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An Interview with Pirate Eddie

Eddie Jones • Sep 25, 2023

Today I welcome author Eddie Jones as he answers tough questions and shares about his Pirate Series.


What funny event or problem happened while you were writing this book?

Not so much funny or a problem, but I played around with Midjourney for the illustrations in the book. The prompts took more time than I expected.


What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Writing is like another creative process to which parents can relate. The initial experience may be out-of-this-world fun. But then comes the child, and that’s when the real work starts. Inspiration brings the story to life. Perspiration and perseverance grow the story.


How do you choose your characters’ names?

I name characters after kids I went to school with at Millbrook. By the way, Millbrook celebrated its 100-year anniversary on September 22, 2023.


Character Backstory: Ricky Bradshaw is named after a kid in my class who used to punch me in the arm. We’re friends now. Ricky is me if I was cool, and the pretty girl noticed me.


A talent or skill your main character has that readers would find interesting

In order to get my main character back into the age of pirates, I needed a believable "portal" or "worm-hole" concept for readers.


Absence seizures, a type of epilepsy, did this for me. The thing is, for kids with Petit mal seizures, though, this is nothing to make fun of. I’ve read cases where a child will raise their hand in class, experience a seizure, and when they come out of the episode, find their classmates laughing at them. Meanwhile, the teacher is asking why their hand was still up. These episodes last only a few seconds, and when they come out of the event, they have no recollection of those missing moments. For me, this is a story device, but I hope the fact that Ricky suffers from absence seizures will raise awareness of the issue and spare kids from suffering jokes at their expense.


Where did you get the idea for the book, character, or series

For Down to Davy Jones, I wanted to offer a humorous look at the afterlife in a way that might challenge teens to consider the consequences of social bullying and suicide. Both are heavy topics, so I tried to keep the story light while pointing out just how precious life is. If there is one message I want kids to hear, it is this: Your life matters more than you can possibly imagine. Get help. Help someone else. When we help others, we help ourselves. There is always someone who needs what you can give.


What is your process of writing?

These days I write for one hour in the morning and one hour between 7 and 8. The rest of the time, I’m ghostwriting for clients or coaching writers.


What is something writing-related you learned while writing this book?

How bad ChatGPT is at writing. It’s pretty good at proofing text, and finding duplicate words or missing words, but as an author, ChatGPT writes at a Primary Grade level.


What kind of research did you have to do?

Google. If there is a question about pirates or the Flying Dutchman, it’s probably online somewhere.


How much of your life is in the book?

Only the parts where the girl thinks I’m a dork.


Why did you choose this setting and time period?

Jimmy Buffett is right: a good many of us wish to be pirates. Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late. I'm an over-forty victim of fate, arriving too late.


What fun or unique things can you tell us about yourself?

I’m a pirate. I plunder things from others. Sometimes I return those things I plunder in better condition than when I relieved the individual of the booty. In pirate land, we call this borrowing.


Where is your favorite vacation spot?

The coast of North Carolina. Specifically surf spots. Boilers (the first parking lot after crossing Oregon Inlet — park and walk over the dunes). Fort Fisher: off the north rock point on a Northeast swell that’s peeling left: second point south if the first spot is closing out. East end of Holden Beach when the wind is out of the Northeast and the swell out of the south.


Please describe yourself with three words.

Pirate, preacher, teacher.


What do you enjoy doing for relaxation?

Walking and praying in the woods with my dog.


What do you enjoy most about writing?

Getting lost in the story. Finishing the story is also fun, but the newness of the story always excites me.


Do you have a dedicated place to write, or a nook or corner of a room, or the kitchen table?

Green room downstairs, top porch, and front porch. I can work at my office desk, but those places remind me I’m a writer.


What can your readers expect from you next?

A rework of Rumor of a Werewolf. I have the edits back from my editor. Simply need to complete working through her edits. After that, The Tales of John Mark, People We Meet on the Way to the Cross, and the Pirate Gospel.


What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?

Post a review on Amazon. It’s hard to get positive reviews. Human nature is such that we would rather complain than compliment.


How did you get started writing?

Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve always been a writer. I wrote for my school newspaper in high school. I told stories (lies) in grade school. Making up stuff and trying to convince people it’s true is always something I’ve done. I suppose that's one reason I enjoy humor so much. A joke is pulling the rug from under someone’s feet.

 

https://eddiejones.org/
 http://pirate-preacher.com/
 https://readersareleaders.co/
 https://writerscoach.us/
 https://mooresquarechurch.org/

 

Eddie Jones is an award-winning author of middle-grade and Young Adult fiction. He's also a pirate at heart who loves to surf.



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