An Educative Chat With @jedau...Solver Of Problems...Teller Of Stories... Great Wordsmith.... Part Two

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Your favourite trail show The Inkpot is currently in it's third Steemisode, and our guest for this week is the amazing @jedau who is an author here on steemit, he is currently sharing a series with us here on steemit called Silver Lining

You can read the first part of this interview here
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Ogochukwu: What is the best money you have ever spent as a writer?

Jedau: One thing you have to know about me is that I’m a very thrifty person. Apart from paying editors, I haven’t really bought anything.

Ogochukwu: If you could tell your younger writing self anything what would it be?

Jedau: I guess I would urge myself to start younger. When I was a child, I used to spend a lot of times lost in the different universes that I created. I just wish that I was able to get them all down into paper. Unfortunately, a lot of those universes have faded from my memory.

Ogochukwu: Are you a published Author? If yes, how has it affected your process of writing?

Jedau: I’m a self-published author, so I’m not sure if that counts. My writing process wasn’t affected by it, but it did force me to expose my writing to the world. Back then, I was too shy that people won’t like.

Now, I’m starting to care very little about what others think. In a few years time, I hope to be able to not even think about it and just publish, publish publish.

Ogochukwu: What was an early experience where you learnt that language has power?

Jedau: Oh, I guess the answer to this can be traced back alongside the origin of my being a writer. During my my senior year in high school, we were tasked with writing a 10-page paper about Greek and Roman mythology, so I burned the midnight oil in hopes of getting high marks.

Come submission time, our teacher became pissed at the blatant plagiarism that my classmates engaged in. So, he slammed a trash can in the middle of the class room, read each paper, then threw those he deemed as plagiarized submissions into the bin.

I was confident with my work; every line I wrote was all from my mind, so I didn't worry about suffering humiliation. Most of my classmates who did plagiarize weren't that bothered since they admitted their fault.

My turn came, and after reading a short excerpt, my teacher furiously dunked my submission into the trash. I was floored! Classmates who knew how much work I put into it were equally shocked. I didn't react verbally, but my body language exhibited how I felt.

My classmates recounted that I looked like I was ready to tear our teacher's head off and everyone felt terrified. I was fuming, and that was indeed what I felt like doing. My English teacher kept taunting me, but eventually relented and asked to speak to me after class, to which I obliged. He told me to re-submit my paper the next day, and he promised to read it from cover to cover. I got a 100% grade.

Looking back, if my original work passed off as plagiarism, then it must be something worth considering. I went on to become Top 1 in his class, and I honed my writing more seriously.

In college, I applied to become a sports writer for the school paper, a features writer for the college government newsletter, and a technical writer for my laboratory.

Writing didn't come naturally, so I worked hard in developing my craft.

Ogochukwu: Do you Google yourself?

Jedau: Funny you should ask this. I have googled myself, but it’s not for vanity purposes. You see, I work as a software developer, and part of some jobs involve measuring the SEO of websites. Just for fun, I tried to google myself to see how pages were ranked.

Ogochukwu: What is your favourite under-appreciated novel?

Jedau: Oh, hands down, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I know it’s considered a classic, but it’s not something most teachers would ask their students to write a paper about. I also like the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

Star Wars gets all the praise, but Dune has a more complex story. I guess you could say I’m a fan of underdogs.

Ogochukwu: How many hours a day do you write?

Jedau: I guess it depends. If I need to get something done, I could write the whole day. But, there are days when I write, at best, for only ten minutes. I do try to follow Stephen King’s advice of writing at least 2,000 words a day though.

Ogochukwu: What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

Jedau: Oh, cool question. I guess it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what a character from the opposite sex is thinking. Since we write from experience, we just make assumptions about what he/she is thinking.

Sure, asking people of that gender is a good way to get around it, but unless you’re asking for the entirety of the whole writing process, I guess there’s no surefire way to nail it down completely.

Ogochukwu: What is one thing you would give up to become a better writer?

Jedau: Every. Distraction. On. The. Internet. In my quest to write at least 2,000 words a day, I can’t let distractions get in my way. The internet is a formidable opponent, and I have no hope of vanquishing it. So, I have to settle with destroying a small contingent that’s far easier to subdue.

That, or removing every emotion and over-thinking bone in my body.

Ogochukwu: How do you select the name of your characters?

Jedau:I’m very methodical when it comes to choosing names. It depends on the situation, but know that I’m just not pulling things out from thin air or from a randomizer.

Take for example the character of Ledd in my story, A Day in the Clouds. He’s based from a real person named Zeppelin, inspired by Led Zeppelin, and my own personality.

So, I did the logical thing and combined both inspirations. I love playing with letters, so one thing you could be sure of is that every name has a deeper meaning.

Ogochukwu: Have you read anything recently that made you think differently about fiction?

Jedau: Stephen King’s On Writing is definitely a must read for any writer. Really though, since I’m more of a storyteller than a writer. I try to focus on telling stories of the fictional universes my mind creates.

Ogochukwu: What are the things you edited out of The Silver Lining?

Jedau: I don’t edit anything out from my SILVER LININGs. It’s a series that’s intended to be a no holds barred look behind A Day in the Clouds. If anything, I just try to modify all of the grammatical errors, but everything I write is kept mostly intact.

Ogochukwu: Who are the Steemians that have inspired you so far?

Jedau: I’ve mentioned quite a few already. @dreemit, @meesterboom, @verbal-d and @ezzy along with @ryivhnn, @kiwideb and, lately, @tincho are some of the people I consider as my support system here on Steemit. They offer great feedback, and you could always trust them to comment on your work with enthusiasm and encouragement.

Anyone would be lucky to have these people behind their back. They are truly the epitome of how to build lasting relationships on this platform.
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From the Inkpot host @ogochukwu, thanks for reading, share your thoughts about this show in the comments, if there is anything you feel that needs to be added feel free to suggest, if there is any Steemian you also want to be on the show feel free to suggest.

Our Guest for next week is our very own @meesterboom, and the interview would no doubt be classic

The top quill strokes is here to acknowledge creative quotes or lines which are used by steemians on their blog. The quote of the week is
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Appreciate simple things, enjoy the silence, be always positive. @tincho
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The following are contests which are run by very wonderful Steemians
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50 word story contest which is run by @ogochukwu on @literature-trail
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The Art Challenge contest which is run by the amazing @aksinya on @artquest-trail
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The Art Trail contest which is run by the multitalented @paolobeneforti
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Thanks for reading have a nice day, don't forget to comment below.