Ned Vizzini | Readers

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FAQ - Last updated 1/1/07

0. Can you publish my book/story/comic?
No, but I can give you advice. Scroll to the bottom of the FAQ for that.

1. Who are you?
Please see the bio on the front page.

2. I read that. Can you give me any more info?
I was born 04/04/1981.

I grew up in Brooklyn (and a little bit in Manhattan, until I was six) with both parents, a brother, a sister, and a Nintendo.

I have no hobbies besides reading, writing, maintining my online presence and making mistakes.

I have a degree in computer science that I got because I never thought writing would make me any money.

I started writing in 1996 for New York Press, a local alternative paper. I wrote stories for them about my high school experiences--I went to Stuyvesant High school in Manhattan--that they printed every month or so. (I did NOT have a regular column; I was what you call a freelancer. But I did have a regular column years later that is archived in the writing section of the website.) In 1998 I wrote something for the New York Times Magazine. The essay I wrote got the attention of Free Spirit Publishing in Minnessota and they put out the first edition of my first book Teen Angst? Naaah..., which was a collection of some of the stories I wrote for New York Press (with some added in), in August 2000. After two years, Random House bought the mass-market rights to Teen Angst and put out the second edition--the one with the cover with a guy with a box on his head. (This is not me.)

I went to Hunter College in Manhattan from 2000 to 2003 and graduated with computer science bachelor's. I have worked several non-writing jobs since then including SQL programmer and bike messenger.

My second book Be More Chill, which I wrote at college, was published June 2004 by Hyperion/Miramax Books.

Since 2000, I have spoken at schools about writing/humor/life and read extensively from my work in auditoriums and bars.

In the fall of 2004, suicidal with a lot of stress and depression that was later diagnosed and treated as manic depression, I spent a few days in the psych hospital and ended up writing a book based on this experience called It's Kind of a Funny Story. That book came out in spring 2006 and has been the best-reviewed one so far.

At this point my resume is too screwed up for me to be anything other than a writer for the rest of my life.

3. How can I reach you by mail?
Ned Vizzini
PO Box 459
NY, NY 10276

4. Are they making a movie of [insert book here]?
The movie world is a very fickle place and this answer is always changing. Please scroll down for answers to this question about each individual book and note that the information posted is only true as of the date that it was posted! Thanks.

5. Can you sign my book?
Yes! Email me indicating that this is what you want and fill in your address info and we will take it from there. Alternately, send the book to the address above with ENOUGH POSTAGE FOR ME TO GET IT BACK TO YOU and I will sign and return it.

6. What countries are your books avialable in?
All of my books are available in the US, Canada, and the Philippines. Be More Chill is available in several other countires as well. It's Kind of a Funny Story is forthcoming in several countries. A complete list of editions is in the writing section of the website. If you are in a country that is supposed to have my book according to that section and YOU CAN'T FIND IT, please contact me (you are also welcome to do this anyway).

7. Are they making an It's Kind of a Funny Story movie?
Paramount has optioned IKOAFS for a feature film and the script is being written by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who wrote the award-winning 2006 film Half Nelson. Definitely an honor to have them on board.

8. How much of It's Kind of a Funny Story is true?
IKOAFS is very tightly wound in with my real life and is 85% true. Essentially, all I changed were the names of the characters and the age of Craig, who is 15 when he goes into the hospital (I was 23).

9. How does Craig get better so quickly in IKOAFS?
He doesn't get better, he just realizes that suicide isn't an option. This happened to me, too, startlingly -- about a week after I left the hospital. I named this event, this change of heart, "The Shift," and wrote the book shortly after it happened to me.

10. Are the characters in the hospital in IKOAFS real?
Yes, to the letter they were based on real people, only one of whom I have seen since, and he was living in Bushwick and doing about the same as he always was.

11. Did you really want to kill yourself?
Absolutely.

12. Are you better now?
Yes, lots.

13. What made you better?

I started taking a drug for manic depression instead of depression. It turns out that a lot of people who are diagnosed with depression are actually manic-depressives with really short manic phases, and it looks like that was me. The stuff I'm on now has no discernible effect other than it makes me not want to kill myself.

I sorted out a lot of crap in my life involving actually wanting to be a writer and casting aside a lot of other distractions and dalliances that I thought would provide a better life for me.

I wrote a book.

14. Did it really take you like a month to write IKOAFS, as it says in the back of the book?
Yes, it a really intense time and I sweated a lot and then napped and sweated and wrote and napped and sweated.

15. Where did you get the idea for Be More Chill?
Teen consumerism, MTV, quantum computers, and death. Also a song called "AM/FM Shoes" by a band called Drunk Horse -- it's about a guy with shoes that make him feel cool. I wanted to take that idea to the limit.

16. Is there going to be a Be More Chill movie?
Still waiting on that one.

17. What is the squip?
The squip is a pill that makes you cool--it's something that I invented for Be More Chill. To promote the book and expand on it, I and my former business partner built a universe of websites that presented a world where the squip was real. Squips aren't real, but you can see the result of our "Squip? Google It" campaign here. The squip could be real, though; I know this from my studies in computer science. The technology is coming. Also, squip now has a wikipedia entry.

18. Who is Jeremy Heere?
Jeremy Heere is the main character Be More Chill. I used to have a number of websites dedicated to conceit that Jeremy was a real person and that the squip in Be More Chill was a real device. But not anymore. Jeremy is a fictional character. He and I are different. I invented him.

19. At the end of Be More Chill, do Christine and Jeremy hook up?
The open ending of the book is tough for many people. They want to know what happens. I left it open-ended for a reason, to keep you thinking, and not just because I was too lazy to write an ending. But in my mind, yes, they hook up. I hope they do. That's what's supposed to be implied. They don't necessarily stay together, though. Most hook-ups don't.

20. Is there going to be a Be More Chill sequel?
No, sorry!

21. How much of Be More Chill is based on your real life?
65%. The infected nipple-ring incident, in particular, really happened to me, with the first girl I ever kissed. Yep.

22. How long did it take to write Be More Chill?
9 months and 9 days, a normal human gestation period. I finished Nov. 6, 2002.

23. What happened to _[name here]_ in Teen Angst? Naaah...
Judith: I have not talked to her in 2150 days. We had a really bad breakup.
Dad: He still works hard, but doesn't come home as late as he used to. He smiles a lot and I like to see that. He's also developed into a fine singer and sings in a choir. He still drives like a maniac, as if he were Hamlet and all the other cars had plots against him.
Mom: Mom is very active in her local church and is doing her best to ensure that I never leave her ZIP code. She thought Be More Chill had too much masturbation in it. She has taken care of me in some really bad times.
Daniel: My brother escaped death on Sept. 11th and is now in a college in a Southern state. I went and visited him and was shocked to find him actually working, reading Paradise Lost. He is majoring in applied math. Smart kid.
Nora: In college. I don't know how I ended up related to such a competent, together young lady.
Owen (Russian friend): went to college, got in trouble with the FBI for hacking, managed to destroy the evidence (a hard drive, with a magnet) before they could catch him, escaped to Florida where he lived in a house full of Brazilian models and filmed them for an adult website. Last seen in New York drinking coffee.
Poppy (dominoes player): Gone. No one will talk about him in the old neighborhood. The whole East Village has, in fact, been taken over by NYU students who would only play dominos for the ironic value.
James (shy friend): Now a professional woodworker.
Ike (Mayan friend): went to college, lived in various apartments, got a job in night construction, which was perfect for his strength and vampirism, and then went to Japan and came back with a wife!
Carlo (overbearing paint employer): not seen. I have a feeling--I don't know why--that he's dead.

24. Teen Angst? Naaah... comes in two editions -- a yellow one and a black one. What is the difference between the two editions?
There aren't any significant differences. I removed a few dates from the Random House version to try and help it age better, plus the layouts are different becuase of the different sizes of the pages, but it's the same book!

25. Is there going to be a Teen Angst? Naaah... movie?
No, not right now. You can read about the TV/movie history of the book on the writing page.

26. Did you ever meet the girl who kicked your backpack down the stairs? Did she read the book?
Nope. I bet she never read the book. I bet she never even heard of it. I bet she has no idea...

27. Can I have a Wormwhole demo?
No need to ask. Both Wormwhole songs are available right here for download: Pants in the Mail, Lumber.

28. Did you do the pictures in Teen Angst?
No! The cartoon illustrations for Teen Angst were done by a very talented gentleman named Christopher Schons. He now does Big Rig Comics.

29. Can I get Uncle Tumba?
Not now, but I'll put them up as giveaways someday.

30. Can I see Attack of the Killer Turtle?
Unlike Wormwhole, sadly, Killer Turtle is gone forever.

31. What ever happened to that band Shrivel in Teen Angst?
The real name of the band Shrivel was Out Of Whack, and the main singer/guitar player/guy was Chris Maher. That band broke up but Maher is still making music. He has his own label now! recommended if you like records

32. How can I start writing? Professionally?
The key is, don't write a book. Especially if you're young, you're not going to have the discipline to follow through on a complete work of fiction, which has to be on your mind all the time for months. Also don't write poetry or short stories, unless you've got one really good short story--there's not much of a market for that. Cut your teeth writing for newspapers and magazines. The key here is this:

At the front of every newspaper and magazine in America (sometimes on page 2 or 3) is something called a masthead. The masthead lists the names and occupations of all the writers/artists/editors who work for the paper. At the bottom of the masthead is an address called the slush mail address. You will probably see it in tiny letters down there and really have to struggle to read it. This is the address that unknown writers can send their work to!

You know what? It's not like trying to be a model or a rock star. You don't have to sleep with anybody.

Newspapers/magazines need to run copy every month/week/day so they eventually read the slush mail because hey, if there's talent in there, they want to use it for copy. Think of all the little articles in Time and Teen People and Tattoo. Someone has to write that crap.

Whatever you enjoy reading, you should send your writing to. If you like cars, send to Road and Track. If you've got a crazy story about homeless people or music, look for a local alternative paper in your city (like New York Press, it'll come out every week and have listings for all the concerts/parties going on); you will, at least, get a response and get an idea how good your stuff is.

33. Do you have any writing advice? How can I be a better writer? etc.
It's not my advice, it's William Faulkner's (variously attributed to many other writers): kill your darlings. It means go into your writing and get rid of all the inside jokes / cutesy parts that are only interesting to you. What you'll be left with is writing that has the ability to effect other people. It's the toughest thing in the world to do, but that's what makes it good advice.

34. Who were your influences?
As a kid I got into reading through two primary people: George Orwell and Michael Crichton. For a long time and in many different places I have insisted that Crichton's Jurassic Park is the world' greatest book; now I'm starting to reconsider. Lately I have been reading a lot of contemporary literature like Cryptonomicon, Everything is Illuminated and Fortress of Solitude. Those three are all fantastic and between them, Orwell, Crichton, Stephen King, the Narnia books and anything by Jim Knipfel, Jonathan Ames, and Jerry Stahl you should have a fine working background in tight prose and bizarre humor.

35. Isn't it hard to write about your family and friends? Did your friends read the book? What did they think? etc.
It is very hard. Even though people's egos like to be fed by a print appearance, they don't take kindly to being comic relief for 1000s of readers. Many of my friends and family members did read Teen Angst; not all did, those who did were happy but not as happy as you might think. Some people have identified their own anecdotes in Be More Chill as well; they seem to be more okay with appearing in a work of fiction. This is a primary reason why I plan to work in the fiction realm from here on in.

36. What are you working on now?
I am working on a new novel and I've also become pretty serious about my blog.

37. Are you on AIM? MSN Messenger? Yahoo Messenger? etc.
I occasionally use AIM as "NedVizzini". Yes, my screen name is NedVizzini, straight up (I couldn't think of anything cool), if you see me don't ask me if I'm really me, or make fun of me for faking being me--no one would fake being me.

99. WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR BE MORE CHILL?
I got it from this song "AM/FM Shoes" by Drunk Horse. It's about a kid whose life sucks, but he has special sneaker that play the radio that make him a hit with all the girls.

That got me thinking--what if there really was a product that made you cool?

And... Isn't every product really like that?

Here is the song. (Doesn't seem to work in IE, sorry.)