Neal Shusterman: Read and Write Outside of Your Comfort Zone

Neal Shusterman is the New York Times-bestselling author of more than 30 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 follow him on Facebook.

In this interview, Neal discusses how a comment at a speaking event led him to write his new YA thriller, All Better Now, his hope for readers, and more.

Name: Neal Shusterman
Book title: All Better Now
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release date: February 4, 2025
Genre/category: YA thriller
Elevator pitch: When happiness, joy, and contentment are literally contagious, who wouldn’t want to catch it? Who wouldn’t want to spread it? And who on earth would want to create a vaccine…?

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At a speaking event, someone commented that my darker books are often prophetic—and then they said, “Can’t you predict something happy?” Everyone laughed, but I took the challenge to heart. But, of course, not even an exploration of happiness can be all peaches-and-cream. Our society isn’t designed to function if everyone is happy. So, what are the consequences of a virus that threatens to bring about universal happiness? Developing this idea involved exploring how absolute contentment could disrupt power dynamics and challenge fundamental human desires and motivations.

The book took over a year to write, working on and off. As with all my books, there was a lot of soul searching, questioning the world around me, and examining human nature (both the positive and negative sides). And, of course, world-building. Because while the story begins in our world, it rapidly veers off into uncharted territory as we face the prospect of unbounded joy and contentment—which can be terrifying to some people… As for changing, the idea didn’t change as much as the depth and nuances of the questions did. For instance, I found myself looking at the global socio-political consequences of contentment and how that triggers dramatic social upheaval. These changes would ultimately be for the better, one would hope, but for those who are hell-bent on maintaining the status quo of fear, misery, and anger, how much will they destroy to maintain it?

I was surprised how many people reading the book were dividing themselves into “Team Rón,” “Team Mariel,” and “Team Morgan.” That is, those who agreed with spreading viral joy, those who were on the fence, and those who were decidedly against it. I was most surprised by those who preferred to hold onto misery, depression, and war.

That there are consequences to every decision we make, good and bad. That even happiness comes with a cost, and it’s up to us to determine if the cost is worth it. (I think it is.) And that there is always more to think about because the important questions are bottomless.

For aspiring writers, my advice would be to read and write outside of your comfort zone. 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. 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.