Here it is: KHInsider's first ever audio interview, featuring CD-Man2021 and myself! The interview runs just under thirty minutes, but that's because we had lots of interesting things to talk about! I highly recommend listening, but if you don't have the time or just prefer using your eyes to your ears, I have included a transcript below that also features links to the roleplays and other items mentioned in the interview.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/khi_hidden/kh...iew-cd-man2021
Spoiler: Transcript
Show
Hello KHI, this is Hidden, speaking to you for the very first time. And with me via skype is CD-Man2021. First off, thanks a lot for doing this interview with us.
Yeah, no problem, no problem at all. Thanks for having me by the way.
It was the will of the members. You got voted first place for the new interview!
I feel so special.
To start off, let’s just do the basic: can you give us a brief introduction of yourself, how you got into roleplaying and where else we can see you on the forums?
Like you mentioned, my user-name is CD-Man2021, CD for short. My real name is Christopher Duran, Chris for short. I remember joining in March of 2008, but according to my profile I’ve been a member since February of 2009, so we’re going with that. I joined only to roleplay, really, that’s the main reason why I joined. My at-the-time girlfriend introduced me to the website and I just started roleplaying. I’m usually only in the creative corner, it’s rare to see me somewhere else. I might post in the video game forums, but aside from that its creative corner all the way.
OK, cool. How did you know about the roleplaying on KHI then, did you say that was through your girlfriend?
Yeah, she mentioned it one day and I was like, “Oh, that sounds cool!” And I guess to be cute, because I don’t know how relationships work, I thought I’d join her and surprise her, like “Oh look, I know how to write too!” We’re no longer together, so you can guess how that worked out.
But you’re still here, that’s what’s important.
Yeah, yeah.
Did you actually do any reading on the site ahead of time, did you read any of the roleplays, or did you just jump right in?
You know, reading ahead would have been the smart thing to do, and I think we kind of covered that I’m not a very smart person, so: no, I didn’t.
Well you actually sent me some links to two of your earliest roleplays, and I noticed that in both of those roleplays you used a common character, named Jet, and he’s this kind of card-holding, sarcastic villain. Is that a good enough description?
Yeah, that covers him I would say.
I’m just curious, did he show up in more roleplays than just those two, was he a recurring character of yours?
Jet was actually one of the first characters I created. I think in KHI he’s only been in those two—and then just recently, King Wolfe made a canon RP on Supernatural, so I’ve recreated him again for that. But I’m pretty sure those are the only times Jet’s been around here, in these parts.
Okay, but he has a history to him. Do you have other characters who you will reuse in roleplays multiple times?
I do! Recently I haven’t been doing that, I’ve just been creating new characters. But Bryer Alma is one of my first characters--he’s kind of the middle man of my little head group, and he’s good friends with a stereotypical thief named Chive Cloc. I think those might be the only two that I can remember offhand that are characters I’ve created and used over and over again.
So often, at least on this site, you’ll look at a roleplay and come up with an original character specific to that roleplay, is that right?
Right. I do have other characters that I have a very loose description for: there’s a guy named Reyes, if I ever need a magician-type role I would rely on him and then recreate him to fit into the RP. And the same thing could be said for Chive, if I need to make a quick thief-kind of character I could use him, maybe change names. Sancho was another one, he was pretty much Chive with a different name. I have a Word document somewhere in my computer full of characters I’ve used in the past, and I just recreate them or change them up to fit them into whatever RP we have going on.
So they’re more like loose templates and you’ll customize them as you need them.
Right, that’s exactly what it is.
That actually leads really well into a question Purgatory, another member on the forums, asks—how do you actually go about creating these characters in the first place? And KitKat asks, even more specifically, how much of your characters have some basis in yourself?
Well for a lot of the RPs, I look at what it is we need in that RP. I don’t usually go, “I want to make this character, I’m going to make this character.” I look and see what characters have already been created and work off of that. What roles need to be filled: maybe there’s a villain slot that needs to be chosen, maybe there’s five male characters and only one female character, I’ll go for a female character. As for KitKat’s question, I’d say a lot of my characters have something to do with me, maybe not deeply connected to myself but there is usually a small part of me that would go into my characters in general.
Can you give us a specific example with any one character?
Before the Persona RP, which is probably gonna be a big point in this interview, there was a canon or original roleplay, I can’t remember, but I had a character there who worked as a librarian in the high school the roleplay was going to take place in. She was a pianist as well, much like Crystal [from the Persona RP], but she was just starting to learn how to play the piano, and she was just starting college. A lot of that was based on myself as well: I had just started college at the time of that RP and I was also just barely learning to play piano, and we’re both pretty terrible at piano.
Well I remember reading one of your posts as Crystal and you used some musical terms from piano, I think it was pianissimo… the different volume levels.
Yeah, I was trying to make it look cool, I think, but really I was just like “Oh, this might be a good idea, maybe someone will catch it.” Basically the first one, pianissimo, is the quietest, and then it ended with crescendo or something similar to that, which is the loudest you can reach with piano.
I thought it worked really well in that post.
Thank you.
Actually Crystal brings up a good point. I have a pretty limited view of your characters, because it sounds like you have a lot more than I’ve seen. But looking at Jet, one of your earliest characters, and also all the way forward to Crystal, who is one of your latest—those characters seem to share a theme of doubling. So in Jet’s example, he has his better half, his twin brother Zach. And each of them in their subconscious has, I think it was called a Sanctuary?
Oh, that’s way back, I can barely remember that!
They have this sort of double within their own minds that they’ll talk to and communicate with. And Crystal has much the same thing going on with her shadow. Is this a theme in your characters, or did I just happen to catch the three characters who took that and ran with it?
You know, I didn’t think of it before, but it might be a subconscious thing. I don’t go, “Okay, this guy’s gonna have a lot of internal struggles,” but again with Crystal that’s exactly what’s happening. I didn’t plan for that to be such a major point for her, but that’s what happened. Jet I did plan for that to happen, and if the RP had been seen all the way through, maybe he would’ve shifted into a better person, or maybe he would have denied everything and become a worse person, I’m not sure how I was gonna go with that. It’s not something I planned out for a lot of my characters, but it does seem to be happening, so maybe it’s some sort of curse on me, I don’t know!
A number of people who were either voting for you or putting questions to ask you mentioned Crystal as being the character they really remembered, as the most recent but also for her interesting relationship to her doppelganger. But that wasn’t originally going to be a big point of her character?
No! I don’t know how people are going to take this, but to be honest when I did that, when I brought her shadow to take over Crystal’s body, I thought it was gonna be a terrible idea. I thought, “No one’s gonna like this, they’re gonna say, ‘no, stop this, make it right, stop trying to make your own thing.’” And I remember asking Piercing Light, he’s the guy running the Persona RP, I remember asking multiple times if it would be okay for this to happen, because I didn’t know how people would take it. And I’m really happy that it turned out to be a good idea, because I have a lot of ideas that I work on, on a whim like this one, and usually they turn out terrible, but I think I struck gold with this one.
Yeah, it definitely seems like it. Beyond just character development then, you’ve been roleplaying at least five years on KHI. Were you roleplaying before that?
I believe I was, maybe not as much as I do now, because I know different forums that I used to go to had a very limited RP section, maybe a post every week for the entire forum. Whereas here we might be slowing down, but we still have people roleplaying in different areas and even if I’m not a part of it I can still read through their posts and get some ideas for what I should for my own posts later on.
Has your writing, or your roleplaying specifically, changed much over those five years?
I would definitely say it has. We say five years, because it has been five years since I joined this forum, but I’ve been leaving and coming back –so half a year I might leave and then come back half a year later- so altogether I’ve probably only been here about one or two and a half years. So it definitely has changed. Whereas before I would always write something very silly, go for the more wacky route, I still do that today, but I also incorporate more seriousness into my writings. And that can also be seen in parts that are not roleplays, like the creative writing section.
Well one thing that I noticed that seemed to stay constant all the way from 2009 to 2014 is you almost always incorporate some aspect of humor into your posts.
Oh definitely, yeah.
Have you ever tried writing something completely straight, all humor drained out of it, or is that just not your style?
I have! I plan to write something in a bit that follows this up, but from my writings for Simple Stuff I have an earlier concept that’s called Unassorted. I don’t believe I put in any humor, I might have slipped some in there just because I can’t help it, but that was supposed to be completely serious. It’s about a guy who’s hurt in some way, he has brain damage of some sort, I don’t remember what the original concept was because this was back maybe three years ago. But it was a very serious thing, very sad, depressing, and a lot of people told me it was something I hadn’t really shown on these forums. They really enjoyed it, and I plan to maybe write some more on that, maybe do some other things that are more serious.
Okay, so moving outside of your comfort zone there. Purgatory actually asks another question, which is linked to this, do you consider that you have a style of writing, is there something that all your writing has in common?
The only thing I can really think of, which you just mentioned, is that I always try to put a little humor into my writing. Like maybe the post is serious, but I always have to throw in a little joke there just to lighten the mood. And apparently I’m really good at the internal struggle thing, which I just found out about a few minutes ago. But aside from that I can’t really think of a particular style. Klom brought up the point that I can write in different kinds of styles, and I agree with him because I don’t consider myself just a stick with one thing.
So you also point out you write creatively outside of roleplaying. Can you give us the names of what else we can find in the creative writing section?
Sure, right now I only have two, technically three things out. The first one is Simple Stuff, which is a story about stuff that is not very simple. It starts off with a guy who came back from the doctor’s the night before and he has a clogged toilet. And from that it evolves into a girl who is half his size crashing her plumbing truck into his car as he was about to leave and it just explodes into scrap metal. And he’s just driving along on this adventure with her and he has no idea why. I haven’t really written a whole lot of that, but I plan to. Whenever this recording goes up on the forums, I guarantee I’ll post the next part. I’m not sure when you plan to post this up, but that’s a guarantee.
Alright, well it will be this weekend, so you’ve got two days.
Oh good, that’s a lot of time. [Laughs] The second one is Unassorted, which is technically a second piece because it’s so different from what Simple Stuff is. Unassorted was my first attempt at Simple Stuff, and it was gonna be a much more serious concept. Eventually it would have followed the same route that Simple Stuff has. This girl would have crashed into the main character’s life and changed it for the better. I think that was gonna be the original concept, again it’s been so long that I can barely remember. Finally I have a fanfiction out, which is really strange coming from me because I personally do not enjoy fanfictions at all, but I decided to write this out years ago. It’s called Animal Crossing Deluxe—it’s about a guy who moves into a village, and the village is full of talking animals, and that’s pretty much all you need to know.
Definitely something everybody should check out in the creative writing section.
Totally not a shameless plug!
Exactly! What about reading, what do you enjoy reading, any genres, any writers specifically?
You know, back in high school, I remember specifically I got separated from some friends because the lunch scheduling was a real pain in the back. So I spent a lot of that time in the library, and I read so many books, I don’t even remember half of the books that I read but they all stuck with me. One in particular that did stick out, I actually have a copy sitting right next to me, is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams. I draw a lot of inspiration from that, it’s something that has really stuck out for me. And Simple Stuff itself, the story that I was writing, definitely has a lot of inspiration from that too. If you go back, some of my posts way back will have a lot of really wacky, silly moments, and I definitely drew from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, it’s written by Douglas Adams, great author. And the thing with this book is it has so much strange and weird wackiness going on in it, but it’s not like this new-age internet humor, like ‘Oh it’s so random, look at this!’ It’s not random for the sake of being random, there’s a reason behind everything. It opens up with the earth being destroyed, and you think, “Oh, was it some kind of war?” No, it was because some aliens wanted to build some freakin’ highway, that’s why it was destroyed. And I enjoy that, and I try to incorporate a lot of that into my writing. And I think I’ve been doing a decent job of it, but it’s a fine line and I still need to work at it some more.
Well, when you bring it up, I can see the influence, definitely. Any other writers –novels, comics, whatever- that you might suggest to listeners for drawing inspiration, or just people who have good writing, people who can really make use of words?
Captain Underpants, that’s a big one! (Laughs) But really, I think it’s Eoin Colfer, the guy who wrote the Artemis Fowl books, I’m a big fan of those too. Those are similar to the Hitchhiker’s Guide in that there’s always a little bit of humor in there, but it’s much more serious than the Hitchhiker’s Guide. I haven’t read them in such a long time, but I think I got some influence from there too.
It’s a really unique concept too, behind the books. They play with some of the older ideas of humans and fairies and all that, but I think that author really got a unique take on it.
Yeah, like the part where they’re talking about Stonehenge, and people think it’s some mystical thing with UFOs, but it’s actually a fast-food restaurant for fairies or something? I kind of remember that.
What about other roleplays? Are there any roleplayers, especially on KHI of course, the material they put out, is that something that you look at and say, ‘This is something good, this is something I can use in my own writing’ or just that you enjoy reading?
Well, I saw Purgatory post this question too, and I’ve been trying to crack my head over this. I’m gonna say this, but not in a negative manner—there aren’t any roleplayers here that I look at and say ‘Oh, this is the best, I need to emulate this!’ I look at them and say, ‘This is really good, I enjoy reading this.’ Especially the newer members; the older members also have very good stuff coming out. But I don’t have anyone that I idolize -I think that’s what purgatory had written- I don’t think there’s a member here that I really idolize. But I do enjoy reading everyone’s posts, and I do sometimes see that and say ‘Oh, you know what, maybe I can do something kind of like that,” maybe not copy it exactly, but there are things that I draw from other roleplayers. Actually a good example would be Inner Peace, he’s also in the Persona RP. His character’s really serious, and at the beginning I wasn’t gonna go for that kind of thing, but some of his sarcastic comments are starting to rub off on me so… thanks a lot. Thanks.
There you go. There’s a shout out to Inner Piece.
Whoo!
Do you have any projects that are in the works? You mentioned you were going to put up a new bit on either Simple Stuff or Unassorted, which was it?
Both of them, actually, I plan to eventually get to both of them. Simple Stuff is going to be the first part coming out. Unassorted, that’s gonna be who knows when. I plan to do it.
What about roleplays? Anything new in line? What are you currently involved in?
Right now, there are only two or maybe three that I’m involved in right now. The first one is the Persona RP, which is about teenagers, high school, magic, and stuff. The second one is… oh yeah, there’s a Sword Art Online one, that was created by Lone, and I’m involved in that too, it’s just starting off. And the final one is King Wolfe’s Tales of Arcadia, and that’s again the one Jet’s coming out in. Should be interesting. I’m having a hard time really getting into it, but I’m starting to get more and more drawn in as the story goes on.
What does draw you to the story, what makes you think, ‘This roleplay is one I should put the time and effort into?’
Really it’s the idea, like when I first read the idea of Tales of Arcadia I was really drawn to it, I thought it was a great idea, it’s just got interesting concepts to it – anything with interesting concepts will draw me to it. That’s pretty much it, actually, it’s all about the concepts. When we first read a roleplay, it’s like, ‘Well, what is this about?’ and if it interests you, you join it, and if it doesn’t you’re like, ‘Well maybe next time.’ I mentioned I’m not a big fan of fanfictions, and for that reason I’m not a huge fan of canon roleplays, roleplays that take place in universes that already exist. The exception to that is when it’s an alternate universe, when the characters from that original concept do not appear, which is why I enjoy the Sword Art Online RP, we don’t have to deal with the characters that were there before, because it’s all new characters. And the same thing with the Persona RP, if we had Yosuke show up out of nowhere I would not be okay with that, because that wouldn’t be kosher for me.
So what exactly is it you have against fan fiction or original universe canon roleplays?
For me, it’s basically that you’re taking a character that isn’t your own, and you’re trying to manipulate it in a way that you think they would act. There was a roleplay, it was such a long time ago, it was a Tales of Symphonia roleplay, and I’m a big fan of that. I took up the mantle of Zelos Wilder, and he’s this playboy-type of character. And he was my favorite character so I thought, “Of course I know how he’s going to act!” As soon as we started, I immediately hit a brick wall, because I had no idea how he would actually react to situations that I had not seen him react to in the games. And I guess that’s just me not thinking that people can really… there are people I’m sure who know characters inside and out. But we’re in a Kingdom Hearts forum: how would Riku react to a surprise birthday party? Do we really know that? I would have no idea. That’s pretty much my gripe with fanfiction and stuff like that.
Sure, the point where it… it walks a very fine line between extrapolation, figuring out, ‘Okay this is this character, we can guess realistically how he would act,’ but also, like with the birthday parties, a lot of those fanfictions go into wish fulfillment, ‘This is how I want this character to act.’
Yeah, that’s exactly it. There’s also some fanfictions where people put characters in situations that would never really happen, and they try to see how that character would react. But you don’t really know how they would react in those strange situations, because they’ve never been in that situation.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense…
That’s not me saying, “Oh, no one should ever write fanfiction!” No, you can write whatever you want, I’m just not a fan of it personally.
Mm-hmm, makes sense. Alright, well we’re coming up very quickly on half an hour already, so I’m gonna go ahead and jump right to the final question here, which is: what is the proper spelling of the French pastry, croissant?
(Laughs) Can I start off by saying I absolutely hate Noel? Alright, Noel, listen carefully: C-r-o-i-s-s-a-n-t, that is the pastry. C-r-e-s-c-e-n-t is a shape. Now, earlier, Noel posted a picture of the Pillsbury Doughboy with a “Crescent croissant.” But that is a brand, Noel, that is not a croissant, alright?
Alright, so Noel and all other roleplayers take note, the correct spelling is in this interview. If you ever have questions, come back and listen to all 30 minutes so that you can get it right.
Yeah, just for that. If you take ONE THING from this interview, let it be that!
Alright, well that’s all I’ve got, thanks so much for taking part in this!
Absolutely, thank you for having me man! It’s been an honor.
Same for me. And until next time, hope you’ll tune in for the next KHInsider Roleplayer Interview!
Goodbye!
If you have more comments or questions for CD-Man, post them here! He's very generous with his time and knowledge, and there's a lot we didn't have time to get to! Alternatively, if you have suggestions for future interviews, let me know. Special thanks to Noblesse Oblige, who suggested the audio interview and gave me some pointers for how to accomplish that. He also gets a shout out in the interview, albeit in a very different context.