Quite a few of the writers of adult fiction who eventually became great authors and whose books commanded considerable commercial success attained bestseller status only after writing children's books. A little online research should set anybody in doubt straight and prove this a statement of fact.
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| Photo credit: pwpl.org |
These success stories appeal fiercely to hearts that believe in the power of determination nope, this idea is rather rooted in faith in the power of simple/childish things. Just like these writers have warmed themselves to the hearts of first, children and then to the entire human race.
Every one of us has at one time been kids so it's possible most of the authors mentioned would unplug a flood of childhood memories. I'd like to take the list from the top and begin with writers who walked this sod, first before adding the others who jumped on the bandwagon along the way.
Barrie published his first novel, Better Dead in 1887 and A Window in Thrums in 1889. He started writing plays in 1890. He married and divorced. It is reported that to mend his broken heart, Barrie took to going out for long walks. He would encounter the influence for his most famous work during one of these long walks; he met the Llewelyn Davies brothers who in turn inspired his best known work, Peter Pan. Barrie became the boys' guardian after their parents passed away.
In 1902, Barrie wrote a book The Little White Bird. His most famous character, Peter Pan made his first appearance in this work. He later wrote a play telling the adventures of the flying boy who never grew up in Neverland. It was warmly received by the audience to rave reviews. In 1911, he published a book Peter and Wendy based on his Peter Pan play. It became a bestseller with children and adults alike.
Popularly known as J. R. R. Tolkien began his career as a children's book author. Tolkien who was an English poet, writer and professor is best remembered as the author of such classics as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It is reported as matter of fact, that the writer had planned The Lord of the Rings as a sequel to his children's book, The Hobbit but gave up on the idea when the project seemed way too big to and considered writing an adult novel instead.
This great writer known today as the classic high fantasy writer started out as a children's writer. The Hobbit and the book for which he has become reader favorites, The Lord of the Rings form a connected series of tales and fictional histories and revolve around similar characters. Tolkien has been considered the father of high fantasy. In 2009, he was ranked the 5th top earning celebrity by Forbes.
3. E. B. White (1899-1985)
He it was who revised William S. Strunk's The Elements of Style. Elwyn Brooks White was the son of a piano manufacturer who was once offered a teaching job at a university but turned it down because he had dreams of becoming a writer.
White published his poetry in newspapers and finally got off to publishing a poetry collection. Later on, he published several books; Ho Hum (1931), Another Ho Hum (1932) and Every Day Is Saturday (1934). But it would not be until 1945 that White would really hit his stride with the children's classic Stuart Little and in 1952 he published his most famous book, Charlotte's Web. According to a Publisher's Weekly survey in 2000, Charlotte's Web is the bestselling children's paperback of all time and has sold over 45 million copies.
In 1969, Blume (real name Judith Sussman) published The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo. It was her first book. In 1972 she published one of her best known works, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. In the decade that followed publication of her first book, Blume released over 13 children's books that performed well in the market. She made her break writing for children and teens and then she moved on to the adult market.
Her first adult novel made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The paperback of her third novel Summer Sisters spent several weeks at #1 of the New York Times bestseller list. Blume's books have exceeded sales of 80 million and have been translated into 31 languages.
5. J. K. Rowling (1965- )
In 2012 J. K. Rowling published her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy. Before that time (this is a little bit boring. Com'on people, we all heard it before), she made history with a series of fantasy books called Harry Potter. The story of a bespectacled young wizard and his two friends.
J. K. Rowling has quite the resume for an author; the Harry Potter books have won multiple awards and sold over 450 million copies worldwide. Flogging herself over publicity for her adult novel would be the least of J. K. Rowling's (real name Joanne Rowling) worries. Not when the world grabs for anything that's got her name printed on it.
I'm not saying these authors went out of their way to publish children's books with calculated intent of getting at the adults (parents)-the idea here is whatever book pricks your child's interest will without argument grab yours and when such an author writes an adult novel you will go for it. But possibly, it may have crossed the minds of one or two of these writers, don't you think? In any case, these creative minds did not limit themselves to one market and because they had the courage to branch out, they discovered the limitless prairies of success.
Do you not have something you should rather be writing?
Make your pen bleed!
Akpan
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