Interviews with Authors version 4.0 - interview with JediMara77!!

This interview has been waiting in the wings for a while. Thanks so much to LLL and VaderLVR64 for interviewing oqidaun!!!


Fellow fan ficcers, we're proud to be interviewing one of our most popular, innovative, and skillful authors. The only person I know of to win Best Author and Best New Author in the same FFA (and a person of myriad other accomplishments, I might add) ...

Please welcome the one, the only -- Oqidaun!

Oqi: First off, I am very very flattered to be selected for this interview. I don't know what to say.


Could you share some background information about yourself with us?

Usually when I introduce myself to people for the first time I tell them something along the lines of ?Hi, I was the weird kid in your third grade class.? It?s not always true, but it always gets the evening off to an interesting start. In the real world, I?m a thirtysomething academic with a specialization in the history of medicine (historical epidemiology) and European social history. I also have additional background (one of my BAs) in Literature (17th century English and comparative/archetypal). I?ve nearly four degrees and a couple of professional certifications under my belt, but trust me it?s not the degree that makes a person ?intelligent? as some of the brightest folk I?ve found didn?t even make it through high school.

As a kid, I grew up on a ranch in West Texas in a freethinking Irish/Swedish family and spent many a full moon driving the back roads to Roswell, New Mexico looking for the mother ship and listening to loud stompy music. As far as hobbies and such goes, I love writing and am working on both a nonfiction and fiction (original) book at the same time (obviously the fiction is getting more love and attention at the moment). Outside of writing, I play bass guitar, collect music, paint, hunt ghosts, and travel (I try to make it to London at least once a year). People watching is really intoxicating to me, so it should be of little surprise that I?m a coffee shop/all night diner/martini lounge/hookah bar/tea house aficionado. I love Indian food, Turkish disco, kung fu movies without subtitles and Vietnamese coffee. On the personal front, I?m happily married to the professor-next-door and we?ve three dogs and one cat. I?m also a diehard vegetarian eco-friendly multicultural nut and the Buddha is my co-pilot.

When and how did you first become a Star Wars fan?

I was born in 1975 and by the time I was four had gnawed the head off my first Han Solo action figure. However, I think when I became a ?conscious? fan was right after ESB came out and, just like my bio says, I got into a fist fight with my brother over his Boba Fett t-shirt. I wouldn?t recognize my life without Star Wars -- it?s always been there.

And what about fanfiction? When did you first start writing it and what drew you to it?

Dark confession time, I used to be an elitist pig when it came to fanfic. I didn?t start writing any sort of fan fiction until I got involved with the Matrix crowd (one of the other fandoms I hold close to my heart) in about 2000. My first ?work? was a really dark mystery centered around a foul mouthed punk rock red head with a trippy case of amnesia. Although I?d been writing fiction and involved in writer?s groups for years, I?d never attempted to write fanfic and the only way that I got into it was after a close friend called me chicken and dared me to do it.


What or who has influenced your writing style the most?

Honestly, I?ve been worldbuilding and playing around with some of my original characters since I was ten. I?ve always had a big imagination (to this day I am an ADHD poster child) and I?ve also always been an avid reader. I think the authors who have had the biggest impact on my writing style would be Ray Bradbury, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Ambrose Bierce, Henry James, Wilkie Collins and (here?s two modern ones) John Saul and Stephen King. Another major influence on my writing has been the creative genius of M. Night Shy

 

Great interview, oqidaun. Lots of insightful questions and answers. I'm not into horror myself, I read one King story and vowed never again, but I really loved your tips for fan fiction writers. Plus, seriously, when do you sleep? You are a whirlwind!

Great job all around.

 

Wow that was absolutely fascinating, oqidaun!! I was practically with my nose against the computer monitor just reading the interview -- really quite interesting, and I think your passion for writing shows through in your interview Well done on the interviewer and interviewee.

 

how funny!

i forgot i did this interview.
i still don't sleep.

 

LOVED the interview oqi! But I'm still scared of you.



And kudos to LLL, who really did the interviewing.

 

Very interesting and extensive interview.

 

Wow! What insight into the "mouth of madness"!

Excellente job LLL, and you to VaderLVR (credit where credit is due).

 

I've caught up with this whole thread relatively recently. It's wonderful to see what people cite as their influences and indirectly, I suppose, what made them the writers they are.

Wonderful interviews all

 

Fantabulous interview, guys.

As a side note, she has some nifty tofu recipes that made me seriously consider the soy stuff. That in itself should make her impressive!

 

Wow, fantastic interview! Awesome insights.

 

That explains her interest in horror!

 

That's it, oqi. I'm heading to Texas as soon as possible. Maybe we can spend an afternoon discussing plagues or tasting colors.

 

*bows but points up to Mama Vadey.* Half the questions are hers!

 

Thank you very much to Souderwan interviewing TKeira_Lea.


One of the most versatile and amazing writers on these boards, she?s become a staple source of fantastic writing on the Beyond the Saga board. Now she has extended her considerable talents into the Saga, sharing her sharp mind and brilliant skill. She?s shared her angst and she?s shared her hilarious wit. She?s even graced us by combining her talents with those of her occasional partner in crime, Darth_Lex. Ladies and gentlemen of all species in the GFFA, join me in a long over-due round of applause for the alluring and amazing, T?Keira_Lea!!!

1. Welcome, T?Keira_Lea! We?re happy to have you. Would you like to share some background information about yourself with us?

Thank you for the great introduction. Now the question is, where do I begin?

How about the basics? I am a registered Professional Engineer working as a Project Manager for an international infrastructure firm. In more understandable terms, I design the roadways and traffic signals you use on a daily basis. I am not however the one to blame for the poor timing at your neighborhood traffic light; problems of that nature should be reported to your County or City officials.

I earned my engineering degree at Duke University, where I cheered for the great basketball program as a captain of the Duke Dancing Devils. At those games, I met another engineer, who I took a liking to so I married him. My husband is not a big Star Wars fan, although he was heard to remark that the stormtroopers greeting the guests as we walked into Disney?s Star Wars Weekend were indeed ?cool.? No complaints from me, he is extremely tolerant of my many pastimes.

At home, hubby and I have a pack of animals at our heels. We have two beautiful cats ? Isabelle and Anakin. Isabelle is appropriately named after the hurricane of the same name. Anakin was born during Hurricane Katrina last year. (Are you seeing a pattern?) He?s a gorgeous black and white long hair. His coloring just made me think of Anakin Skywalker. When he?s bad ? and he?s often bad - I call him Vadey. We also have two Shelties ? DJ and Player ? who rarely leave my side. If they?re not at the barn with me, they are riding far and wide to places like Kentucky on any number of excursions we take a year.

Those trips are almost always to horse shows, the passion I share with my horses. In the past few years, I twice finished in the top ten in the nation for adult amateur equitation riders. I?ve been blessed to have ridden some of the top horses in the country in the amateur ring, and right now I am qualified 6th in the country with my rides on a fabulous horse called Stylin. I own two horses myself ? GQ and Beech. Both were rescues of sorts and are now retired from the ring. In order to stay competitive I ride 2-4 horses 5 days a week.

In between all that I write fanfiction. How I find the time is beyond me, but I manage. At times, the load becomes overwhelming and fanfiction usually has to give. My readers are always understanding, though. Still, plot bunnies bite worse than my horses or Anakin the kitty ever have.


2. When and how did you first become a Star Wars fan?

I am not sure this is a good thing to admit, but I was actually in line for the opening of the original Star Wars, before it was A New Hope. I loved the movie; in fact my jaw never shut after the first Star Destroyer pass. I was such a junkie in high school that my best pal and I managed to ?get? a script before ROTJ was released ? and that was before the days of internet spoilers! After ESB we didn?t want George pulling one over on us again. As straight-laced as I was, we skipped class to stand in line for the opening showing.

By the time TPM came around I was a bit engrossed in just trying to be a grown-up. But something about AOTC captured my attention and I became a spoiler junkie once again, wandering around the net until I landed at TFN. After that I started pulling out my old Star Wars books a

 

Great interview!

However, I'm not sure if I'm the only one having a problem with the post scrolling.

 

Looks like it was the binary; I made it stop (or almost stop, anyway). I'm just glad it posted; it wouldn't with the sock.

 

Don't worry, I have it as well.

Wholly agree with the Jag Fel love. And that binary spam was a nice touch. I thought the boards had exploded.

 

The binary code was cool. Very enlightening interview.

 

I love seeing inside the heads of other fanficcers!

Wonderful job Souderwan and TKeira_Lea!

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Somebody please fix the scrolling!!! Edit - thanks!!!


TKL - great interview. Lots of insight as to what really interests you and where you are going in future stories. I'm not a Jag fan (one way or another) but you are certainly passionate about him and I think that's great. Passion is good when it comes to writing.

Loved your writing tips.

Have a beginning? Great. But make sure you have an end. Too often I see people putting up story after story and never finishing. That?s because there was never an ending to begin with. A lack of ending equals a lack of direction. Often those stories slow to a grind or never reach completion at all.

Got a beginning and an end? Think through the middle. Make sure your idea isn?t just a wild fantasy but really a story.

Find a beta. A story with minimal flaws is easier to read and stay interested in.

In the end though, write for yourself.

Great job and great questions. Kudos to both of you.

 

I promised myself the first chance I had to sit and read through all the interviews I'd do it! I'm so glad I did. It's fantastic reading about respected authors here on the boards. Seeing YodaKenobi, Souderwan, DarthIshtar, Knight_Aragorn and TKeira_Lea's interviews gives even more insight into each of their writing processes and influences.

I love learning more about authors who work I admire!

Wonderful job with the latest. A great glimpse into TKL! I find her life fascinating.

 

Great interview TKL

Amen to Jaina getting to be the hero, and I have to agree with you about the NJO- not everyone lives happily ever after. Great advice, especially about the droids. I like your theory on why Zekk left in Dark Journey too. I can respect self preservation a little more than I can accept someone being too frightened to save their friend-especially when the friend risked herself to bring him back from the Dark side.

Good luck with the riding and the other writing, but It's good to see that we have a lot more to look forward to here as well.

 

Catching up, again!

Fascinating, informative interviews, oqidaun and TKL.

oldj