Author Chat with Matthew J. Gilbert (The New Norm), Plus a Bundled Giveaway~ US ONLY!

Everyone’s got a lot to say on the Meadowview Middle School social media forum. From roasts of Mrs. Klinger’s morning announcements to rage-bait cafeteria pizza reviews, the tea is hot!

And in the middle of it all is Alexander “Norm” Norman, who has just gone unintentionally viral across the internet and become a middle-school celebrity. Pretty sweet, right? Well, not so much. Can Norm balance his real friends and his new fame—and make it through the first week of school without getting totally roasted in the chat?

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It only takes a stack of sticky notes to start the great prank challenge at Meadowview Middle School. Now everything and everyone is a potential target, and no one wants to be caught off guard in 4K.

Norm’s prank was a flop, but Mia’s idea is genius and Norm is all in. But when their prank brings more chaos than likes, no one is laughing. With upset students and angry faculty working together to hunt down the culprit, Norm and Mia must fix the mess or face the fire.

YABC: What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?

The concept for The New Norm series was first developed by my fantastic editors, Melissa Vogan and Leslie Tran, at Simon & Schuster. They created this wonderful world of Meadowview, which is the middle school where most of our stories take place, and invited me to collaborate. Their outline was anchored with the core idea of “what happens after you go viral?” As someone who’s chronically online, that concept resonated with me big time. Soon after, I was creating in this sandbox – fleshing out characters, exploring Meadowview, and conjuring all sorts of crazy comedic situations the kids could find themselves navigating.

Since Book 1, we’ve gone beyond the effects of viral fame to tackle other topics, but that theme is always lurking in the background of each book, because that’s just the world we live in now. Everyone is online, everything is online. Life is online. The kids of Meadowview have to survive the chaos of a life online and IRL. And lucky for us, trying to have it all, in both spaces, is often hilarious.

 

YABC: What can readers expect to find in your books?

For New Norm – humor, and lots of it! Middle-grade audiences can hopefully see themselves in the characters and take a step back to laugh at this wacky timeline we’re all living in where imaginary points on the internet are everything.

 

YABC: Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?

For me, comedy is easy. Being serious is not. So, any time I have to do an emotional scene in a book poses a unique challenge for me and makes me raise my game a little. Without giving too much away, there are a few emotional scenes in the first two Norm books that swept me up in what that the characters were going through. Feeling like your friends are mad at you, wondering when it will end, how you can fix a strained friendship. To write these things, you need to feel them. And I very much have in my life, and writing them brought a lot of old feelings up for me.

 

YABC: What is your favorite snack when writing?

I’m a big popcorn guy, which probably isn’t the best thing for my teeth. And I’m open to any kind: microwave, pre-popped in a bag, salty or sweet, cheesy or caramel or zebra. I just love to crunch. Other favorites: blue chips and salsa, Goldfish (Extra Toasted!), and pickle chips. That’s pickle-flavored potato chips, not literal pickle chips. But I’d be down for those, too.

 

YABC: If you could time travel what would you want to see?

Dinosaurs! I’m a Millennial, so Jurassic Park and The Flintstones are my childhood.  I’d love the chance to safely observe T-Rex’s from a distance or pet a friendly Brontosaurus.

I’m tempted to say the Old West or Medieval Times, but then I remember there were no bathrooms or fancy body soaps back then, and I can only imagine how bad everyone smelled. So, I’ll be skipping Ye Olde Stinky Times, thank you.

 

YABC: What daily thing do you see that brings you joy?

It’s not the most exciting answer, but it’s my cat, Pepe. Or as I like to call him, “my furry son.” He’s a talkative tuxedo and such a ham. He’s my shadow. All the normal cute stuff he does makes my heart swell, but it’s his vacant expression and lack of reaction to things that cracks me up. I’ll be doing something mundane like washing dishes and he’ll just stare at me with this look of judgment like, “why are you making noise?” Then, I laugh out loud which only confuses him and makes him stare at me more. Which makes me laugh more. And so we go like this for days and days.

 

YABC: What do you do when you procrastinate?

YouTube. I can watch cruise vlogger videos for hours. Funny, because the thought of taking a cruise in real life terrifies me. For one, I think I’d get seasick. Two, I don’t like tight spaces. And three, I am easily overwhelmed by crowds. These are literally ALL the cruise things!

My wife thinks I watch them to live vicariously through the cruising crowd without having to deal with the cruising itself and you know what? I think she’s right. The people just look like they’re having the time of their lives on these ships. I want to play bingo while eating chicken tenders. Isn’t that what life is all about?

 

YABC: What’s a book you’ve recently read and loved?

I’ve been writing so much lately (and watching too many cruise videos), that I’ve barely had time to read anything new. So, I’ve just been sticking with my favorites when I need a little literary jolt. Ray Bradbury is my favorite author of all time, so I tend to pick his short stories up a lot. I also love anything by Douglas Adams and Michael Crichton.

 

YABC: What is your favorite writing space or routine?

I keep banker’s hours, Monday through Friday, no weekends if I can help it.

I’m a daytime writer with a strict schedule. Writing days usually begin at 9/9:30 in the morning by re-reading yesterday’s output and finessing as needed. When that’s all good, I move on to new scenes and write new stuff until lunch. Lunch is an hour, starting noon-ish, far away from the computer and the phone. Then, it’s back to writing by 1 until about 3 or 4pm. After that, my brain is mush and I force myself to go to the gym and do it all over again the next day.  This has been my life for the last few years and the last few books. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. How do you nighttime writers do it?

 

YABC: Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?

Wildlife Rescue, in any state. We need to protect the animals!