Neal Shusterman's Blog, page 119

Okay, so I’ve been super-busy writing and speaking, so I haven’t had time to keep up my blog — but there are so many things going on that I figured I’d post a blog that gives everyone updates on everything!

EVERFOUND!

Coming out on May 2nd.  I’m going on an 11-City whirlwind booksigning tour during those first two weeks.  I’ll be in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Houston, Austin, Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta!    I have to say, EVERFOUND is the best book of the trilogy.  I can’t wait until it comes out!

UNWIND MOVIE!

I’m writing the script right now.  Chances are looking pretty good that we’re going to be able to get it made as a movie… But it’s all going to depend on the economy, and my script.

If you’d like to keep up with what’s going on with the Unwind movie, go to the movie website at: www.unwindmovie.com

EVERLOST MOVIE!

Due to the economy, and Universal’s new mandate when it comes to the kinds of films they’re willing to make, they’ve decided NOT to make Everlost.  That doesn’t mean it won’t be made though.  It’s still a favorite project of GARY ROSS’s company, LARGER  THAN LIFE.  (Gary Ross is directing “The Hunger Games.”)  They’re working to set the movie up at another studio.  Stay tuned…

GAMES

After a long break, DECIPHER, Inc will soon be going online with an amazing new website, and all of their HOW TO HOST games will be available for download.  I just met with them in Norfolk, Virginia last week, and I’ll be creating a new HOW TO HOST A TEEN MYSTERY game for them.  More on that soon!

ANTSY FLOATS

The third ANTSY book is with the publisher, and I’m waiting on their notes for a revision.  I love this book!  Antsy’s cruise has been amazingly fun to write about!

UNWHOLLY

I’ll be getting to work on the sequel to Unwind as soon as I’m done with the script, and will be delivering the final manuscript in October.  It will be published in the Fall of 2012.

NEW PROJECTS

Currently, I have eight other books under contract, including a trilogy I’m co-writing with my friend ERIC ELFMAN, and an amazing GRAPHIC NOVEL project for Scholastic.

SHUSTERMANIA NEWSLETTER

I’m about to start a FAN NEWSLETTER, that will have material that’s not available anywhere else — including a serialized story, and contests only open to fans who sign up for the newsletter.  If you’re interested signing up for the newsletter, e-mail the newsletter staff at [email protected]

Okay, so I've been super-busy writing and speaking, so I haven't had time to keep up my blog — but there are so many things going on that I figured I'd post a blog that gives everyone updates on everything!

EVERFOUND!

Coming out on May 2nd.  I'm going on an 11-City whirlwind booksigning tour during those first two weeks.  I'll be in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Houston, Austin, Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta!    I have to say, EVERFOUND is the best book of the trilogy.  I can't wait until it comes out!

UNWIND MOVIE!

I'm writing the script right now.  Chances are looking pretty good that we're going to be able to get it made as a movie… But it's all going to depend on the economy, and my script.

If you'd like to keep up with what's going on with the Unwind movie, go to the movie website at: www.unwindmovie.com

EVERLOST MOVIE!

Due to the economy, and Universal's new mandate when it comes to the kinds of films they're willing to make, they've decided NOT to make Everlost.  That doesn't mean it won't be made though.  It's still a favorite project of GARY ROSS's company, LARGER  THAN LIFE.  (Gary Ross is directing "The Hunger Games.")  They're working to set the movie up at another studio.  Stay tuned…

GAMES

After a long break, DECIPHER, Inc will soon be going online with an amazing new website, and all of their HOW TO HOST games will be available for download.  I just met with them in Norfolk, Virginia last week, and I'll be creating a new HOW TO HOST A TEEN MYSTERY game for them.  More on that soon!

ANTSY FLOATS

The third ANTSY book is with the publisher, and I'm waiting on their notes for a revision.  I love this book!  Antsy's cruise has been amazingly fun to write about!

UNWHOLLY

I'll be getting to work on the sequel to Unwind as soon as I'm done with the script, and will be delivering the final manuscript in October.  It will be published in the Fall of 2012.

NEW PROJECTS

Currently, I have eight other books under contract, including a trilogy I'm co-writing with my friend ERIC ELFMAN, and an amazing GRAPHIC NOVEL project for Scholastic.

SHUSTERMANIA NEWSLETTER

I'm about to start a FAN NEWSLETTER, that will have material that's not available anywhere else — including a serialized story, and contests only open to fans who sign up for the newsletter.  If you're interested signing up for the newsletter, e-mail the newsletter staff at [email protected]

A few weeks ago, I was really, really stuck while writing ANTSY FLOATS, and I couldn't figure out why.  I tried all my usual tricks to get past "writer's cliff" and nothing was working, so I decided to do something different.  I decided to have a conversation with my main character.  Seriously.  I sat down and began to write to Antsy, and then switched roles, and let Antsy respond.  It was amazing!  I figured out the problem, and Antsy helped me come up with the solution.   I thought you all might like to have a glimpse into the creative process, so here it is – My entire "conversation" with Antsy!

ME: "Antsy, talk to me. I'm dyin' here. I got no clue what to write. Usually, you're right there talking in my ear, telling me your story. But lately, It's been like pulling teeth getting you to talk. What gives?"

ANTSY: "What do you want from me? You put me on this crazy nutso cruise ship. Yeah, it's cool, but I'm out of my normal element. I'm too dazzled by the thing to do anything but be distracted. It's fun for me, but not for anyone reading."

ME: "So the problem is that there is no problem. There's too much vacation going on, not enough story, not enough character."

ANTSY: "Yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go lie out in the sun."

ME: "That's boring. I can't let you do that."

ANTSY: "Try and stop me."

ME: "Ok, so I gotta throw a whole lot of random stuff at you to keep your vacation from being a vacation."

ANTSY: "Nope. That'll make it episodic."

ME: "Ok. Maybe one major thing. But I already have one major thing coming your way. Maybe I need to introduce it sooner."

ANTSY: "Yeah, I know… but it's not major enough to keep me from hanging at the pool– because really, a stowaway? Why would I even care?  Not my problem."

ME: "Ok. So I'll make it your problem, and make it your problem fast.

ANTSY:  How?

ME: "Mmm…Maybe she has something on you? You two are bound from the beginning by something, maybe something wrong that you did that can get you into trouble. Like….  I've got it!  You forged Howie's passport to get him on the ship! That ties right into the theme of the story.

ANTSY: "Great.  Thanks for ruining my vacation. I hope you're happy."

ME: "I'm not ruining it. I'm turning into a valuable learning experience."

ANTSY: "Yeah.  Which I need like a hole in the head."

ME: "You do, because you need these life lessons.  I fully expect you to be mayor of New York someday, Antsy."

ANTSY: "Why would I want so much grief?"

ME: "Ok. So part of the problem is solved. I still have to figure out how to move the story along. Right now, you're about to board the boat. You saw, or at least you thought you saw, some guy fall from a balcony. But for some reason, the story just dies the second I get you on the ship."

ANTSY: "Yeah, like I told you, I'm too dazzled by the experience to do anything useful. All I do is explore."

ME: "Exploring a giant cruise ship is fun, right?"

ANTSY: "Yeah, but it doesn't move the story forward or develop character. It becomes like that porch light brainless bugs fly around. A distraction. What you gotta do is make the porch light important, like maybe somehow you gotta turn the light off 'cause it's gonna set fire to the house."

ME: "Wait a second. Distraction. The idea of distraction. Trappings — traps we fall into as human beings. We're so dazzled by the glitter of our lives that we ignore the unpleasant things: poverty, sickness. All the things in the world we find so easy to ignore because of the porch light."

ANTSY: "You lost me."

ME: "Of course I did. That's because you still need to learn the lesson. And you will by the end of the book.  Can I use the whole porch light metaphor?  I like it.

ANTSY: "Be my guest."

ME "Ok, so the focus of exploring the ship isn't to just describe it, it's the point out the concept of distractions.  So what do you find? What happens during this search that makes it poignant? Ah! The answer's right there. You're on a search. Not just an exploration, but what are you searching for?"

ANTSY: "How should I know? The purser's desk? The skating rink?"

ME: "No, no, no. It's gotta be something almost legendary. Or maybe something that may not be on the ship but you want to find it, and you will find it when it climaxes, when you're not even looking for it anymore. Think — what would be worth the effort?"

ANTSY: "The nuclear core?"

ME: "Naah, too sci-fi."

ANTSY: "The movie theater? The bowling alley? The indoor pool, central park a pumpkin patch?"

ME: "Pumpkin patch?"

ANTSY: "I'm brainstorming here. Good ideas won't come if you don't let the bad ones come first."

ME: "Why don't we ask Howie."

ANTSY: "Howie? What does he know?"

ME: "He's generally absurd. I think he could come up with a perfect absurd thing to look for."

ANTSY: "Fine. I'll ask him… (long pause)… Howie says we should look for the laser cannons they built in to ward off modern day pirates."

ME: "Really? I didn't think Howie had an imagination."

ANTSY: "Well, he doesn't. He read it somewhere. He also says it may have to do with food or gold, he's not sure yet. Or maybe it's sports related. Hey, what if there's a basketball court?"

ME: "Naah. Ships already have basketball courts. Something bigger?"

ANTSY: "Football field?"

ME: "Nah. Too hard to believe. It's got to be borderline believable and really cool. I'd say wave pool, but the real ships already have those. So what doesn't a ship already have  that would be hard to believe but believable enough to tweak the imagination?"

ANTSY: "Howie also says there's a morgue where they keep all the people who croak in the previous cruise. Maybe I want to go there to see if the guy who fell off the balcony is there."

ME: "Maybe it should tie into the themes of the story: poverty verses wealth, ignorance verses worldliness, is dishonesty and breaking the law ever justified?"

ANTSY: "Wait a second. Howie just told me something. It's just a rumor. I don't know if I believe it. Lemme whisper it to you."

ME: "I'm listening…. (whisper whisper)… Yeah. Oh, that's good!  Do you  think it's true?"

ANTSY: "I don't know, but I'd like to find out.  Of course it won't be easy to find, but I'm going to go searching for it."

ME: "Go for it!"  

The Grier School

Recently took a kinda-sorta journey into the past.   I was invited to spend a couple of weeks at a summer camp  "Grier Summer," at The Grier School – a girl's boarding school in Western Pennsylvania.

Before the days I was published, between the ages of 17-22, I spent my summers as a counselor at an 8-week summer camp.  A very East-coast thing to do – send your kids away all summer.  The camp was up in the Catskill Mountains, Kutsher's Camp Anawana, on beautiful Lake Anawana  (Yes, it's a real place).

Kutsher's Camp Anawana

I went there for five years as a camper.  I was not a very good camper.  It was a sports camp, and my coordination came late.  Doing a decent layup on the basketball court might as well have been rocket science, and so I constantly felt at the bottom of the pecking order.  I wasn't exactly the last kid chosen for teams, but I would say I was in the bottom third.   The camp plays, and swimming was where I really made my mark.

But I digress.  As a camper the experience wasn't stellar, but I discovered quickly that I was a great counselor.  I quickly established myself as the camp story-teller, and could command absolute silence just by my presence in a cabin.  I made up camp songs that kids actually sang.  It was really that storytelling experience that got me writing books for teens.

So this summer, after years away from it, I took the invitation, and my daughters, my girlfriend, and I made our way to thebeautiful hills of Birmingham, PA.  I did ten days of writing workshops, as well as story-telling at night.  I even hosted a few of the "How to Host a Mystery" games that I had written.    My daughters got to attend the camp, and had riding lessons every day.  I even created a treasure hunt for the whole camp.   It really connected me with my youth, and reminded me why I got started writing.  I already miss it, and look forward to next year.

The thing is – just yesterday I did a full-on no-holds-barred pitch of UNWIND to Universal, for consideration as a film.   For once, I decided not to do the pitch sitting in a chair.  I told the exec, that I was breaking from convention, and I was standing.  Once I started, I got totally into it, just like I do when I'm story-telling, and I have to say it may have been the best pitch of my career.

Sometimes we all have to connect to a place in ourselves that we may have forgotten.  You can bet I'll be doing a whole lot more storytelling.   And now I have a brand new pitch style for the studios.

The Full Body Pitch!

So everyone wants to know what to expect in Everfound. Well, I only just finished the first draft so there will still be changes from my editor but I'm hoping those changes will be finessing what's there, and not reinventing it. I hope that the story is mostly in place. I can't tell you too much without giving you too many spoilers, so I'll tell you a few important things.

The largest Everlost city has yet to be discovered. It will be discovered in EVERFOUND.

Mary Hightower, already a danger, becomes even more so in this concluding book.

There's a new character who has the power to "extinguish" afterlights. That is basically worse than killing someone, because if you're extinguished, you cease to exist entirely. At least one major character will be extinguished in Everfound.

The Hindenburg will not stay adrift forever.

There will be some interesting and unexpected relationships between characters, both new and existing.

And some characters who you really don't like, you're going to change your mind about… And some character's who you hate, you're going to hate even more.

Skinjackers do some pretty cool, and pretty scary things with their powers –including being able to skinjack more than one person at a time…

And you're going to love how it all ends….

Look for Everfound in June 2011…

My process for writing EVERFOUND was a little different than usual. Because I had a very tight deadline, and because I didn't want to compromise the quality of the work, I sped up the process by having my assistant, Wendy Doyle, transcribe material for me. I would write my first draft in a notebook—I always do it that way. Technology is great, but there's something important to me about getting my ideas down on paper first. Then I would dictate what I wrote into my iPhone, digital recording app after I was done for the day. Usually I had lots of trouble reading my own handwriting, so I'd be revising the whole thing as I dictated. (See image of a handwritten page.  Can you read my handwriting? Didn't think so.)

This page, by the way, includes "place holder spaces" for two characters which I offered to name after my facebook fans.  Hundreds of kids suggested their names, and I chose twelve to use — six first names, and six last names. I use multiple colors when I'm writing for four reasons 1) To mark where I stopped writing, and started dictating 2) to mark  chapter breaks;  3) To add variety so I'm not always looking at one dull color;  4) because I can't find the last pen I was using.

Wendy, my "ethereal" assistant

Once I'm done dictating the segment I'd just written,  I would e-mail the file to Wendy, and while I was working on the next section, she would transcribe it, send it back to me, and I would do a major revision of the transcription. (By the way, I've never actually met Wendy— we've been working for more than six months together but all by mail and internet!)

The stuff that Wendy gets is so random, so disjointed, it barely resembles a book. It's really in the next revision that it comes together. That's when I add the "connective tissue," bridging the various sections, and making sure that the characters are behaving like real people. That's crucial. I've learned that if the characters are real, you'll take the wildest journeys with them — but it all rests on you believing those characters. So I built the book, handwritten, dictated, transcribed, rewritten, revised, then polished, and then did another revision of everything before writing the last fifty pages. Once I reworked it, and made sure the whole book was working, I dove into the last fifty pages…. Which turned out to be 100 pages instead of 50! More next week – some teasers about what to expect in EVERFOUND!

Early in the process of writing EVERFOUND, I found myself stuck. "Writer's Cliff." The original direction I felt the story would take just wasn't working. I still had the ending fairly worked out—I knew where the story was going from book one—but getting there was the problem.

As it was a story about ghosts, I decided to spend a few days aboard the Queen Mary — which is a huge old ocean liner that is permanently docked in Long Beach California, and is now a hotel. A haunted hotel. It's filled with creepy passageways and deserted ball rooms. They even give "ghost tours."

After a day and a half, I felt like pounding my head against the bulkhead. No ideas. Brain dead. The story wasn't gelling, and I doubted my ability to tell it. I stayed up till midnight in my little windowless cabin, and passed out from exhaustion. Not a page had been written since I arrived. Or, more accurately, dozens of pages were written, but every single one of them was torn out, and tossed into the trash.

Then I woke up at about 3:30 AM. I was lying in the pitch dark of the cabin, and suddenly I saw the book playing in my head like a movie, so I figured, okay, I'll watch this movie in my head and see where it takes me. Out of nowhere, all these ideas began to fill my brain. New directions for the story, new motivations for the characters, even new characters. In short, the story began to write itself in my head. I kept watching that mind-movie getting more and more excited. With less than four hours sleep, I got up, and began writing. I went on deck to watch the sun rise, and wrote all day until it started to get dark. I was thrilled with everything that I came up with, and the story was moving forward in leaps and bounds. I love those times when a flash of inspiration hits you, and you begin to write up a storm!   More on Wednesday.

I have a good reason for not blogging for the past few months. It's called a deadline. Just last week I finished the first draft of Everfound. I'm thrilled with it, but I thought it might be worth sharing the love/hate relationship I have with my novels while I'm writing them. I think most authors can attest to the fact that writing a book is like giving birth. Alright it doesn't hurt THAT much, but it's a pretty exhausting, and painful process to push something forth from your brain, work it, rework it, obsess over it, spend sleepless nights, and write until your fingers and brain feels like they are going to fall off. Everfound was no exception.

I had a huge task before me with this book.  The completion of a trilogy is always very difficult. I experienced it first with SHATTERED SKY, which I consider to be one of the best books I've written–and closest to UNWIND in style.  With each book of a trilogy, new characters are added, and only a few characters leave the story, so by the time you get to the last book, not only do you have a story you have to tell, but A) you have dozens of characters to write about, B) You have to make the story bigger and better than the first two C) You have to resolve everyone's story in a satisfying way. Throughout Everfound, the challenge was all consuming. With every book I write, I bite off as much as I can possibly chew, and barely stay above water (How's that for a mixed metaphor).

The scope of Everlost is massive, and the journeys the characters make are epic — both the physical journeys, as well as the internal journeys. Plus there are two  new main character, and several new secondary characters. There's the new character of JIX. Jix (which is Mayan for "jaguar") is a skinjacker whose specialty is skinjacking great cats (furjacking). He is now just as important as Nick, Allie, Mikey, and Mary in the story. There's also Clarence, a character who exists partway in Everlost, and partway out. There are new groups of kids our characters come across in Texas, Mexico, and other points of the globe. And there's the return of a character we saw in EVERLOST, but not EVERWILD. (I won't tell you who).

There are basically four separate story lines that need to converge. Allie and the train that has just crossed the Mississippi at the end of Everwild; the character of Jix; Mikey and Nick; and then what happens to Mary. As I was writing, the hardest thing to do was to bring the four storylines together, because the characters all wanted to do different things than I wanted them to do — but I have to go with the characters choices, not my own, otherwise it won't feel true to those characters. That's why the book took 465 pages to bring home! More on Friday.

[image error]Unwind (unabr.). 9 CDs. 10:16 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2009. ISBN 978-1-4233-7308-7. $97.97.

Gr 7 Up—Set in the future, the second civil war is fought over abortion. To end the war, a compromise is reached that ends the practice of abortion but creates an alternative called "unwinding." Between the ages of 13 and 17, parents or guardians can choose to have their children unwound, which involves having every part of their bodies harvested to be "donated" to another person so, technically, they don't really die. The complex and compelling plot follows three teens whose stories intertwine when they escape while on their way to the harvest camps. Fifteen-year-old Connor's parents can no longer control him. Lev, a tithe, was raised by religious parents for the sole purpose of being unwound. Risa, a ward of the state, is a victim of shrinking budgets since she is not a talented enough musician to be kept alive. Neal Shusterman's engrossing novel (S & S, 2007) is narrated in an even cadence and matter-of-fact tone that suits the author's straightforward narrative style. His wide array of voices makes the involved story line, which is left wide open for what is sure to be an interesting sequel, easy to follow. This gripping, thought-provoking novel is guaranteed to lead to interesting discussions about abortion, adoption, organ donation, religion, politics, and health care.—Karen T. Bilton, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Rocky Hill, NJ

I have always  loved cruise ships.  I loved the idea of them long before I ever took my first cruise.  It all started, I think with THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.  Not one of the various remakes, but the original, with Shelly Winters, and Gene Hackman.  I saw it when I was eleven.  My father actually took me all the way into Manhattan to see it — which he never did.  The advertisements billed it as "Hell upside down."  To me it was heaven.  For an eleven-year-old, that crazy, campy movie was a life-changing experience.  Oh, how I wanted to be in a big giant ship that turned upside down.   I became obsessed with the movie, drawing pictures of the Poseidon in various stages of capsizing and sinking. I read the book by Paul Gallico. I even wrote him a letter, which he never responded to on account of he died.  How inconsiderate of him.

I secretly watched The Love Boat as a teenager.  All I knew about Mexico was that Princess Cruises went to some mystical place called Puerto Vallarta.  Now I own a time-share there.

Then, in my adulthood I took my first honest-to-goodness real-life cruise in 1994.  The Big Red Boat.  My sons, Brendan and Jarrod were 5 and 2.  I was, from that moment, hooked.   Once a year after that we went on some cruise somewhere, always trying to find a different ship, experiencing the various cruise lines.  I discovered that Carnival is great for kids and for people who like to party, however has the largest flesh-to-tattoo ratio I've ever seen.  Celebrity is not for people with small, loud children.  Princess has the best frozen drinks, Norwegian has the worst food, Holland America is for people who are already dead, and Royal Caribbean is generally best all around — people of all ages, great activities for kids and adults, and the coolest ships.

In 1996, I received a brochure in the mail about the largest cruise ship in the world: The Carnival Destiny.  101,000 tons of Caribbean joy.   My kids begged and begged that we go on it — and not just on any cruise, but it's MAIDEN VOYAGE!

Did we dare?

Did we have the audacity to book the maiden voyage of the largest cruise ship in the world?

Oh yeah!

The departure out of Miami was a city-wide party.  Helicopters circled, news vans reported from the pier. Traffic was shut down as the Destiny left port.  We had a floor to ceiling window in our cabin.  I woke to the rising sun at least three mornings.  Heaven.

But where do you go in 1996 after you've done the maiden voyage of the largest ship in the world?

Answer:  You go see TITANIC the day that it opens.

I will not tell you how many times I saw Titanic on the big screen.  I'll give you a hint:  it was not quite as many times as I went to see the first STAR WARS, but a few more times than I went to see RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.  Some people went for the romance.  I went for the ship.  Watching the Titanic sink on the big screen was like reliving my childhood viewing of the Poseidon Adventure.  There are simply some childhood memories, some youthful indulgences we never do  grow out of.  For me it was the surrealistic nature of sinking luxury vessels.

And then… Like magic… I made a REMARKABLE discovery!

I had deadlines coming out of my ears, so I had rented a hotel room for a week as a writing retreat.  It was a fairly cheap  (in other words lousy) hotel, but I needed time away from home to focus on my work.  Still, that rotten hotel cost way too much.

…Then I happened to glance at the prices of cruises.

Did you know that during the off season, you can take a seven day cruise for about $400 to Mexico, or anywhere in the Caribbean?  $400!  That's half the price of that lousy hotel AND you get food… AND entertainment, AND a lounge chair, AND a 360 degree view of the ocean that changes every day!

I cancelled the hotel, and went on a cruise instead.  I was amazed at how much writing I got done!

Since then I book about four floating writing retreats a year.  I only book trips to places I've already been, so I don't get tempted to get off the ship and explore.  I'm there to write.  I write 12 to 15 hours a day, then I work out — which I do more on ships then I do at home — then I eat, and then the gentle motion of the ocean rocks me to sleep.

I still take my family on cruises.  Sometimes It's just me and the kids.  Sometimes I bring my parents along.  Sometimes it's just me and my girlfriend, Chris.  In fact, I'm writing this on a cruise right now (but I'll get to that later).

People think cruises are for old people, and although there are always quite a few retirees on the ships, somehow cruises keep me young. They feed me — and I'm not just talking about the buffets.  I  believe that there is  something wonderful about a group of strangers taking a communal journey.

And how cool if it sinks.

***Next blog:  THE MOTHER OF ALL CRUISE SHIPS!***

Right now I'm sailing on the Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's brand new flagship which is almost twice the size of any other ship afloat.  It's the closest thing to science fiction I've ever seen.  I'll blog all about it on Thursday. Stay tuned.  (And I'll stay tanned.)