Stephanie Chiedo

  AI writing, book influencers, nepo babies - are you ready to join the wave or become the poor genius? Back in the day, being an author used to be every introvert's absolute dream, and now? It is every introvert’s absolute nightmare. Because what is supposed to be the hardest part is writing the book. But in this day and age, even if you write better than George Orwell and you are unable to properly market your book, you won’t sell.  What do publishers do now? They pick already established BookTok accounts that have amassed a following and make ghostwriters write their books. Most writers would rather stay anonymous than let someone else take credit for their work but the prospects outweigh their own ego and thus, they budge. What are the odds that a publisher sees your draft, loves it, and somehow thinks you wouldn’t be a great fit to put forward as the writer—and then encourages you to sell the book to someone else so they can be the “face” of your work because that would s...

 A WEAPON CALLED SHAME Shame has over time been weaponized as punishment for women unwilling to conform. In a more direct tone, I would use the word a ‘threat’ for stubborn women. Since they have already created a likability cage for women, they know that she is afraid of being unliked if she puts up some sort of unapproved behaviors. They are also aware that some women do not care of being liked, so the last trick up their sleeves is that of shame. They throw the word ‘prostitute, cheap, easy, and slut’ for women deemed immodest. It is their punishment for being wayward women. A lot of misogynists who cannot pull a woman, would accuse her of seducing him if she rejects his advances towards her. In my second year in porto novo for school, I was eighteen years old at the time. I had gone out to buy akara for breakfast. We were in a queue and I had stood there waiting my turn. There was an old, fat, ugly and stupid man who could’ve been about fifty or sixty sitting by the seller. He ...

  WATCH IT FADE   You open your eyes to a scene. It’s like a dream, you become conscious in the middle of it.   You do not know how you got there, but it’s unfolding and there you stand in their midst, your hands on your hips and you are wriggling your wrist as you watch their words persist.   Not one of them could settle on any particular color. The intricate details seem to carry so much vigor. The way a lily does, because they tell you it signifies rebirth and becomes a symbol for innocence, and that is enough to explain the moment – something precious. So, you hover around them, depthless. Each detail means something to someone on that table, and so you focus. You smile, a cup of coffee in hand. For most of the conversation, you listened and You had nothing to say. You could only give a smile away.   But then it starts to dawn on you……. That you do not have a clue of what is going on around you. That ...

Dear ex, I understand that I can’t send this directly to you because you blocked me completely after I sent your printed obituary to your poor-poor parents in Nebraska. So, that is why I decided to play mailman, by sending it to your new girl and hoping she passes it on to you with a hint of awkwardness. Well, I walk down your street with precise caution now. Just hoping that I won’t find your face in the crowd. What then would I say or do? Would I smile or grin? apologize or greet? ‘Oh, good afternoon…I - I am so sorry, I never thought I’d see you here!’ My god, even I know that sounds crazy. But then what if you’re with her? I know. I would probably make a very silly joke, and maybe – hopefully, only I wouldn’t laugh at my joke. Maybe you and that silly girl could just make it less awkward by laughing too. But then, how should I be okay with any of this? She literally stole you from me using a breakfast sandwich. How cheap can you be? If you’d told me that you were that che...

  ARTIST STATEMENT   I am a writer who is driven by a passion for storytelling that evokes a sense of reflective thinking and challenges perceptions. My name is Stephanie A. Chiedo, also known as Stephanie Decady. I would say that I have embarked on a quest to explore the vivid forms of human imagination and societal reflection through my writing. I draw inspiration from diverse cultures and perspectives, crafting them into narratives that resonate with readers on a global scale. I specialize in dystopian fiction, mental health fiction, sci-fi, and psychological thrillers because these genres allow me to explore the complexities of societal norms and the structures which uphold them. One of my greatest aspirations as a writer is for my books to be as "flexible" as possible. By this, I mean that I strive to create narratives that are not only engaging and entertaining but also capable of igniting meaningful and resourceful conversations, where the characters and thei...

  1989.   Beneath the towering mahoganies of an isolated home, sixteen-year-old Thuli writes a final letter to her father, who will never read it. After being cajoled into a so-called gifted institution for disturbed youths, she is recruited into the Obedient Program, an underground experiment that trains carefully selected patients to infiltrate lives beyond the institution's walls. Their purpose is chillingly simple: manipulate ordinary people until they begin to question their own sanity... and willingly surrender themselves. But while Thuli learns how to dismantle other minds, someone is quietly dismantling hers. As fragmented memories resurface, a supposedly dead mother reappears under different names, psychiatrists become patients, patients become predators, and every truth begins collapsing into another lie. The deeper Thuli searches for her past, the more she realizes that she may not be hunting a monster. She may have been raised by one. A haunting literary psychologi...

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