My Nephew Jonah, the Inspiration for Jonah Vark and The Golden Rule

Finding out that I would be an uncle ranks among the happiest days of my life. I cried tears of joy when I heard the news, and nothing prepared me for how I’d feel when my little buddy, Jonah David, finally arrived.

In 2017, in honor of my little guy, I sat down and wrote my first children’s book, Jonah Vark and The Golden Rule. To me, there is nothing more important that we can teach children than the Golden Rule.

“Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

Who is Jonah Vark?

I wanted the book to be adventurous, and I love a good play on words. I named my character Jonah Vark, after the legendary woman warrior, Joan of Arc. The premise is simple. Jonah has an overactive imagination that kicks in whenever he closes his eyes too tight. It’s there that he learns life’s most important lessons. In his imagination, by using his brain, he can also make anything happen. That was a lesson within a lesson I wanted to include.

With zero planning, I started the story:

***

Jonah David was just a boy when he discovered that he had a very special brain. He was in his backyard playing with a toy train when he blinked just a little bit harder than normal.

Suddenly, Jonah wasn’t playing with a toy train at all. Instead, he found himself on top of a very real train, racing alongside a cliff toward a mountain tunnel.

***

No Damsels in Distress Here

The story began to pour out of me, but very quickly, I ran into a problem. I had in my head a tale where Jonah Vark would learn the Golden Rule and help someone in need. But who? I was paying homage to one of the most legendary women warriors in history. It felt downright wrong to appropriate her name and then have my male character save a damsel in distress. If I made the character in trouble a boy, would that have its own implications? It was all too much to think about for a children’s book, and that’s when it hit me. I would make everybody in Jonah’s imagination be animal people. With that problem solved, I finished writing my story and was excited about how it turned out.

My First Ever Attempt to Create a Cartoon Character

It was time to start thinking about illustrations. Other than some funny caricatures of myself, I had never developed a full-blown character. I took to Youtube and started watching videos about how to draw cartoon characters. Over the coming days, I drew various versions of Jonah, keeping things I liked and scrapping things I didn’t. It was a process of refinement I had never done before. Coming up with Jonah Vark was a gratifying experience that renewed a sense of artistry in me.

When Illustrations Just Aren’t Enough

Once I was happy with my Jonah Vark character, I started to draw him doing the things that the story described, but it just wasn’t interesting enough for me. That’s when I had another epiphany. I would keep the real-world art simple. When Jonah was playing at home, not in his imagination, the pages would be mostly white space with a simple drawing in the middle. When his imagination kicked in, I would insert him and every other character into real-world photographs like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. I bought some stock photos online and started to layer drawings onto the photos. It added intensity to his imagination that brought that part of the story to life. I got super excited about it.

2019 is the Year for Jonah Vark

I cranked out a few pictures for the book and then, as is often the case, life got in the way. I started to get sidetracked by other things, and Jonah Vark sat there with no progress for the better part of a year.

Last year, I had the good fortune to get to spend about three months visiting my family while I started to figure out what my life’s own next chapter would look like. Seemingly every other day one of my family members would pester me. “You should write a children’s book.” They didn’t know that I already had. I wanted to surprise them with it. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I finally told them that my book was already written, and I promised that I would work on finishing it.

I decided in January that I would definitely publish my book this year, in time for my nephew’s fourth birthday in October. I started to watch videos about self-publishing and came across one that recommended publishing a series of books that can build upon the success of the others. It said to have 2-3 of them written before you publish so that you can put them out a handful of months apart. I decided I would write two more books.

Book #2: Jonah Vark and the Missing Manners

I asked my dad what he thought was the most important lesson we can teach young children and he told me good manners. That sounded pretty good. I came up with the title of my second book, Jonah Vark and the Missing Manners. At first, I thought Jonah would just encounter people who didn’t have any manners, but a very strange phone call with my sister inspired a better idea. Jonah would travel to other parts of the world in his imagination and think that others were being rude, but then learn that manners and customs are different all over the world. That night, after we got off the phone, I cranked out the entire second book.

When Illustrations Over Stock Photos Just Aren’t Enough

I have now decided to take things to a freakish new level. Earlier this year, I began full-time travel and I have a crazy itinerary planned to tour much of Europe over six months starting on April 30th. My plan was to illustrate my books while I travel and it still is. But now I have also decided that I will take all of my own photos as well. No stock photos for these books.

Jonah Vark and The Golden Rule takes place in a medieval-like world with a forest, a castle tower, and with Jonah wearing a suit of armor. I can think of no better opportunity to shoot photos for this book than while I travel the UK countryside and stay in 900-year old Leeds Castle. I will take photos for the second book in London’s incredible-looking Chinatown, and if safety permits, I will shoot additional photos in Istanbul, Turkey. Depending on what I find, I may have to change my travel itinerary just to get the perfect photos.

Taking Inspiration from All Over the World

I am now absolutely stoked about the direction of this book – story, illustrations and worldwide photos, by Joey Flores. As my excitement has grown, I have taken to drawing animal people of all kinds while sitting in Mexican restaurants and Cuban bars. Clearly, the characters in my children’s books won’t be smoking cigars or drinking tequila, but it’s so much fun practicing drawing the world around me in the style of Jonah Vark. I’ve given away tons of my drawings to the people who inspire me, and it’s become one of my favorite things to do. By the time I start drawing the real illustrations, I will have a cache of characters to draw inspiration from.

My Little Buddy Really Does Have a Special Brain!

There is one other thing. Sometime last year, my little buddy Jonah was diagnosed with autism. What does that mean exactly? It means if you can believe it, that Jonah David actually does have a very special brain!

As I have learned about autism, the parallels to what I already wrote in Jonah Vark and The Golden Rule are uncanny. Autistic people often do retreat into their thoughts when things get stressful, and behaviors like closing one’s eyes tightly, or covering one’s ears, are very common.

My Books Will Be in Support of Autism Awareness

When I wrote the second book, Jonah Vark and the Missing Manners, it was after Jonah’s diagnosis. I added some subtle things to it, like an aversion to trying new foods, for example, to help increase awareness about autism. I now plan to donate 10% of my proceeds from the books to an autism charity. Which charity I haven’t decided yet, but I will be doing that research soon. It feels really great to write something with a positive message for my nephew, my family, and for other children, in support of a cause that is so dear to me now.

How You Can Help – Join My Mailing List and Share This Page!

Self-publishing these books, from the photos I need to take and the drawings I need to do to the formatting and marketing, is going to be a lot of work. Moreover, I plan to blog about my experience becoming a children’s book author here on my website for other aspiring authors to draw inspiration and lessons from.

As such, I could really use support in at least two ways:

Please join my mailing list to follow my adventures putting out these books while I travel. I will also be asking my followers what the topic of the 3rd Jonah Vark book should be!

Please share this page with anyone you think might be interested, from parents or primary schools to other aspiring authors or creators.

Thanks to Everyone!

To all, especially to my pestering, lovely family, thank you so much for always encouraging my artistic and entrepreneurial dreams over the years.

Here’s to another wild project, and hoping that we can spread a good message around the world about the Golden Rule, diversity and so much more.

Sincerely, Jonah’s Very Proud Uncle,

Joey Flores