#WIPpet Wednesday – Introducing Armand

Hello! It is Wednesday once again, and because I went away with my writing group on the weekend, I am feeling rather behind on everything. However, I did get the first 9 or 10 chapters of my NaNoWriMo novel for 2014 planned out, scene-by-scene, and I have a bit more that I came up with today and still need to type up. I think I’m probably going to have to pad to reach 50k, but that’s okay. I have talent for writing pointless dialogue. Interestingly, as I was initially gathering my ideas for the story, I imagined Josephine would be the POV character, but as I was outlining, it was clear that was going to be Armand. Which does mean I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do when he is effectively rendered useless by the same witch who turned Josephine into a statue all those years ago.

I have an interview with Armand for you this week. Please ignore the part where I don’t know the character’s name. I really do need to stop calling my nasty side characters Embezzling Official, Bigoted Official and Rich Philanthropist. One of my friends suggested one of them being Gaston, what with this story being inspired by a version of Beauty and the Beast and all. I do like the way she thinks. Anyways. Here is Armand’s interview.

~*~

[there is a knock at the Keyboard and an Open Mind residence. Emily answers the door to reveal a young man with an olive complexion standing there. When he sees Emily, he gives her a nervous grin]

EW: Hi, Armand, thanks for dropping by today. Come on in. [she beckons and he steps inside, then looks around, not sure where to go next. Emily motions to a sofa.] Take a seat.

A: Thanks. [he runs his hand through his hair as he sits down and looks around] It’s an, um, nice place you’ve got here.

EW: Thanks. So let’s get down to business. Can you tell me about yourself?

A: [looks past Emily’s shoulder for a moment as he contemplates his answer] My name is Armand and I’m twenty-five years old. I’m studying a postgraduate degree in Esterfayan folklore at Merrowfort University.

EW: Esterfay is your country, right? And Merrowfort’s the capital?

A: That’s correct.

EW: So I take it you’re a bit of a bookworm, then?

A: Heh, yeah. My dad’s the police commissioner, and when I was younger I used to help him on cases. He wasn’t technically supposed to talk about cases in progress, but I was good at combing newspapers or archives for clues, so he used to enlist me anyway. Sometimes I wasn’t so keen, though, if I was already reading something more interesting.

EW: Totally fair enough. Can you tell me a bit about the events of the last few weeks?

A: There have been some weird things going on. A few people at uni reported strange lights in the woods near town, and I wouldn’t usually take the word of an undergrad, but I saw the lights myself one night. And people have been going missing. Some were people just off the street, but we’ve lost two government officials over the past two weeks, as well as [name]. He owns one of our major newspapers, sponsors some of our local sports teams and supports several charities. Everyone in this city knows who he is, but like the others, he’s gone without a trace. I’m barely seeing my dad at the moment; everyone’s looking to him for answers and at the moment, there just aren’t any. And then there’s Josephine appearing out of nowhere…

EW: Ah, yes, Josephine. What do you think of her? Do you believe her story?

A: I… she makes me want to believe it. She clearly believes it herself. But I can’t just believe she’s a character in one of the stories I’ve studied!

EW: Well, we’ll see. Do you like her, though?

A: Well, yeah, I do. Whatever it turns out her situation actually is, I want to help her out. But sometimes I feel like in spite of everything I’m doing, she’s… looking down her nose at me or something.

EW: Yeah, she’s… still working on not doing that. Let me assure you, she is grateful.

A: Really?

EW: Yep [winks] That’s all we’ve got time for. Thanks for coming over today.

~*~

That’s it from me. If you would like to join in on WIPpet Wednesday, post an excerpt from your current Work In Progress that somehow relates to the date (even though mine didn’t), and link up with us here. I’m going to take off now and either go read some more Gone Girl or watch the new episode of Forever. Cheers!

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