R. J. Palacio slow to trust in her talent as a writer

R.J. Palacio (the pen name of writer Raquel Jaramillo) knows the exact moment that she realized writing was in her future.

For her seventh-grade English class, she wrote the paper “Time and the Sculpture.”

She vividly recalls her teacher reading the piece to the class and asking the students to guess the author. Everyone knew it was Palacio — and that stuck with her.

“I have been a closet writer my entire life,” she said. “In fact, there were two things I was kind of good at and thought I could make a living doing. For some reason, I could draw; I was always the class artist. And I was always told I was good with words.”

She wasn’t yet convinced enough about her writing talents so, in college, she focused on graphic design. The decision marked the start of a long road for Palacio that included a career as an art director, work as a bookjacket designer and years as a book editor.

Eventually, the path

she started in the late 1970s with the school assignment (and many unfinished novels) led her to write “Wonder,” which became a New York Times best-seller.

Her story about a young boy with a facial birth defect trying to navigate middle school has been made into a big-screen film of the same name starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.

“I was in a condition at that point of my life to really know what I was doing and start writing,” Palacio said.

The book stemmed from a trip to the ice-cream store with her two sons. While waiting in line, Palacio noticed a girl with facial birth defects. When her 3-year-old son saw the girl, he started crying; Palacio tried to leave the store, but that only made matters worse.

“My reaction was to protect the little girl,” Palacio said. “I knew the moment my son saw her, he would start to cry — and that is exactly what happened. My big fear was she would see him reacting to her face. I whisked him away and later regretted doing that. I was worried that, from her point of view, it might have looked like I was trying to shield my son.”

Touched deeply by the incident, Palacio came up with the idea for “Wonder” (2012), which deals not only with how children look at those who are different in appearance but also how adults deal with such situations.

Palacio also reveals through other characters that, even though the main character of Auggie can’t conceal his differences, all the others are dealing with situations that make them different, too.

“We all have things about us that we wish we could change or we consider as burdens,” she said. “In fact, our differences are what unite us all. We all have those things in common if we just look for them a little more.”

The look for Auggie created by the filmmakers differed from the image she had in mind while writing the book. But Palacio knows that those who’ve read it have seen their own versions of Auggie, too.

The author was thrilled with the casting of Roberts and Wilson as Auggie’s parents, who are based on Palacio and her husband.

“That’s us,” she said. “My husband is a very funny guy. I had only seen Owen in funny movies, and I never expected him to turn in such a heartbreaking performance. When the funny guy cries, that gets you; it’s like a punch in the gut.”

Julia Roberts, Palacio said, is amazing in the film. “Every emotion I wrote flickers across her face.”