Hypable: How did you come up with the idea for Cold Calls?
Charles Benoit: Everybody’s been talking about bullying, and that’s a good thing. It’s an important topic and we need to take it seriously. The bully, of course, is always somebody else, never us or our friends. No, we’re too mature for that, too kind, too darn good. But the truth is, any one of us can be a bully, and given the right motivation, we’d jump at the chance to pick on someone else in order to take the spotlight off ourselves. I wanted to explore the premise that good kids could be blackmailed into becoming bullies — and doing it for what they believe are really good reasons.
Was it difficult to portray your characters as both victims and bullies, or did you find that more realistic?
Charles: At one point in the book, the characters realize that they are both the victims of bullying and bullies themselves. The reality is that we’re all coerced into exhibiting behaviors we don’t always agree with, and then we force others into following the same set of behaviors, even though we know better. Education, politics, fashion, parenting, relationships, tradition — every area of human existence has expected behavior norms, and heaven help the person who steps out of them. The sooner we realize that we don’t have to stand for it — and that we shouldn’t be forcing it on others — the better off we’ll all be.
--From the Hypable Q&A with Charles Benoit
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
amandla
pixelskylines
germansingergirl
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
origamiaround
gracieabrams
