Author Chris Tebbetts on Middle School, Viking Artifacts, and Wilderness Survival

What are some of the biggest challenges?
The world is changing so fast—in some ways, faster than the speed of publishing. Technology is hard to commit to in a modern-set narrative, because you never know what’s going to be dated by the time your book comes out. At the same time, you want the work to be relatable and credible with the audience, so there’s a constant balancing act in play. 
Another challenge for me is in creating good, satisfying endings. That’s not specific to middle grade fiction, but there is sometimes an extra hurdle in trying to give young characters enough agency in a story, putting them at the center of whatever resolution happens without going beyond what the audience will buy. There’s a reason why kid’s literature has a long, rich tradition of separating young heroes from their parents and guardians, and it’s not because authors are mean at heart! I’m always looking for new and interesting ways of letting my characters solve their own problems. 
You have lived all over the country—what area has been the most inspirational to you as a writer? What about the place that’s been most conducive to productivity?
That’s an interesting question, since I’ve only lived in Vermont while working as an author. My house is on a dead end dirt road, with woods all around, and for me, that’s VERY conducive to productivity. I’m not one of those writers who listens to music or can get work done in a busy coffee shop. I like silence and stillness, and I get plenty of that where I live.
I also have to give a nod to my hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio, where I was lucky enough to come up through a public school system that put a real value on the arts, including (but not limited to) creative writing. For example, my little high school had an enrollment of about 250, with sixty of those kids playing in band and orchestra. Same thing for the annual school musical, where more than half of the students got involved one way or another. I feel hugely fortunate to have grown up in that kind of educational environment, and most especially for the teachers who made it all happen.

How did you come to work with James Patterson? And what is the co-writing process like?
Jim found me through Alloy Entertainment. I’d written a middle grade series for them several years ago, and when he approached Alloy looking for potential co-authors, mine was one of the names they gave him. After seeing some sample work from me, and an interview in New York, he invited me to work with him on Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, and more recently, Public School Superhero. 
I work from a detailed outline that Jim creates, and then draft the story in sections, which I send off to him once a month. We’ll touch base at that point and he’ll weigh in about how the book is coming along, where we might want to adjust the story, and where we’re headed from there. 
Once the story is drafted all the way through, Jim will take the full manuscript and rewrite it to completion. After that, the project moves over to the illustrator—Laura Park for Middle School and Cory Thomas for Public School Superhero.  They work from illustration notes in the manuscript and come up with the hundreds of wonderful, detailed drawings you see in the books. 
Tell us something you learned about Vikings while writing your fantasy adventure series, The Viking, that you’ve never forgotten?
I don’t know why this detail sticks in my head, but I learned about how only a fraction of Viking artifacts have survived to this day because of the large amount of wood used in Viking art and craft. A lot of that wood has degraded over the centuries, leaving behind a much higher proportion of metal components. 
Also, it was news to me that actual Vikings never wore horned helmets.  So much for that iconic image!

What one thing that the popular Stranded series you co-write with Jeff Probst has taught you about what NOT to do if you ever wash up on a deserted island?
Don’t drink salt water. Don’t eat the most colorful fish. Don’t focus too much on the big picture. Survival is about identifying achievable goals and taking them on one at a time.
Also—don’t do too much. It can be counterintuitive, but if you expend a thousand calories looking for a hundred calories’ worth of snails (or grubs, or coconut), then you’re worse off than when you started. Sometimes, it’s better to do nothing than to try too hard in that environment.
Do you think your extensive background in theater and film influences how you tell stories?
Without question. I was a film major in college and spent most of my twenties directing plays and musicals. When it comes to storytelling, I’m someone who thinks visually, and that inevitably spills into the writing process. When I start a scene, the question for me is usually some version of, “where do I want to put the camera?” In other words, what would my point of view character most likely notice? And when I think about what needs to happen next in the story, it’s often something I imagine on my mental movie screen as much as I do with the words on my computer screen.
I heard Linda Sue Park speak once about how young readers today (unlike the generations before them) largely came to story through visual media first, not words, and how it behooves us to reflect that in our work. I like that advice, in part because it’s true, and in part because it reflects the way I think about my stories, anyway. 
What’s the last great book you read, and why?
I loved El Deafo, a graphic novel by Cece Bell that combines everything I like about storytelling—humor; drama; originality; and a fully realized character whose life experience is simultaneously different from my own and universally relatable.
I also just finished a brand new book, The Lost Tribes, by C. Taylor Butler.  It’s a wildly imaginative, super-fun ride that runs from cliffhanger to cliffhanger. Like a lot of young readers, I’m always on the lookout for books that beg NOT to be put down, and this was one of them.
 Chris Tebbetts’ newest novel, Middle School: Just My Rotten Luck, co-written with James Patterson, is out in June!