I’d like to welcome author Adam Wilson to the blog today for #WriterWednesday!
Hardest thing about being a writer: For me it's definitely getting over the imposter syndrome. Even after all these years, it still manages to creep its way into every step along the way - from when I'm writing to when I'm trying to promote my work. It's always there getting me to second guess myself.
Easiest thing about being a writer: Working on comics I've been really lucky in collaborating with some incredible artists who really got the stories we were trying to tell. You really can't underestimate how important that is when you're working with someone.
Things you need for your writing sessions: Lately it’s been my phone. I have very little free time, so I don’t have writing sessions as much as I have the occasional extra few minutes when I can open up a Word Doc and try to write a few lines of something. In fact, most of the first draft for my upcoming book, Last of the Pops, was written on my phone while my wife and I waited for a very sleep-adverse toddler to finally fall asleep.
Things that hamper your writing: Everything on my phone. If I let myself, the Word Doc will be the last thing I think to open when I have those few free minutes.
Something you’re really good at: Figuring things out on the fly. Most of the skills I use on a regular basis are things I learned just because I didn’t have someone who could do it for me and I didn’t want to let that stop me from completing a project.
Something you’re really bad at: Time management. Even after all these years, it’s still amazing the speed at which a day can get away from me and turn to night.
Favorite music or song: I’ve never had a song stay with me long enough to consider it my favorite, but I once had a music teacher comment about my taste and say “Most people like to listen to a lot of different musical genres, you insist on all those genres being crammed into a single song.” I think that sums it up pretty well.
Music that drives you crazy: It’s not a specific type of music, but more so when songs are horribly out of place. Like there’s nothing more uncomfortable than being at a wedding and watching a bride walk down the aisle to a song about adultery, or attending a school dance and having a DJ play a song about a school shooting.
The last thing you ordered online: A special edition copy of Leaving Through The Window by Something Corporate on vinyl. It was a surprise for my wife cause we both really liked the album back in college, and she still loves listening to it. So I thought it’d make a nice addition to our collection.
The last thing you regret buying: I won’t say specifics, but there were a few books I picked up cause I remember really liking them when I was younger. It turns out they ended up being those books that were for a certain period in your life. Rereading them now, they didn't have the same appeal they once did.
Things you always put in your books: My books always tend to have some kind of musical element to them, even if it’s just songs that have provided the inspiration for what I’m writing.
Things you never put in your books: I actually don't curse a lot in my books. I know it's a weird and kind of inconsequential line in the sand to draw because I'm not doing it to be more accessible for certain ages or for any kind of moral reason. It just feels out of place when I do it.
Favorite things to do: My favorite thing is to go on adventures with my wife and son, whether it’s exploring new places, visiting their library or bookstores, watching movies, or listening to music. I tend to be a bit restless in my downtime, so I’m always up for exploring with them.
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Thanks to my ADHD, that's pretty much whatever priority thing I'm supposed to be doing at any given moment.
The nicest thing a reader said to you: One time, my wife and I were doing a signing together for our respective books at the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market and someone stopped in their tracks as they were passing by. They picked up a copy of my book What About Tuesday? and said “I came across this by accident last week. I didn't know what to expect, but I'm really glad I read it.”
The craziest thing a reader said to you: One of my books is a graphic novella so it’s designed to be on the shorter side, but I once had someone buy it at a convention, sit down next to my table, and read it. Then they requested their money back and said “This was really short, couldn’t you have written more?”
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I spent most of my teens and early twenties playing different instruments to varying degrees of competency in several bands that never really ventured outside people’s garages.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: There was a comic book series that was intended to be the followup to my first graphic novel. I spent over a year working on it and had really high hopes for it. I had about six volumes planned and was really excited about it. But the publisher ended up shelving it and by the time the rights reverted back to me, the moment passed and nothing ever came of it.
Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: When my wife and I first started dating, we were long distance for the first year of our relationship. I pulled a lot from that when I wrote Helium.
Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: My first graphic novel, Brian & Bobbi, was part superhero story and leading up to its release a lot of people assumed I wrote a version of myself with superpowers as the main character. That wasn’t the case, and when the book came out, I actually made a really conscious effort to downplay anything that might make people think that. I even went so far as to cut my hair and start dressing a little differently at appearances to look as little like the main character as possible
