Camille Moore Interview

When I was younger, a part of fiction character development was building scenarios to assign behavioral traits. My cousin (whose novel “Twisted Illusions” is on sale for $2) and I would discuss ideas, effortlessly bouncing off the other’s original thought. No matter which angle we started at, we would always conclude at the same: acting out interviews. It’s one of those outwardly psycho, inwardly hella cool type of things. I value the ability to bring childhood you into adult life, maintaining the same joys you had. It keeps you loving what you do, never allowing it to be come just what you do. So, since I don’t have my cousin here at this very moment, I’ll be doing a character interview solo. Check this noise.

Visualize: A Camille Moore Interview

It’s November 22, 2013 and we’re inside a beautiful Rhode Island home belonging to one of the most well-known residence in town. Camille Moore sits across from me with her eyes trained on a tree whose leaves are rustling in the cool Fall wind. Legs crossed, hands flat against the arm rest, she seems overly intrigued by Mother Nature, but I fail to interrupt. Dressed in a maroon long sleeve-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black mid-calf boots, she appears easy to talk to. It wasn’t until her gaze turned to me that I noticed potential for a profound tale. Cutting right to the chase I asked the very first thing I could think of.

VND: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
CM: Undoing the past. [She fiddles with a loose stitch on the armchair] Having my family back, writing until my hands fall off from exhaustion, and lying out for weeks upon weeks on my bed with our dog. Perfect happiness for me is being with them.

VND: Do you believe with them you would have attained your goal as a “happy-endings writer”?
CM: I guess I wouldn’t have. It probably never would have crossed my mind. [She pulls on her Christian cross necklace.] My neighbor Minnie Lee once told me the best writers known the worst tragedies. I try to be the best and the best in my eyes in the general field of writing is coincidentally the same woman I share a birthday with, Daisy Bates.

VND: Daisy was remarkable. Now, aside from the obvious…What is your greatest fear?
CM: Not making a mark, and being known only for the negativity surrounding me.

VND: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
CM: I can take what’s right in front of me for face value. I tear everything apart.

VND: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
CM: Lack of respect, compassion, things like that. Before “Point of Infliction” I had dinner with Derek Caldwell to discuss, and it was so…eerie how much we had in common. We concluded that the general population is deplorable.

VND: Which living person do you most admire?
CM: That’s tough. Choosing’s are slim. I guess it’d be too obvious if I said Mariah or Richard, as they both mean a lot to me, but they somehow embody what I admire most. They have the compassion, charisma, edge, ability…all of what I love in a person. I really don’t like to delve into political or celebrity statuses to choose a person and I don’t want to be cliche and say my friend, so I guess…Right now, I admire Derek. He’s very well put together, handsome but doesn’t act like he knows it, eloquent, considerate, mysterious. What woman doesn’t love that?

VND: What is your greatest extravagance?
CM: Oh. This. [She laughs, twirling a bulky, sterling silver ring on her finger] It’s a David Yurman. It’s the most I have ever paid for an accessory, but like you…I love rings.

VND: What is your current state of mind?
CM: Are we talking Pitta Dosha versus Vata Dosha?

VND: Hahaha. Sure.
CM: Pitta.

VND: What do you consider the most overrated virtue, and why?
CM: Patriotism. I don’t understand the unconditional love placed on a single location. I don’t understand the passion associated with it when your homeland is so volatile, careless, and filled with avoidable chaos. People swear by the same locations they scurry from. It’s a bit mind-boggling. I honestly wonder why we haven’t merged. We are all only human after all. Flawed humans.

VND: That’s fair. On a lighter note. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
CM: My sister. If that makes any sense. Danielle was my everything. My best friend, my cheerleader, my coach, my shoulder to lean on. It’s hard to let that go. Which is obvious in “Point of Infliction”. We’ve just finished a scene with her and it’s just…heartbreaking.

VND: I understand. I have three sisters myself. Alright, what do you consider your greatest achievement?
CM: I cannot answer that, actually. That’s something I need to reflect on.

VND: How about this? If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
CM: Probably a night creature. [She laughs.] They are supposedly cursed, so it would make sense. I’m not the best person on the planet. I do belief in multiple lives, so in this one I was provided too much. Balance. Yin. Yang.

VND: And finally, what is your motto?
CM: There’s always tomorrow.

VND: And what if that isn’t true?
CM: How would you know that tomorrow never came? There would just be no tomorrow. It would all end. I believe this world will no longer be your habitat, but an alternate plane would be.

VND: Thank you for your time Camille. We can’t wait for “Point of Infliction” to come out. Thank you for welcoming us into your home.
CM: Thank you. Thank you for having me.