Abstract:
A change has come to popular media. Every day, we are digitally invited into the homes and
lives of the creators whose work we love. We are pushed to become attached to them as we
become attached to their work. How can we as viewers healthily interact with the creators whose
work we enjoy, and how can we as creators healthily interact with the people that enjoy our
work? How intimate can we become? How intimate should we become? What harm can we do to
each other? Interview with the Author is a visual novel that asks its players to engage with these
questions while taking the role of web columnist Reed Knightly as they interview science fiction
author Arthur Wright. Stemming from a semester-long inquiry into the subject of parasocial
relationships, Death of the Author, and the intersection of the two theories, Interview lets its
players can ask Arthur a variety of questions related to topics like their professional work, their
fandom, and their time as a fanfiction writer. The answers they receive dynamically shift
depending on the player’s perceived interest or disinterest in parasocial connections between
authors, readers and fictional characters. Interview represents a continued exploration of the
subject of communication in my work, and of the way individuals and constructs build
connections with one another.
