Jeff Norton is a Canadian-born writer and producer living in London. He's the author of Metawars and the founder of Awesome Media & Entertainment. He spoke to StoryWorld about his writing and schedules:
Hi Jeff! Tell me about Metawars.
MetaWars is a high-tech thriller, set
in a post-peak-oil future where we all interface online, in a type of
global virtual world (imagine Minecraft meets Grand Theft Auto!) and
two teenagers, Jonah and Sam, get swept up in the battle for control
over the internet. It’s fast-paced, challenging, and addictive. I
wrote it to read like a video game. One young reader called it “Alex
Rider meets The Matrix” which is a pretty accurate description.
You’re also a producer. How do you
divide the time?
I write in the mornings and go until
about three in the afternoon and then switch into producing mode.
It’s doable because I’m currently executive producing a big TV
series out of Canada, and they are five hours behind the UK. So I
get a head start and get my writing done before Canada gets going.
The show is called Trucktown and I’m making it with my friend Jon
Scieszka, a super talented author of tons of books for younger
readers, and we’re doing the show at Nelvana – Canada’s leading
animation company.
What books/TV/films inspired you to
start writing?
I was a very reluctant reader as a boy
and couldn’t find anything in book form that was as interesting to
me or as compelling as films, tv, and video games. Luckily, I had a
librarian who stuck with me and gave me a book called After The Bomb
– about a post-nuclear Los Angeles – and it was the first time I
wanted to stay awake late to find out what happened in the story. I
remember my Dad yelling at me for staying up so late. Once he
switched off the light, I had a flashlight to keep reading. That’s
the feeling that inspired me to write a thriller: to get kids in
trouble with their parents for wanting to keep reading. When you
care about characters, you don’t want to leave them. That’s the
inspiration.
What’s your work schedule like? Do
you have regular times, places, etc, or can you work anytime,
anywhere?
I’m pretty disciplined and I
start each day at 7:30, with a coffee, at my local coffee shop. I
squat (rent free…well, price of a latte) there for exactly three
hours when I either decamp for the Swiss Cottage library or back to
the office at my house. I generally don’t stop for lunch, simply
warm up soup in a mug and power through, and stop by about three in
the afternoon. Later, after I help get the kids to bed, I’m on
conference calls for the show, which is a blast. Talking about
animation is so much fun.
When I travel, I do get a lot of
writing done on airplanes, but less on trains because I gaze out the
window and the countryside – the UK is beautiful to look at from
the train.
Are you working on new anything at the
moment?
I’m really excited! My next
book is called Memoirs Of A Neurotic Zombie and it’s the story of a
twelve year old boy with OCD called Adam Meltzer who rises to the
grave to solve his own murder – teaming up with a vegan vampire and
an untidy chupacabra! It’s very funny, awkward, a bit gross…just
like middle school itself! It publishes from Faber on 7th
August 2014. And yes, you can preorder it now (shameless plug!).
Thanks, Jeff!
Thanks, Jeff!
You can follow Jeff at his website: www.jeffnorton.com
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