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cocoeclipse · 3 months ago

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A Separate Interview

I took a deep breath as I entered the building. It felt off-putting to be the one entering the building rather than dropping Finny off in front of it; for me to be the center of attention and nobody else. The entrance room was small with a brown carpet and couch. The walls were a simple off-white color with pictures of the student radio hosts. On the wall to the left of the door– the side the couch was facing– there was a large window into the recording room, bordered by a simple wooden frame. On the opposite side of the entrance door, was a wood door with a clear window to see into the room and above it an “On Air” sign, which led to the recording room. As I sat on the couch, I couldn’t help but reflect on what got me here; writing that novel. A Separate Peace was only meant to help my patients understand the impact of lack of communication; not be an award-winning book. It was meant to explain the complexities of jealousy, admiration, and friendship as well as how they intertwine with one another; not a popular story simplified down into something unrecognizable. Most of all, it was to display how war affects the mind; not encourage people to force themselves or their kids towards war.

I was never supposed to be interviewed over it.

“Mr. Forrester,” someone called, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. I looked up and saw a student standing in the doorway. He looked to be an Upper Middler– so about 16– and was wearing a black suit and white undershirt; fairly standard attire for a radio show host. “We’re ready for your interview,” he continued. I stood up and walked into the recording room. It was pretty small with a desk and a pair of chairs in the center. On the desk, sat a panel with buttons and knobs; probably controlling the radio’s music and talking segments. In front of the chairs were microphones, one preset to a specific height and one unadjusted. The host sat in the chair with the preadjusted mic, so I sat down in the other chair and pulled the mic down to my height.

“So, Mr. Forrester,” the host began, “my name is Todd. Are there any specific questions you would like me to ask once the broadcast starts?”

“Nope,” I replied, “as long as it doesn’t pertain to my personal life, you can ask me anything.”

“GREAT! We’re going to go live in just a few minutes, so I hope you’re ready.”

I sat in the chair composing myself for the next five minutes, this was just an interview. Finny does these all the time and I’ve done multiple to get to where I am today; so why were my hands shaking? Why was I so nervous? I took some deep breaths while I waited for Todd to announce that the radio station was live

“Welcome back to WPEA with your host, Todd!” he announced. “As always, today we have an alumni interview, if you could introduce yourself,” he continued, switching the focus over to me.

I took a deep breath before beginning, “Hello students of Devon. My name is Gene Forrester. I’m an author and psychologist who was part of Devon’s class of 1943.” I took another calming breath before continuing, “My most recent and most popular work is A Separate Peace.”

“Thank you for coming Mr. Forrester; now, my first question is, what inspires you to write your books? I’ve read a few of them and they’re quite good.”

“Thank you, I’ve worked quite hard on them,” I admitted. “Most of my books are written to help my patients or their families understand mental health problems. Some are more specific while some were primarily passion projects, but overall I wrote my books to help the public to understand how different actions are caused by or affect people’s mentality,” I explained nervously.

“That’s quite interesting to learn, sir. Now, pertaining to your most recent book, what most heavily inspired the novel?” Todd inquired.

“Well, there are a few things I wanted to touch on in A Separate Peace,” I started, conjuring up confidence I didn’t have. “First was the importance of communication in a relationship, specifically friendships,” I continued, omitting that Finny and I began dating later that summer. “Another important topic was jealousy. The combination of these things is what causes the main conflict. Finally– and I think most importantly– was how war affects the mind. Most of my patients and friends have experienced the effects of World War Two, and I feel that it is important to show how much it affects people, especially those who are younger.”

“Wow, Mr. Forrester, that’s quite a noble reason for writing your book,” Todd replied. I felt myself blush with a bit of embarrassment. Out of all my pieces, A Separate Peace had been the least noble. While the book may appear admirable, I wrote it as more of a self-dissection and reflection than anything else. A passion project, if you will. “Moving onto the plot of your book, what inspired the specific scenes in the novel? And were any of them based on your real life?”

I chuckled, thinking about the most important moments. “Well, most of the scenes in the summer were real events with some slight discrepancies of course.”

“Could you elaborate on those changes for us? I’m sure our listeners are eager to hear the details,” prompted Tom.

“Of course!” I replied, “The main changes include a slight change to the dialogue of the beach scene, the spiraling over Finny hating me during chapter 4, and jouncing the limb. The dialogue change was done to further explain the importance of communication and the other scenes were the byproduct of that,” I explained.

“During the scene at Finny’s home, there were two changes, though neither of them were particularly important, so I don’t think I need to go into detail over them.” I paused here, thinking of other important scenes. “The ordeal with Quackenbush was based on interactions some of the other boys had with him, I don’t remember which exactly. Most of chapter 7 is the same except for the application to the war. The inverse can be said about chapter 8, as the only real event is when Finny told me the winter loves him and that whole conversation.” I took another pause to think about what to say next, and avoid mentioning anything about my relationship with Finny.

“Chapters nine and ten– that’s the Winter Carnival and my talk with Leper– are mostly unchanged except for Finny’s leg being broken. Chapters 11 through 13 on the other hand are almost complete fabrications. To be honest, the end of my time at Devon was actually pretty nice; the novel’s ending was written solely for narrative purposes. I guess a slight inspiration of mine for the key scenes in those chapters would be the time I was on jury duty while writing the novel, which really helped with the trial scene of chapter 11. I’m fairly certain those were all the scenes that had inspirations from real-world events,” I finished. Part of me thought I talked for a bit too long, but it was an interview so that should’ve been okay. Thankfully, Todd reassured me with his reply.

“It seems like most of the novel was based on real experiences. This being said, are the characters based on real people?” Todd asked.

“Yes, each of the characters are real people from Devon with the Gene in the novel being a stand-in for myself.”

“Now I’m curious, have I or another host interviewed any of them?” Todd asked. I had to think about this for a bit; other than Phineas, had the other boys been interviewed at all? Well, I think Brinker was interviewed last week. I believe Chet had one last month too.

“I believe three of them have been interviewed, then again a few more may have but I can’t remember,” I finally gave as my reply.

“I’m a bit curious as to which ones, but I want to try and guess.”

I chuckled, for it was probably pretty obvious, but I let him try anyway. “Go right ahead, Todd.”

“Let’s see,” he began, “I believe I interviewed Brinker Hadley this time last week. Then a few months ago I interviewed another 1940s alumni, what was his name again… oh! Chet Douglass! They were a CEO and an orchestra member respectively,” he exclaimed. “As for the last one, I’m not entirely sure. I can’t remember interviewing anyone else from the 1940s years, much less the 1943 class specifically. Maybe it’ll come to me later, so let’s continue with the questions. Who is the person that inspired Finny?”

I gave another chuckle. “Phineas, of course.” He was clearly a bit confused here, as he raised his left brow and gave me a curious look.

“But who is the real person behind Phineas?” Todd inquired again. “You gave most of the characters’ last names, but not Finny’s.”

With a short laugh, I commented. “I didn’t realize that I never mentioned Finny’s last name, he’s always been so distinct that someone not knowing who I was talking about just seemed wrong. Anyways, Finny is based off, well, Finny. His full name is Phineas Pell.” Todd went silent for a minute so I looked over at his face; it was filled with shock. I guess that was a big surprise.

Upon recovering from this Todd inquired incredulously, “The Olympic Gold Medalist in hockey?”

“Aey-uh,” I began as an homage to Finny, “We talk nearly every day.”

“That’s quite the bombshell to drop, Mr. Forrester. However, I now know who the last interviewee was– one of my co-hosts interviewed him right after the Olympics. Anyways, did any of your friends know that you wrote this with their real names?” Todd asked to get the interview rolling again.

“Most were vaguely aware, although many did not know the plot of the novel, with the exception– ironically enough– being Finny. He had a hand in making sure I did the characterization of pretty much everyone properly. I was not the most attentive person towards my peers back in school,” I explained, slightly embarrassed. After all, I am a psychologist these days; my job is paying attention to other people and their emotions.

“Well, Mr. Forrester,” Todd began again, signaling that the interview time was up, “thank you for providing us some insight into your most popular work. To all the students, let us know if you would like to hear him return to the interview table in the future. For now, let us listen to "Ticket to Ride” by everyone’s favorite British band, the Beatles!”

Todd then pressed a few buttons on the panel. From the window to the waiting room, I could see the light from the “On Air” sign turn off. “Ticket to Ride” then began to play faintly from the speakers. We both turned our microphones away before Todd turned to face me.

“Again, Mr. Forrester, thank you for the interview. You know the way out of the building, and I need to stay and make sure the music is played properly. We will send you a letter if we want you back for another interview,” Todd told me with a smile. I gave him one in return as I stood up and headed toward the door.

“Thank you for the interview, Todd. I hope to see you again in the future,” I replied. When I walked out of the building, I gave a long sigh of relief. The interview was nowhere near as bad as I had assumed it would be. I got into the Ford Mustang convertible that Finny had convinced me to buy; excited to return home and tell him all about my latest adventure with my new-found fame.

Cross posted links:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63999970

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14453573/1/A-Separate-Interview

https://www.wattpad.com/story/391791722-a-separate-interview

#genefinny #gene forrester #phineas pell #gene x finny #a separate peace #a separate peace fanfic #Someone please teach me standard tagging on tumbr #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on FFN #cross posted on wattpad

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