Conversations with Imaginary People

 Several years ago I signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org), a challenge to write 50,000 words in November each year. I had an idea for a novel, but I quickly realized that my idea needed a lot more if I was going to come anywhere near 50,000 words. It was a really good learning experience, and I was not discouraged. I kept working on it sporadically. One of my issues was just not enough plot. Another was that I didn't know why the "bad guy" had it in for the protagonist. 

It's interesting how a fiction that you create in your head can take on a life of its own. My characters had conversations in my head that I didn't initiate. (Other writers told me this happens and to take advantage of it and write it all down). 

I decided to try interviewing the antagonist, whose name is Karl Gruber, to see if he could shed any light on this. This part of the novel takes in 1782 in Austria. The protagonist is Allie. Both are musicians, but Allie is an accidental time traveler from our time. Naturally she doesn't want to tell people that. She is also going by an alias, Anton, a horn player from the newly created United States. She has been invited to join a rural court orchestra led by Antonio Rosetti, a real person from that time.

Me (the author): Karl, why are so suspicious of Anton?

Karl: He appeared out of nowhere. I know many musicians in the Austrian empire and I have never heard of Anton Berger. He speaks German well but with a strange accent. 

Me: Where do you think he's from?

Karl: Herr Rosetti says he is from New York, one of the British colonies.

Me: Well, wouldn't that explain the accent? He would most likely be an English speaker.

Karl: Well, yes. But it's more than that. There's something very odd about him. He's not like anyone I've ever met.

Me: Couldn't he be just a stranger to Austria?

Karl: Yes, but it's even more than that. 

Me: Are you afraid he will harm the orchestra?

Karl: Perhaps. He avoids personal questions. He appeared  out of nowhere. Franz [another musician] arrived with him just yesterday. Where did he come from? 

Me: Why does it matter so much to you?

Karl: It is just wrong. He  doesn't belong here. Everyone is accepting him at face value, but I think there's more to it than that.

Me: He hasn't done or said anything to you that is threatening.

Karl: No. But I feel he is hiding something. People who are hiding parts of themselves can be dangerous. I like my life here. I don't want it to change. I think this strange young man will change things.

Conclusion: Karl is perceptive, but baffled. He is afraid, of what, he doesn't know. 

We (me and the characters) will see where this goes.