Neal Shusterman: biography, best books, creativity and interesting facts

The popular American writer Neil Shusterman was born on November 12, 1962 in New York's Brooklyn.

Librarian, teacher and "Jaws"

In the third grade he read slower than all. But he was lucky. He was taken under the wing by a school librarian and managed to instill a love of reading. He became an avid reader. The "Web of Charlotte" White made such a strong impression on him that he, an eight-year-old boy, got courage and turned to the author with a proposal in a letter about her continuation.

He loved very different stories as a boy. The magic tale of Roald Dahl "Charlie and the chocolate factory" made Neal think for the first time that a person can come up with himself, out of nowhere, his fantasy world, and he realized that he too wants to do it.

He built a huge number of plans. Who he just wanted to be: a writer and an actor, a doctor and an artist, an architect and a director, even a rock star ... and preferably both. But I remembered the words of my teacher that you can not do everything at once, that in this case he should not be a master in everything.

It was the offer of an English teacher in the ninth grade to write a story that changed his life. He was inspired to write the story film "Jaws", released at that time on the screens.

It was then that he first felt himself a writer, and this interest became above all others in his life.

Writer be!

At the age of 16, the family moved to Mexico City. There he studied for the last two years of school. He believed that the experience of living in different countries allowed him to look freshly at life, to believe in himself that it would be impossible in other circumstances.

After graduating from the University of California in Irvine, he received diplomas in two specialties: "psychology" and "theater." Here, he acquired his first writing experience, leading a humorous column in the newspaper of his faculty, which bore a very playful name. "Column Anonymous Nil Shusterman" ridiculed a variety of things: from parking to political problems. The column, I must say, was popular. Four-year experience of authorship confirmed him in the choice of his case.

A year after graduation, he signed the first contract to write a script for the film.

Career

For more than twenty years, millions of readers have been familiar with the novelist, screenwriter, television writer Neil Shusterman. His books are occupied by the minds of teenagers and their parents all over the world. Out of his pen came novels and series of fiction, essays, stories and poems, even games.

Most of his work is aimed at a teenage audience. He is deeply convinced that this age is the determining factor in the life of any person. From the events happening with a teenager, in many ways depends on what he will become later, in adulthood.

Neil Shusterman's books have won many awards. They are noted by the International Reading Association, the American Library Association. Since the time when he received his first award in 1988, he wrote several dozen books, and each - in the top ten!

Some of his books are humorous and are designed for younger teens. But fantasy and gloomy retelling of known myths are meant for older adolescents.

Neil is convinced that you need to write in a variety of formats. It's like a challenge to yourself. This is a test for writing abilities.

His talent is multifaceted: writing, directing, writing music and plays, creating games for teenagers, oratorical art.

Degree in psychology and theater allow Neel to provide a completely unique approach to presenting the material.

Currently, he actively cooperates with television and film studios, writes scripts for television programs (for example, for the Disney Channel television channel), movies and TV shows (Murashki).

In addition, he travels a lot around the country, meets with students and students, with his readers.

Neal Shusterman: reviews, his books in Russia

The Russian reader discovered this most popular writer in the world not so long ago. With the advent of his books in translation into Russian, the number of admirers increased. Reviews about the work of this writer are mostly positive. Everyone talks about his special worldview. It's enough just to get acquainted with his creativity, to hear people's opinion, and you will certainly want to read one, then another, then the third, and then all the books of this remarkable author. Read or listen, because there are audiobooks in excellent performance.

How masterpieces are born

This Neil Shusterman himself told in one of his interviews.

Often, in order to get started, he has to go on a ploy and convince himself that the whole story has already formed in his head. Why the trick? Yes, because rarely everything goes strictly according to the plan.

He writes each chapter first hand. Writes and rewrites. By the time you start typing chapters in your computer, this is a completely different option. So it turns out three different projects. Now the time comes for a big audit, when changes are made, problems are eliminated and a fourth project appears.

The book should lie for a while, a month or so. And after the next revision the fifth version of the book can be shown to people. The sixth will be done taking into account the received comments, and it is he who goes to the publisher. Perhaps more work is needed, but finally, the book will be released.

By the way, many of the heroes of his works bear the names of real people. Often it is to his fans and admirers that the writer addresses the names and at the same time briefly describes the nature of the character, his role in the future book.

It's not easy to create Neil Shusterman masterpieces.

A family

He has a large father and an excellent family man. He currently lives in Southern California with four children, two sons and two daughters. They are constantly a source of inspiration for him.

They often become the first readers of his books. He takes his remarks very seriously, especially for him, because he writes for people like his children. And also because they speak honestly what they think without fear. True, the growing number of adults of his admirers definitely pleases and inspires him.

Branden and Challenger Deep

Neil Schusterman's books are certainly expensive and important to him as children. But one of them is much closer to the rest of his heart. This Challenger Deep is a lyrical, touching novel based on the story of one of his sons, who has been suffering schizoaffective disorder from school years , and whose idea is also suggested by the boy.

It all started with Brendan's passion for the ocean in the second grade. It was then that Neil noted for himself that such a beautiful and sonorous name of the deepest place in the Mariana Trench could be an excellent title for the book, but there was no worthy history.

In addition to the 9th grade, the boy began to have problems that came with anxiety, then turned into a delusion with paranoia and hallucinations. According to him, even street signs conducted their conversation with him. I had to hospitalize a child. The diagnoses changed, but it was clear that there was a serious mental illness. The family was devastated and tried to help the child in every possible way.

But the words of a teenager, addressed to his father, that he feels like at the bottom of the ocean, and his cry for help no one can hear, for the Nile became a push. He realized that the Challenger Deep should be around, that the family and family should understand the child to be together to help him.

And later, when at last, with the help of medicine, doctors and the boy's own will, the disease was taken under control, it was with him that the father consulted whether a book was needed, whether it would be good if it was written about a mental illness if he uses it, Branden, experience. And with the approval of his son in the past, 2015, the book was released. Neil dedicated it to a physician who put so much effort into preserving the life of his son. In addition, he used in her drawings of Brendan, created by him during the period of exacerbation.

It was his son who suggested reading the first draft of the book and expressing his proposals. He wanted to be sure that those who pass through this will understand that he sympathizes with them, that the book will help, give strength and dignity to go through all the trials. Neil is convinced that without compassion, a person can not be a person, that one has to speak out loud about mental illnesses and openly, throwing away the feeling of shame. First of all, because every third American family is faced with this and perceives such a misfortune in the family as a stain. And this is a disease. A person should be proud of being a human being.

About some masterpieces

About his books Neil says that he does not give answers in them, but only asks questions.

What other world masterpiece did Neil Shusterman create? "Fugitives" is the author's most famous novel. The world he invented may even seem immoral. Could there be something worse and more terrible for humanity than a monstrous law on a "retrospective abortion"? When the child is condemned to death by the closest and most loved people, his parents, it's terrible. You will behave badly, they will not put you in a corner, but they will give you to the organs! This is a strong book. And emotions are just off scale. And you involuntarily draw parallels with today's life. Have not you heard about the sale of children, your own or others'? Did not you hear rumors about stolen and not found children and how they become living donors for those who are willing to pay well? And it's already frightening because it's not such a fantasy.

All readers are talking about some kind of special world that Neil Shusterman creates in his works. "Between the World" - a book about the dead children, falling into a strange world between life and death, which exists in parallel with the real. And everything in this world as in the real: intrigues, a struggle for power, crimes, exploits, love and adventure. You can just read. But with time comes the realization that the loop of repetitions for the gaping after-light is familiar to you. And you yourself now and then live on the machine: home, work, home, bed ... the same loop. And anyone can become nothing, like everyone else, lose oneself, like the after-light. And the book is already perceived not as a work for teenagers, but as a serious and profound romance.

The book "Between Worlds" was the first in the series "The Land of Lost Souls." Next came the novel "Between Meadows". Neil Shusterman finished the famous trilogy with the book "The World Found." All these books are full of deep meaning. They are able to somehow affect the subconscious of man, change his outlook.

About fifty books, each of which has found many admirers. Maybe you will also discover the world of Neil Shusterman.