The wait for
Season 3 of
True Blood is still taking forever for many fans, even though the wait is actually getting shorter. As many of you know, I recently stumbled upon an amazing group of
Twitter roleplayers, and they've been incredibly kind to me, allowing me to interview them. After seeing how well my
interview with Sookie and then my
interview with Bill went,
Tara Thornton @Tara_ThorntonBT decided that I could add her to my list of interviewees! Thanks for being open to the interview!
Isis: Hey
Tara, great to have you tonight!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I'm happy to be here! Now can we please get started? I'm really excited for this.
Isis: You got it! I'd love to know why you role play and what got you into it. @Tara_ThorntonBT: I got into role playing on Facebook last year when I first got hooked on
True Blood. This was around May of last year. I found a group of role players that were looking for characters. So I sent them a message and they asked me some questions and gave me
TaraThornton. The big joke with that character is that my real life name is
Tara and my real life hubby's name is JB. A little ironic *laughs*
Isis: Yes, but that's also really cool!
Tara Roleplayer (Tara): The original group I role played with is still around but I left and decided to go to Twitter and now here I am.
Isis: Cool. How do you like this current group?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: This group has some absolutely amazing minds in it. We all work so well together. If it's story ideas, we have some amazing writers and imaginations, let it be web designers who can make amazing webpages and backgrounds for us or just some real awesome role players who fit the parts well!
Isis: Sounds like you've found a place in the role play, and it works so well for you! Have you ever been anyone besides
Tara in role play?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Nope, this is the only character I have seriously done. I did make a
vampire character once… but she was executed *laughing* and through that experience I know I make a terrible
vampire, but I did make some real good role play friends through it that I still play with once in a while.
Isis: Wow... Executed... Sounds like you think human's the way to go, then.
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Yeah... Human works for me.
Isis: But then again, being human comes with its own set of problems.
For example, your
Tara is addicted to V... Care to comment on that?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Tell me about it... I needed some kind of story line to fill in the time and well
Tara tends to make some rather poor choices. Since the death of
Eggs she hasn't been doing great. I mean, he was the love of her life and now he's gone. So I thought it would almost be fitting for her character to get caught in the dark trap of V as a way to kill the heartbreak of losing
Eggs.
Isis: *nodding* A sad choice, but I can see how it's realistic for
Tara. At the same time, though, after seeing what
Jason went through with his V addiction... I wonder if she really thought this all through.
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Does she ever think things through?? Look at the mess
Bon Temps was in after she got involved with
Maryann,
Eggs, and
Carl.
Isis: True. But
Tara's incredibly smart. We've known that since the first episode of
True Blood. At times I wonder about how much
Tara's need to be in control is hurting her. She only has one true friend that we know of as it is.
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Sookie has been her saving grace... but now that she is tied up with the
vampires,
Sookie doesn't seem to be around that much to help
Tara steer clear of trouble.
Isis: Yes. Does that information help you create such a great
Tara? What else helps you guide
Tara to being so realistic?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Yes it does... at least in my eyes.
Tara's attitude also helps. Her 'I don't give a damn what you think' attitude is something I tend to be a bit similar to in real life, so I find it quite easy to play
Tara. Our motto: If you don't like it don't look.
Isis: It's a great motto!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: It works.
Isis: Do you find your
Tara to be more based on
True Blood or the
Sookie Stackhouse novels?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I find my
Tara to be based more on
True Blood rather than the novels.
Isis: Is it just because she's a stronger character on
True Blood, or is there more to it?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: There's definitely more to it. I find the
Tara in the books not to be a strong backboned kind of girl. But her character in the books isn't a major one either. The show
Tara will rip your lips off if you get in her face and is all backbone, independent and very stubborn on the outside, but on the inside I see a young lady that is struggling with her identity with a mother that is an alcoholic/religious fanatic.
Tara in the show still hasn't found her own self yet and that's why the tough exterior. It helps hide her own insecurities.
Isis: Wow. Very deep. Have you incorporated any of book
Tara's traits at all?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I do run
@TarasTogs in some story lines and one there was a JB DuRone that showed up and we played. But right now I have
@FranklinMott lurking in the shadows...
Isis: Yes, what's going on with
Tara and
Franklin? How much bloodshed should we expect?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Well we know in the books
Franklin Mott is NOT nice to
Tara, and from what I've read around on all the sites like
TrueBloodNet.com, etc that this is going to be one ugly season again for poor
Tara. I read somewhere that
Franklin Mott is evil, so lots of blood I'm sure.
Isis: Unfortunately,
Tara seems to have terrible luck in love. Hopefully she'll find true love sooner rather than later!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I don't know what
Alan Ball has in store for
Tara. I just hope it'll be good in a few ways.
Isis: Hopefully it'll be good! After all,
Tara's incredibly important as a main secondary character. Anyways, it seems to me that
Tara's getting a raw deal the same way
Vampire Bill is. Is your role play group going to make their lives any easier, do you think?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: You know, now that you've mentioned it, we can almost call
Tara the human
Bill (just without the man bangs).
Isis: *laughing* I hadn't even considered that, but good point!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Well right now,
Tara is going through the addiction road to hell but when this story line is over next week I will be making her character lighter in lieu of
season 3.
Isis: Sounds great! It's obvious that you love what you're doing as the delightful Ms. Thornton. What do you love most about being
Tara?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Getting away with what I do on the stream *grins* I think I am the only human on the
Twitter stream that can get away with the hash tag
#DamnVamp and not get drained!
Isis: True, but then again, I'm sure that can make
Tara's life difficult sometimes. What's the most challenging part of being
Tara?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Not becoming a happy meal. However, a lot of various characters have my back out there if there is a problem let it be
Vampires, Fairies, Demons, Shifters or what ever else is out there. They know not to mess with me!
Isis: A backup plan is always good!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I tend to be "over protected" out there so there is no chance of me becoming a snack or turned or killed out there because someone is always watching me. I mean the first time
@FranklinMott hit the stream with me 2 weeks ago I had five
vampires out there ready to go after him!
Isis: WOW! Protection comes out of the shadows!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Last night he showed up again and I had five different
Eric's ready to go after him!
Isis: *laughing at the image of five
Eric's...*
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I have part of the
Magister's retinue watching as well, and they all have different personalities, trust me!
Isis: Is it like having Dissociative Identity Disorder (one person with multiple personalities) at all?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: They all have their own personalities...one
Eric is your silly
Eric, another is the over-sexed up
Eric, and then there are the
Eric's that are just perfect for the role (like ours). The
Bill's are the same.
Isis: The twitter stream seems to be incredibly diverse!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I know! When it comes to the
Bill's, I have one that serenades me all the time, even though he's a terrible singer! But then again, there's also your depressed
Bill and your happy
Bill, over-sexed
Bill and under-sexed
Bill, and then, of course, the Perfect
Bill (man bangs and all).
Isis: Do you have a favorite amongst the
Bill's and
Eric's?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Not really. Depending on the day I play with various groups.
Tara role players are scarce on the internet, and I really belong to everyone on the stream. Since I've met so many
Bill's and
Eric's, I can't choose at all! But yeah, the sparse selection of
Tara's online and my willingness to work with other groups has helped make
Tara a popular character. I love playing her.
Isis: Wow, that's amazing! Does
Tara change with each group you play with?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Yeah, I do. For example, I've got NOLA
Tara who hangs out with
Queen Sophie-Anne (
@Fangtasia_Queen) and is engaged to another
vampire,
@FangtasiaSerge. It's totally out of character! Then, there's
Bon Temps Tara (my real home base with the awesome
@TB_Sookie). There's also
Tara that has gone on wild and crazy adventures in Las Vegas to rescue the
Magister's Executioner and assistant when they were brainwashed... Basically,
Tara tends to be all over the grid so to speak. But since the
Bon Temps group was formed,
Tara tends to stay put in
Bon Temps where she belongs *for now.* Since we're that much closer to
season 3 and I have finally found my true family group of players,
Tara hasn't wondered off from
Bon Temps.
Isis: How is
season 3 going to affect you and this group as role players?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: I am so EXCITED! All the people we are currently casting are characters from the show and we're basically searching the stream for players who will fit the roles as those characters. They are coming from every group out there.
Some of our new characters are also role players from Facebook; some have never even role played before! Our
@SamMerlotteBT is a new role player. The person now behind
Sam sent us an email asking about the role because we really needed it filled. Luckily, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise, and we've got a great
Sam!
Isis: Wow, that's great, but back to you! Do you ever have fans who can't separate you from the
Tara Thornton on
True Blood?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: All the time. It's stated on my bio the this is a role play account... but I still get direct messages from people asking me what's going to happen in
season 3 and for autographs and stuff. I'm flattered but I usually send them a message back stating thanks for the compliment but I am NOT
Rutina Wesley. Funny enough, those fans are my biggest supporters in role play once they know that this is a fictional account.
Isis: That's pretty cool. Any strange comments aimed at you?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Sometimes... Like right now people are watching this story line seriously. I am getting all sorts of comment in my Form Spring box either loving it or hating it. The followers are quite split on what I've done with the V story line. I remember about 3 weeks ago I was getting quite bored so I decided to run a poll: Should
Tara Thornton be turned into a
vampire? Well, I stirred the stream up with that one, and obviously after nearly 800 votes the answer was no, but for the longest time the yes was in the lead. *laughing* After the poll closed it was around 85% no. To keep the fans interested in
True Blood, (and to prevent myself from getting bored,)
Tara Thornton on twitter does some strange thing out there to "wake" up the stream. There are nights where she'll open up
Merlotte's, play music, and mix exotic drinks to whomever wants them. It's not really a story line, but just some fun for everyone.
Isis: Well, it's a great way to get fans to interact! And now, for the final question... What's next for
@Tara_ThorntonBT?
@Tara_ThorntonBT: Wow... I really have no idea what's next for me... I know
Franklin is lurking around, The NOLA bunch has a silly story line about the compound being haunted or something, but right now we have to deal with the V addiction and see who
Tara's "surprise" visitor is in jail in next week's
Twittersode!
Isis: A very good question! I can't wait to find out!
@Tara_ThorntonBT: *grins* I'm SO not going to tell you... You have to wait like the everyone else for next Saturday. For those of you interested in checking out the role playing (which I highly recommend because this group is so good), you can find a list of the current group of role players on their website,
twittertrueblood.webs.com, which can be found under the Character navigation link. It is worth it to check them out!
http://truebloodnet.com http://truebloodnet.com/community http://truebloodnet.com/forums
Like her witty, sarcastic vampire character, Kristin Bauer admitted to ALIVE Magazine that she has pretty much been defiant and insubordinate much of her life. When she got the role as Pam on HBO's hit series True Blood, Kristin was delighted. "Great! I get to be sarcastic, witty, in great clothes killing people. I'm there." While in art school at Washington University, Kristin did very poorly in the classes she didn't like but excelled in the ones she enjoyed. Her attitude carried over outside the classroom and she could only keep a job for two weeks before getting fired. But now, True Blood will be starting its 3rd year (June 13) and Kristin's Pam is still co-owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. Acting was not in Kristin's original plans. She wanted to play rock 'n roll guitar. But in the 90's she was approached on a Los Angeles street and offered an acting role. That original ambition, however, is not lost to her. In August of 2009 she married South African guitarist, singer and songwriter Abri van Straten. In the interview, Kristin said that since her character is not in the 3rd book of the Sookie Stackhouse series (on which True Blood is based), she has to wait for the new scripts to learn what comes next. When she was asked which of Pam's vampire powers she finds most alluring, Kristin answered "I'll go for the immortality - I'll go for getting to stick around awhile." Without botox. SOURCE: alivemag.com (Photo credit - Larry DiMarzio via ALIVE Magazine) 
