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by Scott Juba Published: March 4, 2005
Struggling to get his writing published, Daniel Wallace decided to make one final attempt at becoming a full-time novelist. He proceeded to write “Big Fish”, and needless to say, his reputation as a writer has flourished ever since.“When I wrote Big Fish, I had been writing for awhile, and I really hadn’t had a lot of success,” Wallace says. “My son had just been born, so things were getting serious as far as my family was concerned and as far as making a living was concerned. I knew I had one more shot to do something. When I started writing Big Fish, I decided that even if it was not professionally successful, I wanted to make something that I was proud of that I could leave for my son to see when he was old enough to understand and appreciate it. That’s the benchmark I use to determine whether what I’m working on is valuable. If I can determine that my son is going to be happy to claim it as something that his father did, that’s really what I want to do. ” Not only did “Big Fish” outperform sales expectations, Columbia Pictures adapted it into one of the most beloved feature films of 2003. “When it was originally optioned, I didn’t have high hopes for the adaptation,” Wallace admits. “After talking to screenwriter John August, my hopes got much higher. John really made Big Fish his story. He didn’t slavishly follow the outline of the book. He brought his own vision to it, and that’s what made it so good.” Visiting the set of “Big Fish” and seeing the settings from his book brought to life on a grand scale is an experience that Wallace will forever cherish. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalls. “It doesn’t take anything for a writer to write down these huge scenes. It didn’t cost me anything but the paper it was written on. And then to see that replicated and all the manpower and womanpower and the money and all the time that went into doing that, it’s awe-inspiring.” Since writing “Big Fish”, Wallace has also published two other acclaimed novels, “Ray In Reverse” and “The Watermelon King”. Although each book has its own distinct voice, similar themes run through all of Wallace’s writings. “Every writer has motifs and themes that come in and out of all their books. A writer only has a few obsessions, two or three things that really compel them to write. For me, the father-son relationship is one. For some reason, dogs are another.” Wallace advises aspiring authors to be persistent in their quest for publication and to read as many books as they can while they’re developing their own unique writing style. Wallace currently reads around 25 books a year (one of his most recent non-fiction reads, “Eyeing the Flash” by Peter Fenton, is a book he encourages everyone to check out), though he read even more when he was younger. Currently, Wallace intermittently teaches college creative writing courses. “Teaching always reminds you of the fundamentals,” he remarks. “It’s like teaching a basketball camp to ninth graders. You get back to the fundamentals. You realize what it takes to tell a story. It really does help my writing, because it makes me remember the things that are important.” Wallace’s students should count themselves lucky, because when it comes to mastering the fundamental elements of quality storytelling, they’re learning from one of the best. With an innate ability to pen beautifully dynamic prose, the passion with which Wallace writes spills out of every page and consumes the reader. Quite simply, Daniel Wallace is a creative genius. Photo By Dan Sears Links Official Site Amazon.com |
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