Please
welcome David Chuka as my guest today. He writes wonderful children’s books and
has just launched his newest one in his series – Billy and Monster’s Golden
Christmas. I’m sure his books would be right up my grandson Carson’s alley with
titles such as Billy and the Monster who loved to fart. They look like lots of
fun!
Welcome
to my blog David, I’m so glad you could take time out from your busy writing
schedule to answer some questions for us and maybe get some parents and
grandparents out there purchasing your books for their little ones.
So, tell me
about yourself; married with kids? Grandkids? – Hi Lisa.
Thanks a bunch for having me on your blog today. I’m happily married with two children.
Ruth is eight and Richard is five. I live in London, England. My best season of
the year is Autumn as it’s not too cold and it’s not too hot.
What got you
started writing children’s books? – I think the main catalyst was Ruth when
she was just starting out to read. There was this one book I downloaded to my
Kindle app that she read with such pride every time we went to see her
grandparents. I knew I could write something similar to engage her and to cut a
long story short, it culminated with me writing my first children’s book – If
You See a Doctor. I’ve gone on to write 10 more since then.
Do you do this
fulltime or have to suffer a regular job while pumping out all these books? – I have to say
I’m still on my way towards making this a full time gig. I work in the
financial sector during the day and write on the train on my way to and from
work.
I love your
titles and I believe most kids would too! How did you come up with that idea? –
Thanks
Lisa. That compliment is much appreciated. I try and write books that I would
have loved to read when I was a wee lad. My most popular series – The
Adventures of Billy and Monster – came about on Boxing Day 2012. My family and
I were staying over at my Mum’s place for the holiday. On Boxing Day, I woke up
early and could hear all the wonderful noises you hear at that time of the day.
I tried to get back to sleep but it was an exercise in futility. So I untangle
myself from my very cozy duvet and go downstairs to the kitchen. I get a pen
and pad and challenged myself to come up with something interesting. I came up
with this story about a little boy – Billy – who is an only child and has a
Monster as a friend. They do everything together and love each other. There’s
only one problem. Monster farts a lot and everyone blames Billy for it. The
story shows how children (and adults of course) can behave when they feel
rumblings in their tummy that tend to lead to noisy and nose-tingling fumes.
I saw you have
also done some animal picture books. My grandkids love those. Can you tell me
about them? – My
first animal book is titled ‘I Love Baby Animals.’ The idea came about while I
was washing plates. It’s a simple book that shows animals and their babies. It was
fun doing the research for that book. Like do you know what a baby hedgehog is
called? It’s called a hoglet. I’ve followed that up with 2 other non-fiction
books and my first fiction Animal book is titled ‘Kojo the Sea Dragon Gets
Lost.’ It’s a story about a one-eyed, buck-toothed, multi-tailed sea dragon who
gets lost while playing hide and seek and gets rescued by the entire community
from the South side of the Zakari River.
What is your
favorite thing to do when you’re not busy writing? – I like going to
a good restaurant that serves good food and eating something spicy that makes
me sweat while I promise myself it’ll be the last time I eat something hot and
spicy. Watching movies and eating popcorn is also another fun pastime.
Do you plan to
stick with children’s books or venture out to older children or even adults? – I plan to write
more children’s books although I have to admit that I have started writing my
first Crime/Mystery book. A whole new ball game to writing children’s books but
I’m loving the challenge.
One more
question: If someone were interested in writing children’s books what would
your advice to them be? – I would say to write a book that you would be
absolutely proud to share with a young audience. If it’s a fiction book, then it
should have a story that incorporates characters and scenarios that children
can identify with and/or be intrigued by. Please make sure that you get a good
illustrator to create images that children find captivating.
Thanks for being
a guest on my blog! It was wonderful having you and I look forward to reading
your books to my own grandkids! I hope to have you back soon!
To reach David on Facebook: FanPage
I hope you leave David a comment. He would love to hear from you and don't forget to check out his wonderful books on Amazon!
Until next Friday, have a great weekend!
Love, Lisa