Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Words on Bathroom Walls
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Huntington Beach
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.thebentagency.com/author.php?id=131&name=J._Walton
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:Chapman University, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked formerly in an office cubicle.
AVOCATIONS:Watching movies.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Julia Walton is a contemporary young adult fiction writer. Prior to pursuing a career in writing, Walton worked in an office cubicle. She received a M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University. Watson lives in Huntington Beach, CA with her husband and daughter. Words on Bathroom Walls is her first book.
Aimed at readers aged twelve and up, Words on Bathroom Walls tells the story of Adam, a sixteen-year-old teen who is starting his junior year at a new high school. As he begins his year at a new school, he will also begin a new drug regiment. The medication Adam is taking is ToZaPrex, a fictional experimental new drug on the market, aimed at treating schizophrenia symptoms. Adam’s schizophrenia, which began to manifest when he was twelve, is the main reason he has moved to this new high school. When his old school friends found out about his mental illness, they all abandoned him. Adam and his family are hoping that this new beginning and the new drug will be a fresh start for the teen.
As Adam is undergoing ToZaPrex treatment, he is also seeing a therapist who is supposed to help him transition to the new school and new drug. Adam will not talk during the sessions, however, so the therapist gives him a journal to write down his thoughts and experiences, instead. Through the journal, the reader is exposed to Adam’s inner dialogue as he maneuvers a new school, first romance, adjusting to the medication, and general teenage experiences.
Things seem to go well, at first. Adam still experiences hallucinations and hears voices, but for the first time he is able to discern what is real and what is a hallucination. This shift is just enough to give him the ability to blend in at school; no one knows about his condition. As a result, Adam begins to make friends. He connects with Dwight, another student at the school, and begins to form a mutual attraction with intelligent Maya. However, just when things seem to be turning up, the effectiveness of the drug starts to wear off. As his condition worsens, Adam tries to come to terms with the fact that he may never be considered normal.
A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote: “Walton creates a psychologically tense story with sympathetic characters while dispelling myths about a much-feared condition,” while Karin Greenberg in School Library Journal described the book as “startling, humorous, and painstakingly honest.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2017, review of Words on Bathroom Walls.
Publishers Weekly, May 15, 2017, review of Words on Bathroom Walls, p. 58.
School Library Journal, April, 2017, Karin Greenberg, review of Words on Bathroom Walls, p. 159.
Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 2017, Rebecca Jung and Jules Wagner, review of Words on Bathroom Walls, p. 67.
JULIA WALTON
Agent: Heather Flaherty
Julia Walton has spent the majority of her professional life in captivity behind 6 ft cubicle walls. Her enclosure was comfortable and open to visitors during regular business hours. She was given adequate food, a soft nest, and plenty of insurance policies to pass the time. Yet still, she longed for freedom.
Now, she lives in Huntington Beach, CA with her husband and daughter where she can usually be coaxed out of hiding with tea, Crunchies, and Haribo gummy bears.
She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University.
When she’s not talking to herself, reading to her daughter, or watching her favorite movies on an endless loop, she writes contemporary YA fiction.
She has the worst sense of direction on the planet.
Her highly praised debut YA novel, WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS, from Random House BFYR, is now being made into a feature film with LD Entertainment.
Moments of Clarity and Emotion: An Interview with Julia Walton
Mike Gravagno interviews Julia Walton
24 0 0
SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
IN JULIA WALTON’S debut novel, Words on Bathroom Walls, it’s 2012 and our protagonist, Adam Petrazelli, is 16 and just transitioning from public school to a private Catholic school. He has to deal with the tribulations every new kid faces: bullies, crushes, making new friends, plus all the unfamiliar traditions and restrictions that characterize a religious school. On top of that, Adam has schizophrenia, complete with reality-bending visual and auditory hallucinations. His condition manifests as reoccurring characters that may just be materializations of his emotional states. When we meet Adam, he’s started an experimental drug that allows him to, if not control his hallucinations, then ignore them. Each chapter takes the form of a letter to Adam’s therapist, whom he refuses to talk to in person. This epistolary form draws the reader intimately into Adam’s world, making the book a wonderfully sharp and funny coming-of-age story.
The following interview is excerpted from a longer conversation I had with Julia Walton. To hear the full, hour-long interview, check out the Writers’ Block podcast from Anastamos Interdisciplinary Literary Journal and YourPopFilter.com.
¤
MIKE GRAVAGNO: When did you begin writing, and when did you decide to be a writer?
JULIA WALTON: I’ve always written, but I think it was probably third grade when I decided that’s what I wanted to do, or maybe it was the summer after third grade. I read, like, 40 books, and I decided that if I could make stuff up for a living, that’s what I wanted to do.
Do you remember a book that made you think this, I want to do this?
You know, I read a lot of Roald Dahl that summer. I think I read everything he wrote, everything I could get my hands on anyway. I devoured both his adult and children’s stories. He had a way of making — I don’t know about other readers, but me for sure — he made me think, “Wow, he’s writing in a weird and different way, and I feel like I could do that … I could make up these words and make something that other people respond to.” His weird creepiness was just so relatable.
So at what point did you actually start writing?
I originally wanted to write children’s books with illustrations. In eighth grade, I started my first novel, and I think I wrote maybe 30,000 words of trash … just garbage that had no end in sight. I kept adding things I enjoyed, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. You need to get that sort of thing out of your system before you can write anything anyone else would want to read. I’m glad I did that in eighth grade, and that I’m not doing it now.
Are there any themes or styles you notice you keep returning to?
For a long time, I was trying to write Harry Potter. Those stories meant so much to me when I read them, and they mean so much to me still. The first novel I wrote as an adult, when I was trying to actually create something, was a fantasy novel set in a library. I was really trying to channel all of the fantasy novels that I loved. It’s one thing to copy a writer or their style to help you develop your own, but it’s another thing to lose yourself completely and try to be that person and not embrace your own style. I think that was holding me back a little bit. There’s something to be said about finding your voice and allowing those people you respected and looked up to to influence you. Just don’t try to be them.
I can see some of the Harry Potter influence in your novel. I don’t know if it clicked while I read it, but emotional scenes happen in bathrooms, it’s set in a weird private school … It’s very different even though it’s YA, but I can see certain influences.
Yeah, I think you can see the connections. I mean I’ve read Harry Potter a billion times. I used to listen to the stories when I was working in my cubicle. I had a job doing invoices, and I was so miserable, so I’d listen to all the books over and over because I couldn’t deal with the fact that I was stuck in insurance and unable to break free. So there are a lot of references to Harry Potter throughout the novel, and it definitely colored my writing. At one point, Adam comes right out and says, “Harry Potter gets away with all the things that he imagines being real,” and because Adam is schizophrenic, he doesn’t have that same luxury. It’s a Chamber of Secrets shout-out there.
I really liked that, because it’s annoying in books and movies when they don’t reference huge pop culture moments. I know people say you don’t want to date your story, but it’s always going to be dated no matter what, so why not make it real?
That’s a good point because there were definitely moments in my first couple of drafts where I had to omit a few pop culture references that were going to date it. But Harry Potter was different, because there’s no way that’s ever going to not be understood. But I did have to cut out a Beetlejuice reference, and a Britney Spears reference. When my editor looked at the manuscript, she asked, “Are you sure you want to include these?” It hurt me a little to cut the Beetlejuice one out. She thought it might alienate some of the readers, some of the younger ones who might not get what I was going for.
Is pop culture generally a metaphor pool you go to?
No, it just worked for the story. I’m not sure why — this is actually the first story I’ve written where there were any pop cultural references I can recall. I guess just immersing myself in this high school milieu, and this time frame, and this character’s head — it just made sense that it was there. I put a lot of me into Adam’s character. It was hard to do that and not talk about Harry Potter, and baking, and so much of the stuff I love.
Do you think you’ll stick with YA or just write whatever comes up?
One of the projects I’m working on now is a novella. But I like YA a lot, and I think that’s because I never really grew up from reading YA fiction. Those stories are the ones that hit me the hardest, and they keep on hitting me. There are so many wonderful new YA books out there. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is phenomenal. Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi — these are brand-new books that are fantastic and full of emotion and hard-hitting stuff, and I’m just honored to be on shelves with these people. I think readers enjoy YA because it gives them the freedom to remember when they felt things intensely, when they had those moments of clarity and emotion.
That’s interesting because Adam, your protagonist, isn’t that emotional. Not just because he’s schizophrenic, but also because he’s a pretty taciturn, mellow guy. So you’ve created this reserved character where the emotional moments really hit, because they’re rare.
Yeah, I would agree with that. I think Adam holds back a lot. But the reason he does is because he’s hiding a lot. I think he’s just learned how to operate without letting everything show. He has to keep so much hidden, and he’s always conscious of that. Maybe without the schizophrenia, he might be a little more emotional, but I think he would still be less emotional than most protagonists in his age group.
Obviously the schizophrenia is a huge piece of him, but I didn’t want it to be the only piece. I wanted him to be a complete person, and I wanted him to tell his story in a way that invited people in, so even if they don’t understand his mental illness, and even if they don’t understand where he’s coming from or they don’t have any way of comprehending the weight on his shoulders, they’ll still be able to see him as a person and they’ll still be able to see him struggling with something. And that will create a level of empathy.
Each chapter is a letter to Adam’s therapist. How did you decide that’s the way you wanted to structure the book?
I don’t even remember the moment I decided to do that. I remember being mad in my cubicle and having had a recent conversation with friends from Catholic school. And I guess sometimes when you have conversations, or you have dreams, or you watch good movies, and it just kind of settles into this soup in your brain, it all comes out. I remember writing that first entry on my lunch break, and that was just the way it came out. I had to be telling a story, I had to be telling it to someone, but then the character didn’t necessarily want to have a back and forth with this person. He just wanted to say his piece, and that was why he was responding in writing and not having an actual dialogue.
Was there any version where the therapist was a fleshed-out character, rather than Adam’s sounding board?
Not in the piece, but in my head. I never wanted him to have his own say. I thought that would take away from Adam. As it is, you do get little snippets from the dosage prescriptions at the beginning of the chapters. I thought that would be an effective way of conveying why Adam was acting the way he did, that the reader needed to see the dosage increases. You get snippets of information like this from the therapist, but that’s it. I didn’t want there to be a lot. I wanted it to be Adam’s response to him, and that’s how the reader would get to know the therapist.
How did you develop the other characters, like Adam’s friend, Dwight, and his love interest, Maya?
Maya was always part of it, and Dwight came somewhere in the middle of the first draft. I was trying to create Adam as a loner, but once I started writing, it didn’t really make sense that he would stay a loner or want to be 100 percent a loner. I don’t think anyone really wants to be completely alone — despite how angsty or goth you might think you are, you don’t really want that. You want friends, you want people to relate to, you want your story to be heard by someone. So Maya was always a part of it, and I guess I used my husband’s traits as a kind of template for that because there’s a lot of him in her. Adam was originally based on my own experiences, and it just made sense that, when I started thinking about Maya and how I wanted her character to take shape, she would have a little bit of my husband.
Do you find it impossible to avoid drawing on your own experiences and the people you know?
I don’t know if that’s a good idea generally, to use people you know and then talk about it … Maybe not for the next book, maybe we keep that tighter. But I think, for me, it’s impossible not to do that in some fashion. I know other writers who can’t let any of themselves in. Well, maybe not consciously — like, they can’t say, “Okay, this is my third grade teacher,” and channel them 100 percent. But for me, there will probably always be a tiny flicker of something real in the story that only people close to me will know.
Do you think that’s why things ring true — why Adam and Maya seem like a very real relationship, because they’re built on a foundation of true experience?
In this instance, yeah. I think because I started with something real and then created from there, it was easy for me to just build from that starting point. This book was probably the easiest story — I mean, it was still hard, but the easiest to get out. Writing the rough draft … it was like breathing. This was something I had never felt before, because I was just letting everything out completely. And now that I’m writing other stuff, I’m wondering why it’s harder for me to do that. I think I’m being harder on myself now. I need to let myself screw it up a bit in the notebook version, and then fix it, and everything will be fine in the editing.
¤
Mike Gravagno co-hosts a pop culture panel, The Super Hero Hour Hour, and hosts an arts-based interview show, Writers’ Block, on YourPopFilter.com.
Walton, Julia. Words on Bathroom Walls
Rebecca Jung and Jules Wagner
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.3 (Aug. 2017): p67.
COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
4Q * 3P * J * S
Walton, Julia. Words on Bathroom Walls. Penguin Random House, 2017. 304p. $17.99. 978-0-399-55088-
1.
Entering a new high school as a junior is challenging, but transferring to private Catholic school has
sixteen-year-old Adam especially worried. Adam sees and hears things that are not there. Weekly therapy to
adjust to an experimental drug for schizophrenia is supposed to help Adam transition to his new school, but
he refuses to speak during counseling, so he is instructed to keep a journal. He addresses his entries to his
therapist, relating memories, hallucinations, and fears. Adam understands his illness clinically and states
that the important thing about insanity is knowing that you are crazy. Adam invents a cast of characters
including violent mobsters, a naked dude, and a sweet, sympathetic girl who remains loyal despite his
behavior. He sees his illness as a burden for his mother and tries to hide his condition from his new friend,
Dwight, and girlfriend, Maya.
Words on Bathroom Walls is Adam's chronicle of his treatment and decline when the drug trial fails. Like
Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower, Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Shusterman's Challenger
Deep, Adam struggles with the "regular" challenges of being a teen--making friends, avoiding bullies,
falling in love, getting along with his stepfather, and meeting academic standards--as well as the injustice of
a life complicated by mental illness. This is a solid debut from Walton that will be a good addition to most
libraries serving young adults. --Rebecca Jung.
Words on Bathroom Walls is a li
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Walton, Julia: WORDS ON BATHROOM
WALLS
Kirkus Reviews.
(May 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Walton, Julia WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS Random House (Children's Fiction) $17.99 7, 4 ISBN:
978-0-399-55088-1
It's 2012, and a 16-year-old boy with schizophrenia starts fresh, with a new drug trial and at a new high
school.Adam's old friends didn't stand by him when they became aware of his schizophrenia, though he's
been experiencing symptoms since he was 12. Maybe the experimental (fictional) drug he's taking will
allow him to control his symptoms enough to make new friends who don't know his history. Through
journal entries he's writing for his therapist, Adam details both his changing symptoms and his experiences
as a new student at a Catholic school. At first school seems OK despite the provocations of a bully. Adam
befriends "impossibly pale...blindingly white" Dwight and starts dating beautiful Filipina Maya. (Adam is
Italian-American with no identified race so likely white.) Though the medication works at first, visual
hallucinations still plague him. Adam nearly always recognizes his surprisingly coherent, sometimeshelpful
hallucinations as not real, and his executive function is generally unimpaired; he can keep his illness
hidden from his classmates. But the drug starts failing, and in the anti-mental-illness culture of fear
immediately after the Sandy Hook school shooting, Adam's in-school episodes go over poorly. Despite this
turn, it's a welcome novel that doesn't treat schizophrenia as an unavoidable sentence of doom and that
allots friendship and romance equal weight with mental illness. Readers will find a refreshingly measured
look at schizophrenia, but they won't come away with medical facts. (Fiction. 13-17)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Walton, Julia: WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491002803/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=de0082ca.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
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Words on Bathroom Walls
Publishers Weekly.
264.20 (May 15, 2017): p58.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Words on Bathroom Walls
Julia Walton. Random House, $17.99 (304p)
ISBN 978-0-399-55088-1
Echoing the premise and structure of Flowers for Algernon, this frank and inspiring novel shows how a
teen's life changes after he is given an experimental medication to treat symptoms of schizophrenia. Since
age 12, Adam has been tormented by voices and hallucinations. He's lost friends, as well as the hope that
he'll ever be normal. Now that he's 16 and has started a clinical trial for miracle drug ToZaPrex, things are
changing. Adam still hears voices and hallucinates, but for the first time, he can delineate what's real and
what's not, and that makes all the difference. His journal entries, written to his therapist during the drug
trial, draw readers into the mind of an intelligent, witty young man as he embraces the pleasures of finding a
new friend, being accepted on an academic team, and winning a girl's heart. But as the quality of Adam's
life improves, so do his anxieties. First-time author Walton creates a psychologically tense story with
sympathetic characters while dispelling myths about a much-feared condition. Ages 12-up. Agent: Heather
Flaherty, Bent Agency. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Words on Bathroom Walls." Publishers Weekly, 15 May 2017, p. 58. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A492435706/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bca559d4.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A492435706
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Walton, Julia. Words on Bathroom Walls
Karin Greenberg
School Library Journal.
63.4 (Apr. 2017): p159+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
WALTON, Julia. Words on Bathroom Walls. 304p. Random. Jul. 2017. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780399550881.
Gr 10 Up-Refusing to talk to his psychologist, Adam Petrazelli records answers to the doctor's questions in
a running diary. The result is a startling, humorous, and painstakingly honest account of 10 months in the
life of a high school boy who has schizophrenia. While Adam participates in an experimental drug trial, his
recurring hallucinations appear to fade as the levels of the drug increase. He enrolls at a new school;
befriends Dwight, a quirky fellow student; and pursues a romantic relationship with feisty, intelligent Maya.
When his life finally begins to resemble that of a typical 11th grader, Adam learns that his miracle treatment
is losing its effectiveness. As circumstances spiral out of his control, he desperately attempts to make sense
of his illness and accept that his world will never be normal. Walton has crafted a character with
unparalleled likability, a boy whose endearing, witty, introspective commentary allows readers to get inside
the head of a person with a debilitating mental illness. Through journal entries that catalogue the details of
Adam's daily life, including his drug dosage and extraordinary visions of imaginary people, the author
brings the gritty details of a complex mental disorder to light. Though the realistic depiction of the disease
may be disconcerting to some teens, it succeeds in giving an unfiltered, true-to-life picture of one person's
struggle with schizophrenia. VERDICT A heartfelt, gripping story that demystifies an illness too often
ignored. Highly recommended for older teens and adults.-Karin Greenberg, Queens Gollege, NY
Greenberg, Karin
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Greenberg, Karin. "Walton, Julia. Words on Bathroom Walls." School Library Journal, Apr. 2017, p. 159+.
General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A488688299/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b16dd04f. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A488688299