Interview with the author

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.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?