If there is one person who has shaped the landscape of young adult pop culture, it's Neal Shusterman.
The prolific author, perhaps best known for the Unwind Dystologyand The Accelerati Triligoy, has been writing for a variety of mediums — books, film, TV, and games — since the '80s, including writing for the Goosebumpsand Animorphs TV series and the Disney channel original movie Pixel Perfect.
Now Shusterman is back, and this time he's turning dystopian literature on its head with his new Arc of the Scythe series.
SEE ALSO:Facebook just became the ultimate dystopiaThe Arc of the Scythe series dives into a utopian world where death has been defeated. In this perfect world, a governing body called the Scythes decides who dies "but everyone accepts it because everybody knows that this order is made up of the most compassionate humans in the world."
But all is not as it seems. Corruption has started to develop within the organization, and now it is up to two teens apprenticed to a scythe — Rowan and Citra — to investigate, but they soon learn that a perfect world comes with a heavy price.
"The idea of the Arc of the Scytheseries was to take dystopia and flip it. We've had about 10 years of a lot of teen dystopia, and I didn't want to write another dystopian novel. But I thought what if instead of writing about the world gone wrong, I wrote about the world gone right?"
This week on the MashReads Podcast, we catch up with Shusterman to talk about the Arc of the Scytheseries, including his latest entry into series Thunderhead. We also chat about Shusterman's National Book Award-winning novel Challenger Deep,writing about mental illness, and advice for young writers. Join us in the episode below.
Interview highlights
(Edited lightly for clarity)
You've written dystopian novels before. Do you approach writing utopia differently than writing dystopia?
It's a mindset. When I sit down to write, sometimes your instinct is to look at what's the worst that could happen? And so every time I started to go in that direction, I said, "No no no no no. What's the bestthat could happen? And what are the consequences of the best that could happen." Because even when good things happen, there are consequences to that.
You write a lot for young people, where reading shapes [those readers'] world view. How do you approach writing for young people?
When I sit down to write, my first question I ask is, "What can I put out there that's worth having out there." I want to write a really good story, but more important than that to me is writing a story that the world needs in one way or another. It's a feeling. I don't know why but I feel that it has to be out there, it keeps me up at night because I can't stop thinking about it. Those are the stories that I end up writing. And my hope is that the passion that I feel when working on a story is right there in the pages and you can feel it too.
"I didn't want to write another dystopian novel. But I thought what if instead of writing about the world gone wrong, I wrote about the world gone right"
You ended your 2015 National Book Award acceptance speech for Challenger Deepwith a call to action to write more about mental illness, and to write about it honestly and openly. Can you say more about writing about mental illness.
My hope withChallenger Deepwas to open up a dialogue that is much needed in the country to destigmatize mental illness. One in three American families, in one way or another, is dealing with mental illness. But we never talk about it so you'd never know. I want people to talk about it. I want people to not be ashamed of it. And hopefully by reading Challenger Deep,it will help give people more empathy and understanding. And for people who are suffering, who feel so alone and like nobody understands them, they will realize they are not alone.
That was in 2015 that you gave that speech and sparked this conversation. How have you seen that conversation change or grow or progress?
I've seen [that] there are more and more books about various forms of mental illness. So many people after reading the book will come up to me and say, my son has this or I have went through or my mother went through this. People just want to talk about it. Once the door is open to have the discussion, people are willing to talk about [mental health]. You just have to get the door open.
And as always, we close the show with recommendations:
Neal recommends Black Mirror. "For TV, I just finished the new season of Black Mirrorwhich is my favorite TV show. That series hits me where I live." He also recommends Dear Evan Hansen."I saw Dear Evan Hansenback in September and I can't stop listening to it." And finally, he recommends the Tron: Legacysoundtrack for writing. "It really, really sets the mood for any science fiction story."
MJ recommends diving into the archives of The Awl, in light of the news that the website is shutting down. He especially suggests you check out the site's "weather reviews" series, which provides literary, inspired reviews of the previous day's weather. He also recommends Jia Tolentino's ode to The Awl, "The end of The Awl and the vanishing of freedom and fun from the internet."
Also mentioned on the show: Neal's National Book Award acceptance speech for his novel Challenger Deep. In the speech, Neal provides a call to action to the book world to write more about mental health.
Next we will be talking to Arvin Ahmadi, author of Down and Across. We hope you'll join us.
And if you're looking for even more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.
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