Literary Birthday – 12 November – Neal Shusterman

Happy Birthday, Neal Shusterman, born 12 November 1962.

Neal Shusterman Quotes

1. For aspiring writers, my advice would be to read and write outside of your comfort zone.
2. Don’t stick to a comfortable genre. Read and write things that will expand you. One of the problems that I see—especially in genre fiction—is that when you’re too steeped in a genre, all you’re doing is regurgitating what’s already there.
3. The only way to break through to original and compelling work is to force yourself into your personal uncharted territory, rather than lingering in what you know.
4. My greatest inspiration comes from the world and the troubles that we all face. I tend to be drawn to hard questions about life and society that don’t have easy answers. I want to find new and interesting ways of posing those hard questions.
5. Write (as opposed to just talking about wanting to write). Rewrite (because nothing’s ever done the first time you write it, and you should never expect it to be). Read (and don’t just read a single genre – read outside of your comfort zone). And persevere (because you probably won’t get your first book, or even your second book published – and that’s not a bad thing).
6. Developing your skill as a writer takes time, and those first projects are crucial stepping stones. Sometimes the worst thing that could happen is for your first book to be published, because it sets you up for thinking that you’ve arrived. You haven’t. You never arrive. You’re always growing, and that needs to be part of your ethos as a writer.
7. Ideas come from everywhere—usually something going on in the world or my life that I can’t stop thinking about—and I have to figure out a way to put it into a story.
8. [On plotting vs pantsing] I plot out my stories and details so I can see them playing like a movie in my mind, and, when I think I’m ready to go, I basically throw out the outline and see where it takes me. I see the outline as basically just a scaffold to help me structure and build the story that may or may not follow the outline I started with.
9. My tips for getting through the hard part of writing? I change gears. I work on a different project, take long walks, and create playlists to help me get inspired. I also complain at my friends, and I try to put myself in new and interesting environments. I find it very difficult to sit in an office and write. I feel most creative when I am out in the world in someplace new and interesting.

Source for quotes: 1-3 Writer’s Digest 4-6 Geeks OUT 7-9 Literary Rambles

Neal Shusterman is an American author best known for writing fantasy and dystopian novels for young adults. The New York Times bestselling author has written more than 30 books for children, teens, and adults. He won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for the novel Challenger Deep. His novel, Scythe was a Michael L. Printz Honor book. His book series include the Star Shards Chronicles and the Dark Fusion series, which includes Dread Locks and Duckling Ugly. The Skinjacker trilogy is set in the limbo between life and death. His latest book is the YA dystopian thriller, All Better Now. He has co-authored other books with other authors, including his son, Jarrod Shusterman. He won the Margaret Edwards Award in 2024 “honouring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens.” Follow him @NealShusterman

Source for image: Press Kit on Neal Shusterman’s website

by Amanda Patterson

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