What if the stars of The Word Guardians sat down for an interview to talk about “playing” their characters? Here’s what happened…
Interviewer: Welcome, Yas and Sam! It’s great to have you both here. For readers who are meeting you for the first time, how would each of you describe yourselves, and, more importantly, how would you describe each other? Who wants to go first?
Sam gestures towards Yas. “Ladies first.”
Yas winks back. “Always the gentleman.”
Sam chuckles. “Actually, I think that’s part of who I am, doing what’s right in a given moment.”
Yas nods. “I see Sam as someone who’s always there for me. Sure, I thought he was a little unhinged at first, talking about magical worlds he’d visited and how his dad was trapped in one. But even then, I never questioned whether I could trust him. I always knew he’d have my back.”
Sam raises an eyebrow. “You thought I was unhinged?”
“Well… yes!” Yas laughs. “Wouldn’t anyone? To be fair, it was only because I thought ‘escaping into books’ was just a phrase. I didn’t realise it was actually possible to fall into one, until it happened to me.”
She pauses.
“I think that’s who I am in The Battle for the Peacekeepers, someone trying to find herself. Trying to work out who she is when the people who love her have been keeping secrets to protect her.”
Interviewer: Sam, you’ve said that doing the right thing is a big part of who you are. Was there ever a point where carrying the weight of your father’s disappearance, and knowing about these hidden worlds, felt like too much? And Yas, when did you realise there was no going back?
Yas nudges Sam. “You go first this time.”
Sam smiles.
“Yeah… I guess with my dad being a police officer, a visible role in society, and then the hidden element of being a Word Guardian, I was always conscious of being his son and living up to what he stood for. Don’t get me wrong, he never put that pressure on me. I think it was just part of growing up.”
He reflects for a moment.
“We visited a country house in one of the realms as a family. Then I lost my mom…”
Yas quietly reaches across and touches his arm.
“…but they were good memories. So, I don’t know if it was ever too much. It was just… always there.”
He turns to Yas.
“For me,” she says, “everything changed after I spoke to Sam following my first visit to the Forest Realm. That conversation made me realise he really was my best friend.”
She smiles.
“I’d spent so long wondering whether what I’d seen was real. But once I found the courage to admit Sam had been right all along, that’s when everything shifted. I believed.”
Interviewer: Friendship is rarely perfect. Have either of you ever wanted to throttle the other?
Yas and Sam exchange a knowing look.
“Oh, come on,” I laugh. “Spill.”
Yas covers her mouth as she laughs.
“I think I wanted to throttle you in The Twisting Tales when you got jealous over Eddie and thought I liked him.”
Sam sits up defensively.
“Well… he did get on my nerves a bit.”
“He was just being Eddie,” Yas replies, grinning.
“But,” she adds, “the way you came looking for me in The Shadow Readers… that showed me how much I meant to you. Working with Penn, when we didn’t even know if we could trust him…”
Sam immediately interrupts, playfully.
“That’s another interview.”
Interviewer: Has there been a moment where your character surprised you?
Yas answers without hesitation.
“I didn’t realise how determined I could be, especially when I was captured by the Controllers in The Battle for the Peacekeepers and tied to a chair. I could have been scared, frightened, but I wasn’t. I was angry. I’m glad my character is a strong young woman.”
Sam nods thoughtfully.
“For me, it was our partnership. We make a great team, and I hadn’t realised how much I’d come to rely on Yas being there with me.”
He smiles at her.
“That’s something I don’t want to end.”
“Aww,” Yas says, touching his arm again. “I feel the same way.”
Interviewer: One for fun. If you had to swap roles for a day, what would be the hardest part about playing each other?
“You go first, Sam,” Yas teases. “Ladies first.”
“Very funny.”
Sam shifts in his chair.
“I honestly don’t know if I could do it. Yas always seems to have an idea, an action plan, when everything’s falling apart. That’s when she’s at her best. I think relying on intuition under pressure would be the hardest part of being you.”
Yas bursts into laughter.
“Oh God, if you only knew. I’m usually just winging it! But… thanks.”
She turns towards Sam.
“I don’t think I could be you either. I mean, I can interpret things literally. I can try to figure out what’s right. I can even manage the occasional quip with Penn. But I can’t put all those things together the way Sam does.”
She gestures with her hands as though outlining something solid.
“That’s just… Sam.”
Interviewer: Last question. If someone is about to read The Battle for the Peacekeepers for the first time, what do you hope stays with them after they’ve finished?
Yas looks at Sam.
“What, me again?” he laughs.
She nods. “I need time to think.”
“Okay…” Sam says, turning back to me.
“I think even though there are magical worlds and extraordinary adventures, we’re still just people trying to figure out who we are while navigating relationships.”
He pauses.
“Trust. Is someone really who they say they are? Are they acting with another agenda? How do you discover who you can rely on?”
He smiles.
“So, my three words would be: Magic. Discovery. Trust.”
Yas nods appreciatively.
“For me, discovering myself is so intertwined with the first book. That’s what I hope readers carry with them.”
She glances towards Sam, then back at me.
“To everyone at home. Go and find out who you are. It can be a difficult journey, but you don’t have to do it alone.”
Sam reaches over and gently takes hold of her arm. She smiles back before turning to me.
“My three words?”
She grins.
“Discovery. Friendship. Trust.”
As the interview comes to an end, it’s impossible not to notice that beneath the banter, the jokes, and the magical adventures, the heart of The Word Guardians is something much simpler: two friends learning who they are, discovering who they can trust, and proving that the greatest adventures are rarely faced alone. To start reading the series, click the button below.
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