Ever wanted to know how your favourite authors and illustrators became the brilliant creatives you know and love? Read on for the story of how Wrong Time Rooster creator, Michael Parkin, developed hand wrote his first picture book.
In Michael’s own words: When I was a boy I would go to my grandparents’ house and the first thing I would do would be to grab a book from their bookshelf and ask my grandpa to read it to me. Not even a ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’ first! The illustrations and the story would captivate my imagination, leading to me writing my own illustrated stories at school. I found a couple of these in the loft at my parents’ house recently and no matter how wild the adventure is, they all seem to end in my going home and eating a plate of sausages!
This love for stories continued as I grew up, and whilst working in customer services at a call centre I would fill entire pads of paper with drawings of what I imagined the people on the phone to look like. I would write short poems and stories and draw silly things to amuse myself and colleagues, and one day I realised that that is what I wanted to do full time. 13 years later, I am working as a freelance illustrator for clients all around the world, drawing all sorts of fun things.
I have continued to play around with narrative in my illustration work, making short comics and stories. Since having a child five years ago, it dawned on me that I could use my writing and illustration to create a picture book. The idea for the book came to me in the middle of the night, as often happens, after a vivid dream. I wrote it down in my notebook, and drifted back to sleep. It was a few weeks later when I was picking through the notebook that I found it. Tucked neatly in between all sorts of nonsense like ‘pizza restaurant on a trampoline’ and ‘very long sheep called a Lambousine’ was the title ‘Wrong Time Rooster’. Over the next few weeks the title became an idea and that grew into a full story.
Wrong Time Rooster is a story about finding a place that you fit in, or a place that feels like home. Ronnie has been passed from farm to farm all over the world because nobody took the time to teach him how to tell the time. We have all felt out of our depth at times and needed some guidance, which is exactly what Farmer Tony and the animals provide for Ronnie. He quickly becomes a beloved member of their family, much to his relief and delight.
Since writing the book, with the help from the amazing team at Flying Eye, I have now been picking through my notebook and developing more new story ideas. It’s a process that I am massively enjoying and I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed making it!
Wrong Time Rooster
by Michael Parkin
Ronnie the rooster arrives at Farmer Tony’s farm to help wake up the animals, but something isn’t right– Ronnie just cannot tell the time! The animals band together to help teach Ronnie and soon his COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOs are perfectly on time… mostly!
Get your copy HERE.
