the afternoon was filled with talk of knives and swords.
Brame had a few to show me, he's very...skilled, but alas, I had shown up
without my cutlass. Oh, well… next time.