Interview With Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman, Authors of THE N.O.A.H. FILES: I AM THE WALRUS

Short andsweet--give us the elevator pitch for  I Am the Walrus :

(If theelevator is only going to the second floor:) A comic middle-gradescience-fiction/fantasy adventure, a thrill-ride with unexpected and hilarioustwists and turns.  (If we’re going to a higher floor) 14-year-oldNoah Prime is reacting to stress in uncontrollable and absurd ways – forexample, freezing up like a possum when he’s confronted by bullies, or flappinghis arms, bobbing his head and shrieking like an Emperor penguin when he’sdancing with a girl he likes. Noah doesn’t know what’s happening to him, buthis best friend, Ogden, who’s a bit on the spectrum, has a theory that at firstsounds outlandish, but turns out to be true – Noah has the DNA of every specieson Earth wrapped up in his own DNA. So the question becomes “Why?” And whenabsurdly inept aliens try to kill him, Noah’s main goal becomessurviving. 

 I’m alwaysintrigued by writing teams. How did this writing pairing work? What was thedrafting process like? 

Ideally, welike to get into the same room and write together. It feels like we’re justgoofing around for five or six hours, but when we look down, we’ve written tenpages. In fact, our main goal when we’re working together is to make the otherperson laugh, and if we succeed it goes in the book. We used to live within anhour of each other, which made it fairly easy to work together, but now we liveacross the country from each other—so now we work mainly by Google Docs, and weboth try to be in the document at the same time. We usually even have ouriPhones next to the computer, so we can talk to each other via Facetime whileworking. We do still get together for the occasional writing retreat, which wedid recently to start work on book two of the N.O.A.H. Files, and we managed toget the first 110 pages written in two weeks!

Our readersare always interested in inspiration. I tend to think inspiration is somethingthat happens AFTER you start working. But this book has so many wild elements:aliens, in-town volcanoes. Where did the ideas come from?

Mostly bymaking each other laugh! We had an idea of where the story would end, but wereally had no idea how it was going to get there. In fact, when we beganwriting, we weren’t 100% sure the answer would be aliens, and the possibleexplanations that Ogden ticks off (evolution, government conspiracy, etc.) arethings we had actually considered. Ultimately, we decided on aliens, whichopened the door to many more possible absurdities (like a volcano popping up inthe middle of the town). Our ideas usually come out of our discussions, byasking each other “Why?” and “How?” and “What else could go wrong?”

The thingthat sucked me in, right from the start, is the humor. It’s that rare humorthat works on both the MG level and the adult level–it’s a great feeling to beeither smiling or laughing as you’re reading. Did co-writing help or hinderhumor? I’m thinking it’d be great to punch up the humor with another author,but it could so easily mess up the voice…

We’re sopleased you appreciated the humor! We both agree that with a collaborator whohas a similar sense of humor is very helpful! Writing is usually such asolitary pursuit—your own head can be a lonely (and sometimes scary) place. Asfor working on multiple levels, we intentionally included things that wethought adults would find funny too, because, A) we know that parents usuallybuy the books for their middle grade kids, and will often read the booksbefore, or to, them, and, B) We amuse ourselves. 

You both havescreenwriting experience. Did that help in crafting the dialogue? (Yourdialogue does a great job of both adding humor and driving the action.)

That’s a verygood question! Yes, it does help, as dialogue is such a critical part ofcharacter development, rhythm, and, as you point out, a large part of the humorin the book.  Most of the screenplays we’ve written together havebeen comedies.

One of themain themes here seems to be one of the most basic, enduring questions–whatdoes it mean to be human? Nothing can hold up humanity for examination quitelike a creature from the outside. Is that how aliens became part of thisstory? 

One of theinspirations of the story was the idea that early teenagers are just enteringthat stage of life when their bodies begin to change, and we wondered whatwould happen if we pushed that to an extreme. And Noah certainly does begin toquestion his humanity as the story progresses.  He also begins towonder if his parents and his little sister are not quitehuman.  Also, by involving aliens, we can poke fun at a whole bunchof alien tropes! 

What was thebiggest surprise writing this one? 

One of thecomments we see over and over again from both student and adult readers of ourprevious trilogy (Tesla’s Attic, Edison’s Alley and Hawking’sHallway) is “I didn’t know what was going to happen next!” That alwaysmakes me laugh because I think, “Neither did we!” The characters are constantlysurprising us by the choices they make. (The unexpected time-travelingcharacter is an example of that!)

What do youwant readers to take away from I Am the Walrus?

As youpointed out, “What does it mean to be human” is a question that Noah askshimself, and we touch on themes of friendship and teamwork in the book as well.But our fondest wish is that the book will make readers laugh out loud, andmaybe get that reluctant reader to realize that that reading is fun!

Where can wecatch up with you?

We’re bothvery active on social media. 

 

Credit: Gaby Gerster

Neal at www.storyman.com, facebook.com/nealshusterman,Twitter, TikTok and Instagram @Nealshusterman  (remember there’s no‘c’ in Shusterman, or you might end up with Neal Schusterman, the dentist inNew Jersey.  Seriously.)

 

 

 

Credit: Jan Elfman

Eric at www.facebook.com/EricElfmanAuthor),Twitter @Eric_Elfman (don’t forget the underscore because there’s another EricElfman on Twitter - a lawyer, who won’t understand _at all_ if you ask himabout the aliens in the book, and might sue.)

 

 

 

Will we be seeing any additionalworks by the two of you in the future?

Definitelyyes! We’re already working on Shock the Monkey -- book 2 ofthe series, and after that, well, we have lots of ideas!