#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Adam Wallace
Adam Wallace is a #1 New York Times bestselling author (150+ weeks and counting) with 4.5 million+ copies sold who loves writing stories that make children laugh and get excited about reading and drawing and writing. He also loves taking naps and listening to music. Not at the same time. Adam has over eightybooks published and out in the world, and loves each one as if they were his child...except if that child is like really naughty and always breaks his favorite things and writes bad words on the walls of our house. None of Adam’s books are like that. From gross books to action and adventure books. From inspirational to just plain funny, there's something here for kids of all reading abilities, and all ranges of interests. His next book, A VERY DINOSAUR BRITHDAY, is forthcoming from HarperCollins/Tommy Nelson.
What inspired you to start writing and what was your journey to becoming a #1 New York TImes bestselling author like?
Oh boy, this is a question that could take up all my allotted words for this interview! In short, I hadn’t written since finishing high school, became an engineer for ten years, then was dared to write a children’s book, something I didn’t believe I could do. That first effort, called BLIP, proved me right as it was pretty average, but boy did I love writing it!
That was the start of a love affair with writing that shows no sign of ending.
“…it was a rocky start on the journey to becoming a full-time author.”
It could have though, as it was a rocky start on the journey to becoming a full-time author. I received over fifty rejections before my first book was published, and that was only because I self-published it! From there, it was a case of doing the slog, the hard work, as I visited over 500 schools and attended over 800 markets and festivals to get my books into the world.
Eventually things started to happen. I started to get some momentum, I met people in the industry, and I got better at writing, all things that helped move me to where I am now.
Along with that, I had some incredible moments of chance or coincidence, such as friends of mine being at a dinner party and sitting next to the CEO of a children’s book company, that led to me getting a meeting with that company, that led to me doing some books with them, that led to someone I worked with there moving to America a few years later and working with another publisher, that led to me doing HOW TO CATCH A LEPRECHAUN and then that whole series!
Ten years to an overnight success, as they say (it took me eighteen, I’ve always been a little slow!)
Your children's picture book A VERY DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY shows all the things that can go wrong when a dinosaur shows up at your birthday party! How did you come up with the idea?
I am so excited about this book and this series!
It was suggested to me to do some books that had the same sort of feel as the How to Catch series, so I tried a few ideas, but none really felt right. Then I started the Very Celebration series, as I call it. I was looking after my mum, who had broken her back in two places (after forgetting she was a 79-year-old and was moving a 60kg Pilates reformer bed on her own!). As soon as I wrote that first book, I was hooked, and I wrote a new one every morning before Mum woke up.
When I did forty books in forty days, I realized that perhaps I enjoyed this concept!
“…then the next thing you know the book is on the shelf for the first time you have seen it!”
How's it been working with your editor Adria Haley and the team at Tommy Nelson on your book A VERY DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY?
It’s been super fun, and really interesting as well, because the process can be different depending on the publisher. Some involve you heavily in each step of the journey, showing rough illustrations, cover concepts, etc., where others you will send the story in, do the editing (or sometimes not even! I have had stories where I sent in a draft and that was it, they edited it without showing me any changes made!), and then the next thing you know the book is on the shelf for the first time you have seen it!
With Adria and the team, they are on the side of involving me in every step, which has been awesome! The editing with Laura was a super fun process and seeing the development of Christopher Nielsen’s illustrations has been a highlight as well.
What is it like collaborating with an illustrator, when you are the writer, on a children's picture book?
Again, this can really vary. As I mentioned, sometimes the first time you see the illustrations are when you see the book on a shelf in a bookstore or school. Other times (like with A VERY DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY), you get to see the journey of the illustrations and even get to give thoughts on the direction.
I have had books where I have spent the day with the illustrator as we plan things out, and days where I don’t even know if pictures are being drawn, haha! So it is the full range of experiences!
“I love illustrators to have the freedom to really go for it…”
Most often, though, especially initially and unless I want an illustration to be the punchline of a joke, I love illustrators to have the freedom to really go for it, as they will often take their art in directions I never would have thought of. Then my only comments are usually, “Can we make this more chaotic?” or “How about if this was even crazier?”
Between living in Australia and publishing in the U.S., is the time difference very hard on you, or are you used to it by now?
Haha, it’s not too bad, I am kind of used to it now, and mostly the afternoon in the U.S. is the morning here, so meetings aren’t bad. The only tricky ones are if I do a school visit and it’s in the morning in the U.S.
I recently did a reading for World Read Aloud Day, which was amazing fun, but it started at 11 am in the States…which was 3 am here! That was a bit of a tough one, but I generally wake up at 5:30 am anyway, so it wasn’t actually that much different, and gave me an excuse to have an early afternoon nap!
Being a children's book author, how important is it to connect with your audience through school visits and the like?
It is the most important! And this was advice I got very early in my career, from two of Australia’s top children’s authors, Andy Griffiths and Michael Salmon. Both of them had built their careers around schools, and advised me to do the same.
“Get the kids and the schools onside, and that will be the most important thing you can do.”
Get the kids and the schools onside, and that will be the most important thing you can do. And it’s proven to be the case. As I said, I have done over 500 schools, libraries and festivals now, as well as over 800 markets, all of which gets me face-to-face with the most important people when it comes to children’s books, and that is the children!
This world we are in, with so much happening online, a way to separate yourself is to do what used to be the thing you had to do, and get personal and in-person.
Are there any children's book writers that have influenced you along your way?
Yes, the list is long and illustrious, and not always writers of children’s books! I grew up loving Bill Peet and Roald Dahl books, then as a teen was obsessed with horror stories, especially by James Herbert (who also wrote Fluke, a book I read about fifty times). Then I read pretty much all of Terry Brooks’s Shannara books, so they were all really important.
But as I started writing for children, it was a few Australian authors who really took me under their wing, in almost every case without me even asking, for which I will be forever grateful. Andy Griffiths, Michael Salmon, Leigh Hobbs, Phil Kettle, Hazel Edwards, Ann James and Michael Wagner in particular have been amazing with their advice, support and knowledge of the industry.
You have to be one of the most energetic and prolific writers that I know—so full of ideas, which is great, but how do you also find time to focus in on an idea once you find it's your strongest idea?
I think the hardest thing is knowing that it is the strongest idea! I can’t remember the actual words, but in William Goldman’s book on screenwriting, he says something along the lines of: The first thing to know about Hollywood is no one knows what they’re doing. If they did, every movie would be a blockbuster.
Sometimes I feel the same way. That even after all this time, I can have an idea on what is a great concept, or really well-written story, but that doesn’t mean it will find the audience I believe it deserves.
“…what idea to focus on…energizes me the most...”
So, for that reason, the way I make the choice on what idea to focus on is the one that energizes me the most, gets me the most excited, and I put everything into that. Because if I have no idea if it is going to be a blockbuster or not, I may as well have a whole heap of fun along the way!
What do you feel makes for the best literary agent?
One that gets the best deals, haha! But, while that is certainly a massive bonus, that is the end result, and everything leading up to that is massively important.
“…a great agent is an agent who…has their own thoughts and ideas, an extensive knowledge of the industry…”
To me, a great agent is an agent who communicates strongly, supports ideas, has their own thoughts and ideas, an extensive knowledge of the industry, contacts within the industry, contacts in other industries (ie, film and television as well as children’s books), someone who is prepared to take chances while staying grounded in the reality of the industry, and then the best deals as well!
What do you feel makes for the best editor or publisher?
I mean, this is a little similar to the agent answer, so I will try not to repeat myself, but I believe the best editors and publishers know the industry and, more importantly in my area, know children and what they like! I want to work with a publisher or editor that has the children front of mind when creating or selling a book. They are the most important piece of the puzzle, and if I do a children’s book that adults love, but children don’t, that is a fail for me, no matter how well it goes.
So, to me, the best editors and publishers do this well. They want to entertain and inspire as many children as they possibly can, and they have the know-how and resources to do that.
Any advice for hopeful writers looking to become published authors?
Write. Write and write and read and read and get your work as good as you possibly can, and then show it to people. Don’t have the world’s greatest book sitting on your computer or in your notepad. If you do that, you are doing a disservice to the world. But, if you are writing for children, don’t just show it to other adults. That is helpful, for sure, but in the end if the kids don’t like it, what’s the point?
And children will be honest! I was once reading a story I had written to a small group of children, and halfway through two of them got up and walked off to do something more interesting! And these were kids who liked me!
And write write write. I personally have written over 3,000 stories, most of which will never become an actual book but were all part of the process of building my skill as a writer, of learning what works and what doesn’t, of getting rid of the junk to find the gold.
As the saying goes, a belief is a poor substitute for experience. Having ideas and dreaming of being a writer means nothing if you don’t actually put pen to paper…or finger to keyboard!
And have fun with it! Work hard, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. And so on and so forth, haha!
Reading anything good for pleasure at the moment?
I have a couple of books on the go! I am reading. SOLD ON A MONDAY y by Kristina McMorris, which is wonderful. I am also reading LIFE FORCEby Tony Robbins, which is fascinating!
“When an idea hits me so powerfully, I have to stop whatever it is I’m doing and get writing…”
Can you finish this sentence? I love writing because...
Everything. It’s my safety, and my energizer. It lights me up. When an idea hits me so powerfully, I have to stop whatever it is I’m doing and get writing, that is one of the greatest joys in my life. And then to be fortunate enough to have my books come to life at the hands of amazing illustrators and designers, wow, so incredibly cool. And then to see the joy the books and ideas and words give to children, that is mind-blowingly amazing as well, or to have a child who has never read a full a book before just for pleasure, to suddenly read one of your books three times, that is a buzz nothing else has come close to matching.
Oh, and to be writing and to suddenly have a story go in a direction you never expected, what a thrill that is! And to be writing in rhyme and a line or word falls into place so perfectly that it makes you almost cheer out loud (and when I say almost, I actually do cheer when it happens!). To be so lost in a story and crying so hard that I had to stop writing and go for a walk, to be writing and suddenly realizing I am sitting forward in my seat and almost running with the words as I type them, to have an idea and then to see that become a story, to work with amazing people, to have met a community that is supportive and inspiring, to be reading to a group of children and have them laughing so hard they can’t sit up straight.
Like I said. I love writing because everything.
