My Chat with Kwame Mbalia
![Image of Kid Reporter Orion and author Kwame Mbalia](https://images.ctfassets.net/mlt4xrx1omik/2VpXRw3pNle11DbtZi4Ayj/f4d9a23c74cb1bbd4e8bbc41e2b4df85/Mbalia1.jpg?w=1920&h=1280&fl=progressive&q=50&fm=jpg)
Orion Jean is a TFK Kid Reporter. He was named the 2021 TIME Kid of the Year. Here, he writes about his conversation with one of his favorite authors, Kwame Mbalia.Â
Have you ever considered what it would be like if you were responsible for creating stories in which characters embark on life-changing adventures? Personally, Iâve always been curious about the process of writing those stories. So in July 2022, I sat down to video chat with New York Times best-selling author Kwame Mbalia. He wrote the Tristan Strong trilogy and helped write the Last Gate of the Emperor series. We talked about what a day in the life of a writer looks like, and he shared his advice for future authors.
Mbalia says that his love for reading and writing comes from his mother, who was a professor and author. âShe would go and put [my younger brother] down for a nap,â he told me. âThen she would tell me and my [other] brother, âListen, y'all can nap too, or you can read a book.ââ Mbalia was inspired by authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Rick Riordan, and Walter Dean Myers.Â
You may be surprised to know that until recently, Mbalia had a career as a pharmaceutical metrologist. (Thatâs someone who makes sure the equipment used to produce medicine is working properly.) Then, in 2019, he released his middle-grade debut, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky. It received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor.
Mbalia also talked about the hardest part of being an author: Itâs easy to get frustrated and discouraged while comparing your unfinished work to someone elseâs published work. âYou have to realize that [theirs] is a finished product,â Mbalia says. âThat is a book that has gone through multiple rounds of revision. . . . You flip through that finished book and think, âThis is amazing,â when in reality, at some point, that author considered it trash.âÂ
Mbalia encourages children who enjoy reading and who might want to become authors to âtrust the process. Find out whatever process works for you, and go for it,â he says.Â
Mbalia writes often and whenever he can, âbecause you never know when inspiration will hit. I have the Notes app on my phone,â he says. âI have legal pads. I have sticky notes that I stick everywhere, and then Iâll pull them all and try to make sense of them.â
Sometimes, he adds, heâll âwake up in the middle of the night with a thoughtâ and heâll ârun to the computer and type it up.â
Thereâs so much more to the creative process than someone might think. All movies, TV shows, books, and video gamesâand even this articleâgo through numerous versions before the final draft is sent out to the public. It sounds like writing a book can be messy, exhausting, and unconventional. But thatâs just it! Being an author is about the freedom to tell any story you want, any way you want.Â
So if youâve ever thought about becoming an author, just think about what Mbalia said in the last few minutes of our interview: âEveryone isnât going to love every story, but I do believe that there is a story for everyone.â Who knows? Maybe you can write a story that inspires and resonates with the next generation of readers and writers around the world.