Interview with Adam Glendon Sidwell

I am delighted to introduce Adam Glendon Sidwell, author of Evertaster, his first book, which is scheduled to release this June. Adam graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Animation. In between books, Adam uses the power of computers to make monsters, robots and zombies come to life for blockbuster movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, Transformers and Tron. After spending countless hours in front of a keyboard meticulously adjusting tentacles, calibrating hydraulics, and brushing monkey fur, he is delighted at the prospect of modifying his creations with the flick of a few deftly placed adjectives. He’s been eating food since age 7, so feels very qualified to write this book. Adam currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and baby girl.

1. Can you tell us a little about your upcoming book Evertaster?

Evertaster is a middle grade, real-world fantasy-adventure novel in the vein as Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. It’s the story of the Johnsonville kids, Guster, Mariah, and Zeke who hear about a legendary taste and go searching across the world through perils and danger just so they can try it for themselves.

They’ve got some powerful reasons for doing so, mostly to help their brother Guster, who is suffering from a serious problem: he can taste any flaw in his food, whether it’s potatoes in his mom’s casserole that were grown too far north, or what the cows ate that gave the milk in his ice cream. None of it tastes right to him.

2. Where did you find your idea and/or inspiration? 

I was browsing through the book store, when I happened upon a cookbook – the cooking aisle is a somewhat frightening place for me – I saw how thick it was, and how many other books there were like it, and thought about all the cookbooks in the whole world, and how many there must be, and how many were written over the centuries. That’s when I wondered: what are all those chefs looking for? What are they after? In science, there’s an idea that there is a grand Theory of Everything that is waiting to be discovered. What if there is was grand Recipe? The final answer to all cooking and food. From there, the Johnsonville family developed naturally, with the mom, Mabel, who feels inadequate about her abilities as a cook, and Guster, the eleven year old for whom food burns or stings his mouth and tongue as he swallows it. It made for a fun dynamic. The setting and adventure itself were inspired by some of the places I’ve had the chance to travel to. They were such interesting settings, I just had to put them into a story.

3. Who is your favorite character? Is the character based on real life experiences?

I’ll confess that my favorite character is actually Mabel, Guster’s mom. She’s humble and pure in heart, but completely dorky in the way that an 11 year-old kid finds his mom dorky – wearing aprons all day, bad jokes, she makes you do your chores. She is pure mom-ness. Mabel realizes that about herself to a certain extent, which is why she half-heartedly lets the family set out on the adventure – she wants to prove something to herself. In many ways, she is based on my mom. My mom is a kindergarten teacher, finger paints, nursery rhymes, sugary sweetness and all. My mom had never been out of the United States until just a few years ago, and that’s the case for a lot of moms who are busy raising their families.  So I wanted to see what would happen if a mom like that – Mabel – were to go on a dangerous quest around the globe. The tendency in children’s books is to write about orphans. On this point I was firm while writing – Mabel was always going to play an integral role in my book, and the kids were going to learn to deal with that, scolding and all. The family dynamic only enriched the adventure.

4. Can you tell us about your challenges getting your book published? 

Phew! There indeed were challenges. I wrote the first draft of Evertaster about four years ago. It just spilled out of me onto the keyboard, and I was just grinning at the end of many of my writing sessions, I was having so much fun. I revised it for a few months, then sent it out to agents and publishers. Most rejected me with form letters. Then, Alyssa Henkin of Trident Media Group, a really great agency in New York, responded to my query and asked to see the manuscript. I sent it and a few days later, she called to tell me she would like to represent it if I was willing to make a few changes. That phone call was incredible. I had been cooped up at my desk for so long, with grand, romantic, delusional ideas of becoming a novelist, and Alyssa called to tell me I wasn’t crazy!

Over the next 2 years we revised the manuscript together, all while I was working sometimes 60 hour weeks at my day job animating feature films. When we finally finished, five drafts later, she sent it out. The response was incredible! Publishers loved the characters, the story, the pacing, the quirky world of adventure. They told us how effortlessly they were pulled along. And this was all from the top publishers in the industry! It was tremendous validation for my secret project. There was one day when we had interest from two top publishers that would both have been a dream – the editors were ready to buy – but both deals fell through for various reasons at the last minute. I was devastated, but happy. Professionals liked my work! So a year later, when Alyssa told me that Trident was launching its own line of original ebooks, and asked me if Evertaster could be one of them, of course I said yes! So now it will be in ebook and paperback.

5. What words of advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I remember when I decided I was going to take a few months off work and write a book. I was visiting a friend’s apartment in Los Angeles, where the joke is that everyone you meet has got their screenplay that they’re writing. I told my friend that I wanted to write. He laughed at me, and said, “You and everybody else,” then pointed out the balcony window down into the alley where a homeless man was sitting next to his shopping cart with pen and binder paper in hand working on his screenplay. What was I thinking? This is the same crazy idea that everyone has.

That’s when I realized no matter what I had to work work work. And I had to finish things. Whether it’s a short story, novella, or epic fantasy series, make sure you write the last word and complete the project. If the project is too big, choose something more manageable and work up from there. You have to have something finished to show people.

Then start querying. There really are no hard and fast rules on how to get published. Each author’s publishing story is unique. But no matter what happens, if you have a finished product, that is an achievement.

Thank you Adam! We are very excited for your upcoming book and the ones to follow! Evertaster is the first of a three book series. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy and read it to my very picky 6 year old!

You can read the first chapter of Evertaster, sign up for fun giveaways (such as the Cookie Giveaway!) and watch for upcoming events:  Click here for Adam's Evertaster page on Facebook. Well worth hitting the "Like" button!

There is also an amazing video Adam posted on Mother's Day dedicating Evertaster to his mom. Very sweet video!