TUESDAY
Zoe Walton is a children’s and young adult publisher at Random House Australia. She published my MAC SLATER, COOLHUNTER books, later published by Simon & Schuster US. She also works with many other Australian authors including Deborah Abela and ‘New York Times’ bestseller John Flanagan. Here she gives insight into my new book of short stories MY LIFE AND OTHER STUFF I MADE UP from concept to completion.
1. Can you explain how the publication of My Life book came about?
We’d published Tristan’s Mac Slater, Coolhunter books and we wanted to find a new project for Tristan that would be just the right fit for Random House. I said to Tristan, ‘I’m thinking funny and full of adventure for boys aged 8-11 – what have you got?’ And of course Tristan delivered, with the first inklings of an idea that involved, in his words, ‘quite subtle and tasteful poo jokes’. How could I resist that?
From those early beginnings, we workshopped the idea of these short stories about Tom Weekly and his life, debated how many poo jokes one book could hold, and realised that we wanted to get an illustrator on board as well, who could bring Tom’s notebook to life with scruffy, hand-drawn illustrations. Someone who could take those poo jokes and, umm, well, run with them. Gus Gordon was that man.
2. What made you want to publish My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up?
To me these stories are like the essence of Tristan – they play to all his strengths: he’s very funny and has a knack for keeping it real when it comes to writing kids’ voices. I also know that for Tristan, it’s all about the creative process and the flow and zing of writing, and so short stories really fit in with the way he works and also the way he teaches kids to write. It’s all about invention and imagination.
3. Not many publishers seem to be doing short stories right now. Why is that? And what made you want to publish short stories?
It’s true that there aren’t hundreds of books of short stories out there, but there’s always a place for good short stories. They’re easy for kids to read, great for reluctant readers, and have awesome potential for the kind of unpredictable and fun twists that Tristan does so well. In fact, Tristan and I discovered that we share a love of Paul Jennings’ twisted short stories, which we devoured by the hundreds when we were kids. So My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up was obviously meant to be!
4. What were some of the challenges during the editorial and publication process?
Actually, working on My Life was more of a dream run. Our early challenge was to find the right illustrator. But Tristan had met Gus Gordon at a festival and the two got on like a house on fire, and we knew that Gus’s style would be perfect for the book. Often with illustrations there’s a whole process of concepts then drafts then refinements and then final illustrations, which can take months. But because we wanted a rougher, hand-drawn look for this book, as if Tom himself had done the drawings, the first illustrations Gus sent us were pretty much spot on, and only needed minor tweaks to be ready for print. Three cheers for Gus!
The other challenge with these stories was to make sure the twist in the tail of each story had the right KAPOW! factor. Sometimes Tristan would write three different endings and we’d have to choose which one was funniest. Tough job! But it was great that Tristan was also road testing the stories with kids, so he knew what they were laughing at – and where to draw the line when it came to the gross-out stuff!
5. Why children’s books? Why do you do what you do?
Because it’s just SO MUCH FUN. Who wouldn’t want to spend their days discussing such important questions as: ‘Do you think dog poo or cat vomit would be more hilarious in this scene?’
6. Are you a dog kisser, have you ever been involved in competitive eating and could your Nan beat Tom Weekly’s in a back-alley brawl?
1. No. 2. Only with my brother and sister, usually when we’re having yum cha and the mango pancakes arrive. You snooze, you lose. 3. Maybe, if she had her patchwork quilting gang there for back-up.
Zoe Walton, Publisher
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