An Interview With Liam

Joanna White is releasing a new book! Some of you may remember that about two years ago the InterFiction Gazette sent me to the dangerous prison world of Zagerah to interview Averella, one of Joanna’s fantasy heroines.

Well, today, they sent me to a far more pleasant (and much safer!) place for an interview. Just your normal, everyday house, with a normal… er… super famous Youtuber named Liam.

Today’s interview is a bit different fare, not being speculative fiction, but it still sounds like a grand adventure!

Liam is as famous and reckless as they come. His fame and fortune have come from his wild adventures all around the world, which he films for his YouTube channel. Never before has his life ever been in danger, or has he ever gotten hurt.

Until now.

His best friend, Julia, wants to be there for him, but sitting on the sidelines isn’t what Liam does best. Especially with his numbers and subscribers dropping since he can’t do much. To help him, Julia takes Liam and a bunch of their friends on a vacation to Hawaii, but all that does is make Liam’s inner adrenaline junkie want more.

The last thing either of them expect is a volcanic eruption to happen—let alone the worst one in Hawaii’s history. But after a massive earthquake split California, the surface of the earth is on the move, and Liam and Julia are standing right in the path of destruction.

Especially when Liam and his friends decide to climb the Volcano to have a look—right before it blows.

I enter the house and smile at the young man sitting at the table staring at his phone. “Hi, Liam. I’m Jenelle, with the InterFiction Gazette?”

Liam grins at me and slips his phone back into his pocket so his attention is completely on the interview. Not only would this help boost publicity for his YouTube Channel, but it would no doubt help him gain some new fans. 

I hide my smile, glad to have his attention. "I'm sure you're fairly used to fame at this point, but some of my readers don't know you very well. Can you tell them a little bit about yourself?"

“Yep, of course.” Liam puts on his best charismatic smile. “Well, I’m a YouTuber and a thrill-seeker. Some would call me an adrenaline junkie, but I just love having adventures, no matter how dangerous. Actually, the more dangerous, the better.”

I jot these notes down, smiling at his enthusiasm. "So how did you get interested in having all these crazy adventures? And what gave you the idea to start a YouTube Channel about it?"

Liam laughs as memories flood into his mind, joined by nostalgia. “Well, my friends and I were at a basketball game one time—this was back in high school. I was dared to run around on court during a live game and… yeah. You can kind of see how that went. A bunch of people filmed it and it went viral all over YouTube and social media. So, my friends suggested I start a channel kind of based around crazy things like that and it sort of escalated from there. It started small—in high school, there was only so much I could do. But as my channel took off, I started traveling the world and doing anything and everything that I could.”

I chuckle with him at the memory, then say, "I was sorry to hear that you had an accident recently. Can you tell us what happened?"

This isn’t particularly what Liam wanted to talk about, but he keeps his camera-face on, and does his best to brush it off. “Yeah. I went rock-climbing and took a nasty fall. No biggie.”

Hm. Maybe that will be something we learn more about in his book. I change tack. "Can you tell us a little bit about your friends? I know sometimes friendship is fleeting for the famous. Have they been supportive in this difficult time, or have they abandoned you?"

Liam chuckles. “My friends are pretty crazy. They don’t see anything different; I mean, Christian, Allen, and Dean have gone on all my adventures and have been in pretty much all my videos. And of course, I can’t forget my bestie JuJu.” He grinned, knowing she would hate him using her nickname, especially in an interview like this. “She can be a bit protective and has always been careful, you know, reminding me to stay safe and stuff.”

I nod, glad to hear he has someone worried about his safety. "If you could do anything, what would it be?"

Liam pauses and thinks about it for a moment. What would he do? He’d done so much already; it was hard to pinpoint exactly what he wanted. For the trip to Hawaii, he wanted to go shark diving. He wished his leg was better so he could. But the thing he really wanted was to date Julia. Not that he would ever admit that out loud. Realizing he’s been silent for a few seconds too long, he clears his throat. “Probably shark diving. That’s one thing I’ve never done before.” He figured it was the safe answer. 

I narrow my eyes at him, wondering if he’d been thinking about something else. "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? And why?”

“Hmmm.” Again, Liam has to think deeply. “Ah, definitely Alaska! There’s so much wilderness to explore and plenty of dangers. They actually have their own mysterious triangle where people go missing each year. Kind of like the Bermuda Triangle. Which I’d love to go see, too.” Liam’s head starts swirling with future video ideas. If only his leg was better. 

I grin. "I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska, too. But I hear you're going on a trip to Hawaii soon. Are you excited about that?"

Liam nods with a massive grin. “Oh yeah. Definitely! There’s a lot to do there – cliff diving, shark diving, flying in a planet or helicopter, boating, swimming. This is a trip I’ve needed.”

My time is running out. Why does it always feel like I barely get a glimpse of these people before I have to leave? "If you could ask your author one thing, what would you ask?"

Liam shakes his head with a chuckle. “That’s easy. How in the world did she write a character like me so reckless and in love with danger when she’s a complete scaredy-cat?”

His fond laughter rings in my ears as my badge blinks and the world fades around me. I stare down at the notepad in my hand and grin. This will be a fun one to share with my fans!

Sounds like this character and his author are kind of opposites. Have you ever written a character that is very different from yourself? Was it easier or harder than writing one similar to yourself?

If you could go into a fictional world and interview any character, who would it be and why?