When my book was released in September, I went on a blog tour via Dark Mind Blog Tours (now Dark World Books) One of the stops I went on, KY Bunnies, requested that I do a character interview. At first I wasn’t sure how to do it because of the dark overtones in my book. But then I decided to interview two secondary characters – Claire McCormick’s roommates and close friends, Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez. Good choice because it avoided to potential gloominess if I had interviewed another character.
I ended up having a lot of fun with this interview, especially since those two have distinct personalities that are fun to watch/read.
So, without further ado, here is that interview:
Q: Great to meet you Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez! Okay, tell us about yourselves, and how you became friends with Claire McCormick?
Samantha: Claire, Monica and I met during our first year at Richmond College, which is on Staten Island in New York City. The three of us hit it off right away, though I’m not so sure how.
Monica: (slight giggle) I think it’s because our personalities simply clicked. Even though we’re different in a lot of ways, we also benefit and learn from each other.
Samantha: Yeah, Monica is the quiet one, Claire is in-between, and some people say I can be loud. Anyway, we became friends in college and right before we graduated, we three realized we didn’t want to go back living with our parents and regress into children. We wanted to be adults so we got ourselves an apartment not far from the college and moved in together. It was really awesome that our landlords took us in because we were college graduates without full time jobs, but I guess they needed whatever help they could get to pay their mortgage.
Q: Signs of the times, I suppose?
Samantha: You’re not kidding. Neither one of us could get a full time job after we graduated. Monica substituted a lot, but she was going for her master’s in education at Richmond. But Claire and I could not get real jobs for the life of us. I studied finance, but I got stuck bartending four days a week. Claire majored in English Writing, but kept working part-time in the English department that had lousy pay.
Monica: She also did some freelancing, but it wasn’t easy for her.
Samantha: We argued so many times. There was so much stress going on.
Q: When the fall semester began, Claire met Daniel Bertrand, who was an adjunct professor at Richmond. It began with him helping her getting more freelance work but then it turned into something more.
Samantha: Yeah, we thought it would be cool for her to go out with him. He was hot looking, rich and successful. Why not?
Monica: He was a really cool guy when they first dated. He was friendly and a real gentleman. He also made her smile a lot back then.
Samantha: (rolls eyes) Back then.
Q: When did you notice something was wrong with their relationship?
Monica: Thanksgiving Day. Claire was all dazed and withdrawn. She said she got into a nasty fight with Daniel the night before. She also even asked me a weird question about vampires.
Samantha: It was all downhill from there. First they broke up, and then she accused Daniel of assaulting her before their break-up. He didn’t seem to be the type who would hurt someone, but you never know.
Monica: Then she got back with him which didn’t make any sense to us.
Samantha: We tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn’t hear it. She even said she made up the part about Daniel hitting her, which was bizarre.
Q: It wasn’t long after Claire got back with Daniel that she moved in with him.
Samantha: Boy, did that come without warning! I mean, we knew they were talking about moving in together before they broke up. But after they got back together, almost right away did she begin packing up! I got the impression Daniel made a “my way or no way” type of deal, and for some reason, Claire went along.
Q: Was this normal of her?
Samantha & Monica: No!
Monica: She actually was never that strong. She was never a doormat, but she did have weaknesses that she needed to work on. I also think there was something about Daniel that we couldn’t put our finger on.
Samantha: Well, we kind of did. The night he came to get Claire’s things was like seeing the real Daniel, or part of it. He came across as cold and calculating, nothing like the nice guy we knew before. He and I almost got into an argument, but I outsmarted him.
Monica: I was really worried about her when she left that night. It was like she was afraid to say no to Daniel, and was heading for something we couldn’t get her out of.
Q: Have you spoken to her since?
Samantha: We’ve spoken once or twice on the phone. She sent us a few emails, sent us photos of her in Paris, where Daniel took her for some romantic vacation. But we have yet to meet up.
Monica: It’s really sad that our friendship came to a sudden end like that.
Samantha: Sad? I’m pissed. But I don’t know what to do. It’s Claire’s life, her decision. We told her we would be there for her. I hope she never forgets that.
Q: Thank you ladies for giving this interview. I hope everything works out for Claire.
Samantha: Don’t worry. I don’t think this is the end of everything for her. Really, I just don’t.
Megan Cashman 