An Interview with NED VIZZINI!!!
Ned Vizzini is the author of It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Be More Chill, and Teen Angst? Naaah….
1. In your novel Be More Chill, the protagonist is obsessed with being cool. So he swallows the squip. If you had a squip what would you use it for? To make you into a novel writing machine perhaps?
If I had a squip, I would absolutely use it to write novels. What a great idea! In fact, that’s something I’ve been pondering for years–programming a computer to write a book. I think it can be done. I have a computer science degree and some brilliant friends. Check back in 30 years.
2. What was your goal in life when you were ten?
I don’t remember what my goal in life was when I was ten. But I had developed three goals by the age of 13: have sex, drive a car, and be a published author.
3. What was your goal in life when you were fifteen?
See above. Those goals lasted a while.
4. What is your goal in life now?
My goals in life now are to care more about other people and to have a long, prolific and positive career.
5. Why do you feel like teens don’t read anymore?
I don’t think that teens don’t read anymore at all! I just read that YA book sales are up 23% over the past 5 or 10 years, while the adult market has been flat. I think that teens read because in a world where everything is internet ephemeral, it means more to have something permanent that you can hold in your hand.
6. Are you a Nerdfighter? If so, what kind?
I have no idea what a Nerdfighter is so I can’t answer as to whether I am a Nerdfighter.
7. Can you tell us anything about any coming books? Please?
I am currently working on a book about race, growing up, money, and fame.
8. Its Kind of a Funny Story raises loads of topics such as suicide, sex, and friendship. Any comments?
I don’t really have any comments on It’s Kind of A Funny Story, besides what I wrote in my FAQ: http://nedvizzini.com/faq/. I think it’s best to let books speak for themselves.
9. Where’d the word squip come from?
The word “squip” came from God. Seriously. I don’t know; it popped into my head right out of nowhere.
10. Chocolate or Vanilla.
Vanilla.
11. Scientists have studied how eating an Oreo reflects your personality. How do you eat your Oreos?
Oh my God, I can’t have Oreos in the house. I will eat them at night like a zombie. I will wake up and go to the kitchen and eat three to five and then go back to sleep. (Sometimes I call it “sleepwalking” but really I know exactly what I’m doing.) I put the Oreos in my mouth, press them against my palate, drink the milk, press it up against the Oreo, strain it until it’s soft, and then eat it. Wonderful.
12. If you could do anything, anything at all, without worrying about gravity or consequences, what would you do?
If I could do anything at all, I would go to the moon. I don’t know why–that’s just the first thing that popped into my head. (Maybe because your question had the word “gravity” in it.) When are they going to have those tourist space flights again?
Ned Vizzini. *Awed Looks* One of his novels is about suicide. And here at IV we do not condone killing yourself. So if you EVER feel like it is the right thing, call 1-800-SUICIDE. Because it’s not. Here, you are luuuurved.
Rereading Vizzini,
Kiri Vehemens
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