Here you'll find a conversation with Jellied_Julia who's been part of SG from over an year. Fond of jackfruit and pantsing her way out of story, Julia Laone is a reviewer, admin, book clubber and moderator on the community.

Interviewer: CoffeeAndSilverInk

Julia: I am here. How are you?

Astrid: I'm good. How are you?

I'm so excited to finally interview you

Julia: I am good (:

Tired but good.

Yesss, me too! To be interviewed, I mean.

Astrid: So I did my standard digging and you joined Wattpad in April 2021, correct?

Julia: Oh, has it been that long? But yes, I created my current account then.

I discovered wattpad at 2016...I think and I lost my password and email so had to shift accounts.

Astrid: It's been 1 year, you started writing The Marchioness Treasure which has 1K reads and around 200 votes already. Are you where you thought you would be when you joined one year ago?

Julia: Honestly, I still can't believe it. 1k reads is a dream itself. I never had the idea to write TMT but it was a pretty low time for me so I was like "Why not give it a go?"

There's still much to pass and much to write but I owe a greater part of my story to Eunoia Book Club and Savant Girls.

Astrid: Where did the inspiration for TMT come from? And all those amazing characters (especially Kai though I'm totally not biased)?

Julia: Huh...this one's hard. I don't exactly remember how I got to write it but as I said, I was having a hard time, and writing the first few chapters (especially the prologue) felt relieving and I just pantsed XD

And Kai was not supposed to exist

Astrid: What?

Kai wasn't going to exist?

Julia: Yes, sorry Ria. *inserts SG :pwease: emoji*

Astrid: Well we're all glad he does now

Julia: Yes, I am too. (:

Astrid: How did you come up with your pen name? How was Julia Laone born?

Julia: I've always found the name Julia pretty. I had a very strange obsession with it which can't be explained with just words. And Julia needed a surname so I went to ask my very good friend, google who showed the Laone part.

Astrid: Haha Google has good taste. It's an artsy name

Julia: I agree.

Astrid: Have you written any books before? Or is TMT your first writing experience?

Julia: I would say this is my...first official book. I did write fanfics four or five years ago but trust me, you do not want to look through them. I didn't get to the end of it and I at least hope I will be able to finish TMT someday...

Astrid: I hope so too, it's a great book and your writing is really great in my humble opinion

I'd be surprised if this was your first attempt at writing since it's so good

Julia: Thank you for the kind words! I still have a lot to learn (:

Astrid: You're in a good starting point already

You joined the Savant G. Discord server in October last year to be a reviewer and a captain, even though you're not a captain. Why did you decide to join SG? And why those roles?

Julia: Man, you really dug hard haha. Well, basically, I was interested in reading books and wanted to take a shot at what being a reviewer and helping new writers felt like. And the position of captain was open back then but I didn't know what it was. I guess I just wanted to try it out :teehee:

Astrid: I'm glad you did. Are you liking the server so far?

You've grown a lot in the server since you've joined

Julia: Yes, I am having a blast here and I owe my growth to Juls, Fathii and of course, my favourite person in the server Ria UwU

Astrid: After many months of inactivity, you brought the Writer bot back to life. What made you go there? Would you consider it a good writing device?

Julia: I guess the bot allows you to increase your concentration and if a writer already has a part plotted in their heads or maybe a super-advanced pantser, the bot would be useful to them. It was my curiosity that lead me to test the bot and well, here we are.

Astrid: You really brushed months of dust from it 😂

What is something you like about SG?

Julia: Obviously the Active people here. This is a sweet, extremely supportive community run by the person, for whom I've found a whole new level of respect. I can proudly say that not many communities offer what SG offers and I am so glad I joined this server (:

Astrid: That's so beautiful, I'm tearing up. JK

But you're right, it's really nice here

Do you have any advice for your fellow writers?

Julia: I am fairly new to the writing sphere so I don't know how useful this will be but "Writers out there, don't worry if you are in a rut. Take a breather and think of what you like about writing and which aspect of it you enjoy the most. This is not the end. You will rise one day. Don't lose hope"

Astrid: What do you think is your biggest challenge as a writer?

Julia: There are too many. But the biggest one is probably our mind itself. It has this thing called overthinking that leads us to believe as though we're not good enough and in some cases, too good. And from there stems the rut and imposter syndrome. I wish we can overcome this.

Astrid: Unfortunately a lot of us relate to that.

This was nice, I really enjoyed talking to you. I hope you had fun.

Julia: I had plenty fun, thanks to you! I hope I didn't bore you to death or smth.

Astrid: Of course not😂

Inventor questions

Devian: Was Kai a part of pantsing? Since you said he was not supposed to exist

Julia: Yes, he was a pantsed character Oh, the irony, Ria.

Devian: damn how did that happen? I must take down notes because I'm a bad pantser

Julia: Umm...let's see. I was writing the original version of the first chapter and I got stuck in the middle. I had to erase it all and then while I was thinking of what could make the story more interesting I.e, something that I would be willing to read if I were to, Kai came to mind. Well, Flynn Rider and Aladdin did.

Devian: omg lovely choices

(The interview ends)