Meet Brian Rocks, an educator who writes funny stories for kids.
As a former teacher, he knows that reading proficiency is one of the best indicators of future success. And the best way to get kids interested in reading is to give them what they want. According to the Kids & Family Reading Report, 70% of kids want to read a book that will make them laugh and 54% want books that allow them to use their imagination. Read more from the author's website.
Learn more about what inspires Brian to write by reading his interview below:
How long have you been writing? Believe it or not, I started writing when I was about 5 or 6 years old. In the days before smart phones and tablets and portable video games, you had to be a little more resourceful about finding entertainment - so I made my own comic strips and mini joke books. From there, I wrote for some school newspapers and yearbooks and took the occasional writing class in college. But it wasn't until about 2000 that I started to think in terms of publishing my work to a wider audience. My first title, DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD! was released a few years later in 2003. (Yay!)
What is your most recent literary/artistic project? I've just finished a middle grade chapter book trilogy called THE TYLER FILES. It's sort of a "Wimpy Kid meets Gravity Falls" series. Tylerjust wants to be a normal fifth grader, but the strangest things keep happening to him. His pants start talking, his science project comes to life, and his nose comes loose and runs away from him! Tyler struggles to combat the craziness and find out what's causing it - all while trying to avoid terminal embarrassment in front of the whole school.
What inspires you to write? Whenever I do a presentation at an elementary school, I love to see the enthusiasm and excitement of the students. They get excited, not because I'm a famous author (I'm not!) but because someone is giving them permission to use their imagination. For the most part, I don't write children's books to convey a moral. I write to celebrate the Creative Spirit that lives in each of us. I write to remind others of the joy of connecting with that Spirit and letting it express freely. It's the simple joy of creating and inspiring others to create that inspires me!
Who’s your favorite author and why? My favorite children's authors are Mo Willems because his characters are so lovable and relatable, even with their flaws; and A.A. Milne because the original Winnie the Pooh books are filled with such warmth and subtle humor. Years after reading the Pooh stories, I discovered THE TAO OF POOH by Benjamin Hoff, which opened up a whole new layer of appreciation for his writing.
My favorite adult authors are Douglass Adams (why aren't there more humor novelists?) because his juxtaposition of the absurd and the mundane lets us laugh at just how absurd life can be; and Javier Sierra because, to me, his novels are more realistic versions of Dan Brown's.
What advice can you give to other authors or writers? Start where you are. Don't be afraid of what you don't know, or what classes you haven't taken, or what experience you don't have. The only way to get experience is to do something. So if you feel you need to take some writing classes, go out and find them. If you feel you need to study the business of writing, go read books from and interview people who work in the field. But above all - WRITE! Just like any other skill, writing improves with practice.
Where can readers go to find out more information about your work?
Readers can visit my website at www.BrianRock.net. They can follow me on Twitter at BrianRockWrites. They can find me on Goodreads. They can also visit my author page on Amazon (search Books for Brian Rock.) And, I'm just starting a presence on BookBub.com and would love to have some readers join me there as well!