Author Interview: Sophie Wills
I’m so pleased to welcome Sophie Wills to the blog to kick off this Author Interview series where I ask a recently published author five questions. Sophie’s debut The Orphans of St Halibut’s, brilliantly illustrated by David Tazzyman hit the bookshelves in October 2020. It’s a hilarious laugh out loud Roald Dahl-esque story with a fantastic cast of memorable and multi-layered characters, including a bad tempered goat named Pamela. I was so excited to find out more about the inspiration behind this series, Sophie’s journey to being published and how her debut year is going!
1. How did your journey to being published begin?
I wrote stories constantly as a child and swore to myself and everyone else that I would be an author when I grew up, but I lost my mojo on arriving at university and gave up entirely for 20 years.
In 2012 I was looking for car seat reviews on the internet, and spotted a children’s bedtime story competition judged by Michael Rosen. I’d never even considered writing for children before. But something pinged in my head and I thought: that sounds fun, and if I’m not even willing to write 1,000 words I’ll never be able to say I tried. So I wrote a weird story about a pig-riding sheriff, and the amazing Mr Rosen picked it as a winner. In doing that, he lit a fire under my writing chair, and it hasn’t gone out since. Luckily, I am flameproof.
2. Is The Orphans of St Halibut's the first book you've written? What drew you towards writing a funny MG book series?
I wrote a few books before St Halibut’s – I got my agent, Kate Shaw, with the third one (which was actually a complete rewriting of the first), but that didn’t end up selling to a publisher, though it got agonizingly close. That was hard – at first I really didn’t feel like starting again, especially because I was having a stinker of a year personally, too. Then I had the idea for The Orphans of St Halibut’s and wrote that, at first in a bit of a grump, but slowly it cheered me up.
I never sit down and think ‘I must write something funny’ – the heart of the story is the most important thing. It’s just that ridiculous aspects of the situation or the characters always strike me, and I sort of lean into them and see where they take me. Life is chock-full of humour. It’s everywhere, even in the darkest places. I am a pretty accident-prone, scatty and putting-my-foot-in-it person, so the million different ways in which things can go wrong always seem very clear to me. And things going wrong is where a lot of comedy happens.
3. Do you have any advice for anyone writing their first book?
I’m not sure I’d call it advice, but here is something that was helpful for me: I didn’t try to predict what would sell. I wrote what tickled me, and what I knew my children would enjoy. That made it fun to write, and to edit.
The strongest thing you have to offer is your unique take on the world, and your unique voice. No one else looks at things in exactly the same way you do, so use that, and invite readers into your brain with no apologies.
4. Which character do you think changes most significantly over the course of The Orphans of St Halibut's?
Herc changes very little, to his big sister’s frustration, but that’s part of his charm, for me. Arfur the con-man is a swirling mass of conflicting possibilities who solidifies through the story but, on the whole, I think it’s characters’ perceptions of each other that evolve the most.
5. What are one/some of the highlights of your debut year (2020/21) so far?
There have been many, but seeing David Tazzyman’s illustrations for the first time was definitely a major one. I still can’t believe that actually happened.
Another highlight has been getting to know other children’s authors, especially other debuts. I met some in real life before Covid put a stop to all that, but have made loads of fantastic new author friends through Twitter. I’m not saying that publishing your debut is traumatic, but it can be quite intense, and the shared experience can mean you form close bonds with peers relatively quickly, if you are honest with each other. We share worries, advice, amusing GIFs, struggles, failures, sympathy, TV recommendations and helpless giggles. Without those people it would have been a much scarier and lonelier time.
Thank you Sophie for this wonderful interview!
You can find out more about Sophie Wills on her website : https://www.sophiewillsauthor.com/ and follow her on Twitter or Instagram. The next book is the Orphans of St Halibut’s series is called ‘Pamela’s Revenge’ and is out on August 19th available to pre-order now!