Hot Dogs in Space: Meet the Author Max Brallier

By NYPL Staff
October 28, 2015
Jerome Park Library
Cosmoe's wiener getaway

Max Brallier, author of Galactic Hot Dogs, is coming to KidsLIVE! November 13 at the Jerome Park Library. We asked him a few questions about his life as a writer.

When did you decide to become a writer?

Oh boy—I never know how to answer this question! I think I decided to become a writer after I sold my first book—before that it seemed too impossible, too unreal. But I had a general idea that I wanted to tell stories for a living at a pretty young age—elementary school or early middle school. I loved movies, and when watching them I often thought “That part was cool, but if something like THIS happened instead?” I was always thinking of alternative possibilities, action scenes, endings—and that’s how I realized I wanted to tell stories.

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I can tell you it’s not structured well enough. :) I try to write in the morning, before I do anything else—just shower, coffee, then write. That seems to be the time of day when I’m most creative. Sometimes I write from home, sometimes I go to coffee shops. I tend to do one location until I stop being productive, and then I switch to the other for a while. I try do use the afternoons to take advantage of the freedom of the job: seeing a movie, playing videogames, meeting up with a friend, going for a bike ride, something like that. But, best laid plans...

Why do you write?

It’s a job that I love—and I love it for a buncha reasons! I love telling stories and inventing worlds. I love exercising that part of my brain. I love imaging things that don’t exist, and then putting them down on paper and seeing them sort of come to life. And because a lot of the writing I do is for children, I love that maybe I’m inspiring a kid the way I was inspired and influenced by books, comics, and movies as a kid. Also, every once in a while I get these absolutely adorable fan letters and emails from kids that just make my week.

Where do your ideas come from?

All around. No one place, really. Just thoughts, ideas things I see. The idea for Galactic Hot Dogs came from a memory of childhood + something I saw on the street + a desire to write an adventure set in space. And daydreaming. I guess that’s the real answer: all ideas come from plain ol' daydreaming.

Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?

I read a lot, but probably not as much as people might suspect. Favorite authors are tough—I tend to have favorite series, favorite works. I love and have loved Bone, Tintin, Stephen King, Frank Miller, Watchmen, Robert B. Parker, Conan the Barbarian, Brian Wood, Amulet, Elmore Leonard, Richard Stark, Mark Bowden, Neil Gaiman, Denis Lehane. I read a lot of short story collections—I have a lousy attention span. Currently reading The Best American Noir of the Century and Ready Player One.

Do you work out an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?

I outline like crazy. I use a big corkboard and notecards to plot things out, placing ideas in an Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 order and then moving them around and getting rid of them and adding more. And I have folders and files on my computer for each book idea, and I write down different ideas as they come. I used to just start writing and kind of follow the idea—but I found it very unproductive. There were a lot of wasted days, wasted words. I think a lot of writers would argue that those words and days aren’t actually wasted, it’s just part of the process—but I found it really frustrating.

That said—after outlining, when I start writing, I always seem to have better, funner ideas—and I’ll go with those. But they usually don't totally upend the plot.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

It totally depends on the book. Some books—like activity books, sticker books, things like that—I can write in a week. My latest book, The Last Kids on Earth, took me three years from conception to completion—and it’s a short book full of pictures! I also find it hard to ever really figure out exactly how long a book takes, because I’m always writing more than one thing at once.

Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

This question is giving me anxiety. I am FREAKING OUT. Zero idea. Hopefully, still writing for a living. Hopefully, sitting with family and friends somewhere, laughing, playing with an idea in the back of my head.

What is your favorite motivational phrase or quote?

I have three! Is that okay?

"First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!" —Ray Bradbury

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard.” ―Neil Gaiman

"Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen." —Willa Cather

How have libraries impacted your life?

Growing up, my local library was Reading Public Library, in Reading, MA. I hate to use this word, because it’s so overused, but it felt like a magical place. It was huge and sprawling and old and had a special odor. I used to ride my bike there after school and use the computer for hours, reading interviews with writers, reading essays about old movies. Sometimes there would be girls there, and I’d try to be cute and fail. Other times, I’d meet my best friends there and we’d just hang out and pretend to study. When I was younger, I raced through it’s sort of labyrinthine collection of halls and nooks and played epic games of tag. The Reading Public Library was a community hub in the way a really great library can be.