Interview with NYT Bestselling Author Neal Shusterman

We are thrilled to have NYT bestselling author Neal Shusterman on our blog again! Read the interview below about his new book, Mindworks. 

KLiC: What was your inspiration for Mindworks? 
 
NS: MindWorks itself is more a collection of past, polished works (with some new polish and additions) that went out of print but feel more relevant than ever. MindWorks is a collection of (almost) all my short fiction. Originally many of these stories came out in smaller collections: MindBenders, MindTwisters, MindQuakes, and MindStorms–as well as individual stories that appeared in other multi-author anthologies.  But many of those came out near the beginning of my career and much has changed since then. Technology has grown, culture has shifted–and I’ve changed, both personally and as a writer! When my publisher approached me about making a full compendium of all those short stories as well as adding new ones, I was excited. Writers often look back on their older work and wish they could make changes, polish it one last time. It’s usually a fantasy, but this time, I actually get to live that fantasy!
 
KLiC: Please tell us about your writing process. How long did it take you to write and sell this book? 
 
NS: My “writing” process for this was really different since most of the stories were already written. It was nostalgic combing back through the stories from my past–some things are so different and yet others are exactly the same. Culture shifts, people change, advancements are made, but the cautionary tales often scream the same warnings about humanity. In fact, the hardest part of revising the stories was including technological changes that are present today but didn’t exist when the stories were first written: the commonality of cellphones, the wider use of a larger, more immediate internet, etc. Those changes often made real plot points moot or inconceivable, or I’d have to make up an in-world rules or character limitations to negate the effects those changes might have on the plot. I wanted to tell the same stories, but through the lens of present day.
 
KLiC: What’s the one thing you want children to take away from your book?
 
NS: Ask questions. You won’t always find the answers. But keep asking questions, keep probing deeper. If something is off or uncanny, dissect it. Find out what it’s made of, what makes it tick, how and why it’s taken the shape that it has. How does it affect you, others, and the world around you? How has the world made it come to be? Just because something is uncomfortable doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring. 
 
KLiC: Do you have any tips for pre-published authors?
 
NS: Write the next story. Not just the next “big” story, but every story you can conceive. Don’t get bogged down with rejections, with changes in the industry, with self doubt. Just keep going. Keep learning. Keep reading. And always, always keep writing! Even if it’s on napkins, in the margins of your notes, or in the drafts folder of your inbox. 
 
KLiC: What’s next for you? 
 
NS: The Scythe prequel! Revisiting the Scythedom has come with its own set of challenges–I’ve written myself into a few corners when it comes to the lore. But I see it like a puzzle box, and I enjoy building characters, complexities, and new concepts around those immovable obstacles that have been set in stone by the publication process of the past. 

KLiC: Is there anything you want readers to know about you or your book(s)?
 
NS: As I said, I like readers to ask questions. It goes both ways–it’s what I try to do as well. That’s what my favorite books I’ve written have been inspired by: asking a question. It’s what I do as an author: I ask questions. It doesn’t mean I have the answers. But the questions are still worth asking.

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Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty award-winning books for children, teens, and adults, including the Unwind dystology, the Skinjacker trilogy, Downsiders, and Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award. Scythe, the first book in his series Arc of a Scythe is a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows. Neal is the father of four, all of whom are talented writers and artists themselves. Visit Neal at StoryMan.com and Facebook.com/NealShusterman.

Photo by Gaby Gerster