A/N: So, I haven't posted much in a while... Anyone who reads 75 Games: After the Mockingjay will know why, but for anyone else, let's just say that the next couple of months are going to be incredibly frantic for me, so really, regular updates just aren't likely to happen.

Still, now that I've completed my profiles for all the victors, I'm going to be including profiles for all the mentors, too. But first, I have a chapter that's a little different.

I hope you all enjoy it :)

Planning the Games

An Interview With Plutarch Heavensbee

Fame, fortune and an incredible opportunity awaits anyone who becomes Head Gamemaker; the person who is responsible, above all others, for the continued success of the Hunger Games. Naturally, becoming Head Gamemaker means spending an incredible amount of time on the job, so it's often rare to see Plutarch Heavensbee out and about, except to and from work every day at the Hunger Games Headquarters. Thankfully, in anticipation of this year's thrilling Quarter Quell, Sandra Davis managed to get our Head Gamemaker alone for an hour, to get our first real look at who the new boss really is.

SD: Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker. You're approaching ten months on the job, and your first Hunger Games as Head Gamemaker are upon us. How do you feel about the way this year's Hunger Games are going to turn out?

PH: Firstly, I must say what an honour it is to be chosen Head Gamemaker, having worked on the team for nearly twenty years, the past six years as an Assistant Head. It's a fantastic position to know that you're in the process of making something special, and I really think we've surpassed ourselves this year. The arena we've designed together for the Third Quarter Quell has been one of my favourites to work on. I can't see it being anything other than a thriller.

SD: So there are lots of surprises to be expected?

PH: Of course, yes! It wouldn't be a proper Hunger Games if we didn't have a couple of tricks up our sleeve! The question you need to ask this year is not what tricks do we have, but whether we're going to have time to use them all!

SD: Any clues as to what we can expect?

PH: All in good time, Miss Davis. You know we can't give away specifics about the arena until the gong sounds on Saturday morning.

SD: So, how does the process of creating an arena take place? I can imagine that it's a very difficult process to begin when you have to start from nothing.

PH: It can be difficult, yes. Often it will take weeks of brainstorming to even decide what theme to go with for a new arena. However, once the team has a direction, we focus all our efforts into the landscaping at first; that can often be the hardest part of the actual construction of the arena, but the easiest to plan. Likewise, it can take us ages to arrange what sort of traps, surprises and other features we want to throw into the arena, but adding them in to the arena barely takes any time at all.

SD: That's kind of like building an apartment block, then? The architectural design takes a few hours to plan, but putting up the building takes weeks, and then even though it takes less than twelve hours to furnish the place, you spend a fortnight deciding exactly what wallpaper you want?

PH: That pretty much sums it up, yes.

SD: So, how long does it take to build an arena? Have you been working on the arena for the Quell for long?

PH: For a Gamemaker's sense of time, two years is a short build. Most arenas take three to four years to complete, although that often depends on whether natural or synthetic environments are used. For arenas that use natural valleys and forests, production times can be as low as eighteen months, but for arenas such as those seen in the Seventieth and Seventy-Third Hunger Games, it can take almost a decade to manually design and create several square miles of artificial landscape.

SD: Does that mean that you already know what the arena for next year's Hunger Games will be like?

PH: Indeed, and we are hoping it will be complete before this summer is over. We're already well underway with the construction of the arena for the Seventy-Seventh Games, too, and it won't be long before we're planning for Seventy-Eight, either.

SD: So, how long did this year's arena take to build?

PH: That's a tough question to answer. Being the Quarter Quell, we've been thinking about it for years - probably fifteen or more. We always wanted to make sure we have the time to get done whatever we would want to do, even if the arena was the most complicated and expansive that we've ever seen. However, we never really got a direction until around eight years ago, and it was a while after that before we ever started construction... Considering we finished last November, I'd hazard a guess at five and a half years.

SD: That sounds like a long time to be focused on one thing. Does the job as a Gamemaker ever get repetitive?

PH: I imagine some people would find it boring after a year or two, but I've always loved the job. Obviously, in working through the ranks from my first year working at the Hunger Games Headquarters to now running the whole place, I've ended up working in a lot of areas, but in working as a Gamemaker, I'm always given opportunities to experiment with new ideas and get creative in any free time I have. So if you push yourself to come up with new innovative ideas to keep the arenas feeling fresh every summer, I can't see why anyone would get bored with the job.

SD: So all the Gamemakers have different jobs and responsibilities?

PH: Essentially, yes. Mostly, Gamemakers are one of two types of people; the innovators or the builders. Around half of us are generally better at coming up with ideas for how the Games should work; what tricks to include, any traps we have lined up, the actual landscaping of the arena. The rest of us spend more time working on how to actually make these ideas come to life. Of course, as Head Gamemaker, my job is really just to make sure that everything runs smoothly and add ideas as I see fit. My responsibility now runs past the arena into sorting out arrangements for the rest of the Games; the opening ceremonies, the interviews (such as are taking place tonight), and the television coverage.

SD: Speaking of tonight's interviews, this is the first time that we await them with really no idea who the favourites are to win the Hunger Games, as all of our tributes have done it before. Who do you think will win the Third Quarter Quell.

PH: You know I can't answer that, Sandra. All I will say is that our scores that were revealed yesterday evening are meant to reveal a tribute's potential for victory in the arena. Take from that what you will.

SD: So you are backing the star-crossed lovers from District 12, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark? I'm sure a lot of people in the Capitol would be relieved to hear that they have your backing.

PH: No comment.

SD: Before I leave you to your duties, I have just a couple more questions to ask you, about your time as a Gamemaker. You are one of the most experienced of the twenty-four, right?

PH: Yes, this is my nineteenth year on the team. I believe there are only three of us who have been around longer.

SD: And you started so very young, didn't you? Still in your late twenties when you took the job?

PH: That's correct.

SD: How did it feel to be starting off as someone so young, in a place surrounded by people a generation older than you, with so much more experience. Were you nervous you wouldn't fit in?

PH: I can't say that I was ever nervous. It matters not how old you are if your mind is up to the challenge. I may have been one of the youngest Gamemakers ever in my first year, but look at who we've recruited in the years since. Cassandra Orton and Florian Marshall both joined us before they were twenty, and Marshall became Assistant Head Gamemaker at twenty-one, a position he still holds to his day.

SD: Indeed, a bold move to give so much responsibility to someone so young. How did he rise so quickly through the ranks, to be favoured above Gamemakers over twice his age and with countless years of experience?

PH: In his first year as a Gamemaker, he provided us with the initial idea for the arena for this year's Hunger Games. Without him, this Quarter Quell could have ended up going down a completely different path. It seemed only natural to reward someone for his contributions. Maybe it shouldn't be best to let this slip, but it was also his idea to add in the earthquakes to the arena for the Seventieth Games, where Annie Cresta won after the arena was flooded.

SD: Of course, we all remember that. I suppose he is well deserving of his position, then.

PH: Indeed.

SD: Finally, before you must return to your work, I have one last question. As Head Gamemaker, I think it's a fair assumption to assume that you are more passionate about the Hunger Games that nearly everyone here in the Capitol, having devoted your life to making sure they are a success. What, in your opinion, is your favourite Hunger Games of all time?

PH: That's a tough question, that is, Sandra. I suppose I can answer this in several ways. My favourite as a spectator, that I have enjoyed watching the most. My favourite as a Gamemaker, because I can appreciate the effort and ingenuity of design of certain Hunger Games, even if the action never lived up to the arena. And my favourite for my personal contributions; the arena I have most enjoyed working on.

SD: Let's start with the first of those, then. As a spectator, what has enthralled you the most?

PH: Oh, it'd be tough to vote against last year's Games on that count. Who couldn't be touched by the seemingly tragic love story, only for the most dramatic finale we've seen in decades? Beyond that, as a kid I loved the Thirty-Sixth Games; you know, the year the cornucopia exploded, killing off all the Careers and leaving up to the other districts to fight for a winner? I was around ten at the time, so that one has always stuck in my memory.

SD: And, from a Gamemaker's point of view?

PH: Without a doubt, this year's arena. It's the most complicated thing we've ever undertaken, and I can guarantee it's going to cause a lot of problems for everyone. And I don't just mean the tributes, either. It might take viewers a couple of days to get used to it, too. From a personal perspective, I loved working on the arena for the Sixty-Seventh Games; the year Johanna Mason won. It was one of two arena where I contributed the original idea, and the year that I was most involved in the creation of the arena. It's definitely the arena I'm most proud of.

SD: Well, I suppose that covers everything, then. Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker for the Seventy-Fifth Annual Hunger Games, thank you for your time. I wish you luck in the coming weeks, and I hope your Hunger Games turn out to be a complete success.

PH: Thank you, Sandra. I hope you enjoy watching them.

A/N: OK, so it's worth pointing out that Plutarch is bound to sound different here to how he does in the book, as he can't show his rebellious side in public when he is such an influential figure. So this is my attempt at what he sounds like when he's trying to appeal to the Capitol public, in his façade as a Gamemaker.

Anyways, I hope you all liked it! Please feel free to review; as ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)