Interview with Killion Slade – Wicked Women Writers Challenge series

Car here. This is a series of interviews I’m doing for my author, Rebekah Webb, for the participants of the Wicked Women Writers challenge. (http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/wicked-women-writers-challenge/) Since I only interview inanimate objects, I have used the power of booze and lack of sleep to transform my interviewees into various assorted objects.

Hello, today I am going to interview a self-aware avatar from the online world Second Life, named Killion Slade. For most avatars, they stop living once the control is gone, like puppets. Killion comes alive whenever her user logs out, like a sci-fi version of Toy Story. She’s managed to win last Year’s Wicked Women Writers challenge (http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/wicked-women-writers-challenge/) and co-write and publish several short stories with her husband avatar. (http://www.killionslade.com/about-author-killion-slade/)

What made you start writing? As an avatar, I bet it’s taboo in your culture to take any sort of initiative.

Actually you’d be surprised.  Most of us carry on with our lives and have even more fun after our users log off.  They log off and we start the party!  Often times when they log on – it completely interrupts our life and we have to go play with others we might not necessarily like 😛

How does an avatar write? Do you try and possess your user and get them to write for you? Or is there another way to be able to put words to paper/screen?

I’ve tried to possess my user a few times – not pretty.  She has learned to log in and find little tid bit of goodies I leave behind for her.  We have this elves in the workshop thang going on 😉

Have you ever accidentally experienced a lagged based wardrobe malfunction and how does that affect your confidence as an avatar?

Oh heavens yes!  I’ll forget this one time, I was dancing at Frank’s place to some Rat Pack and my hair suddenly disappeared!  I was so incredibly embarrassed.  My dancing partner seemed a bit taken aback, so I blamed it on the lag.  There’s a couple of times it has taken my clothes to rez so I’ll be standing around naked until they finally decide to follow me in world.

 

Tell us about your inspiration for the current novel you are working on. Did it involve staring into the sun until the afterimages turned into an interesting story? That’s how I come up with interview questions.

Well my friends, Lady Cazenove and Roxas Morgwain, are always talking about their vampire world, blood orchards, dhampir armies, and dragons.  I decided to sit down with them and write out their stories.  Since we started writing, we have cast parties here in Second Life and enjoy blocking out the scenes and dressing up for the events.  Check out these fun photos we shot during our last party!

 

What made you turn to dark fiction? I always imagined avatars being more service based, intent on following the orders of their master. If they wrote, I always figured it would be philosophical treatises on not having control of one’s life. Or maybe the opposite, a manifesto about ending user oppression.

I know some avatars feel that way – but I am very happy to have the user I do.  She’s great to me.  Puts me to bed after a long night of playing.  I have a beautiful house and boat ona sim where I can run on the beach and ski in the mountains.  I leave her notes on where I want to go, and poof! she takes me there.  I love the darker side of everything.  Light is great, but it only illuminates what is already in the dark!

 

Is it true that avatars have virtually indestructible personalities that allows the world to byte them in the behind?

It is true!  However – some users can be cruel and kill off an avatar or leave them in the virtual closet for too long.  But for the most part – we can have anything happen to us.  Blow us up with poisonous daggers of teeth, cut off our body parts – no worries – we’ll just rez back another one. 

 

Is there a special avatar in your life? Or are you currently unattached?

Absolutely!  I wouldn’t be complete without my partner Mrs. Killion Slade.  We partnered back in April of 2008 and have never looked back.

 

What else have you written and how long have you been self-aware?

I have been self aware since November 2007.  It wasn’t until Cheyenne came around three years ago that I began to seriously write the story.  Now we are four books in and looking to publish this December to debut series.

 

What hobbies do you have? Have you become a HAL 9000/SkyNet cross that will take over the world when we aren’t looking?

I have been learning how to program and create holographic characters to co-exist with us.  Currently PADME is my project – Personal Automated Domicile Management Executive – no home or sim should be without one.

Do you have any advice for young avatars out there who might want to try their hand at writing?

If you have a story – write it down.  Even if you don’t publish it, write the story down.  You never know how long your user will be around, so get to it.  Put butt in chair and write 🙂