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| Erin Entrada Kelly | |
Erin Entrada Kelly is a two-time Newbery Medalist, National Book Award Finalist, and Newbery Honoree. Kelly has an MFA from Rosemont College and is on the faculty of the Hamline University MFA program in writing for children and young adults. She lives in Delaware. Eliot Schrefer has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, received the Stonewall Honor for best LGBTQIA+ teen book, and received the Printz Honor for best young adult book from the ALA. He has an M.A. in Animal Studies from New York University, is on the faculty of the Hamline MFA for writing for young people, and lives with his husband in New York City. Here, Kelly and Schrefer discuss their first collaboration, Fatal Glitch: Camp Zero, available July 21.
Eliot Schrefer: Erin! You’re one of my favorite humans and favorite writers, and co-authoring this new series with you has been a total career highlight. Want to tell readers what Fatal Glitch is all about?
Erin Entrada Kelly: I’ve been pitching it as “technology horror.” Goosebumps meets Black Mirror. Fast-paced standalone stories about tech gone awry. It’s a series for young readers who want dark and eerie plot lines with unexpected endings.
When I was a kid, I would have devoured Fatal Glitch. What about you? Did you have a high threshold for scary things when you were younger?
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| Eliot Schrefer | |
Schrefer: Yes and no. I was fascinated by scary material but also got uncomfortable if it went too far. (Exhibit A: little Eliot loving the first 10 minutes of Aliens then covering his eyes for the rest of the movie.) This is something you and I have been keeping in mind as we’ve worked on this series: how to provide catharsis for the anxieties kids have, while maintaining good bumper lanes so “scary” doesn’t tip over into “terrifying.”
One of our other priorities has been to have the books in the series be short and addictive, so that even hesitant readers can experience the joy of starting and finishing a book. Has the process of writing in this shorter form led you to any discoveries?
Kelly: Fatal Glitch has forced me to think about pacing in a different way. I’m much more focused on how to keep the story moving at a faster pace as compared to the traditional coming of age stories I’m known for.
Schrefer: I’ve found that horror is a great match for short-form storytelling. So much of getting scared is your brain wondering what’s really going on, and that’s all about brevity. In Camp Zero, we have kids who are snatched away from their summer camp by mechanical vultures without elaboration or explanation. I think I was biased by those giant Stephen King tomes I devoured as a teenager; I assumed that the scariness came in the elaboration, but it might be the opposite.
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I’m sure readers will be wondering who’s responsible for what parts of the series. Are there any trademark Erin Entrada Kelly flourishes you can tip them off to?
Kelly: It’s interesting you mention King because all the stories I wrote as a teenager were King knockoffs. King’s greatest gift as a storyteller is his characters. That’s why his books are so frightening. When you’re invested in a character, the stakes are even higher.
I think that's what I’m known for, too—writing textured characters. Not that I’m comparing myself to Stephen King, mind you. But that’s what comes most naturally to me as opposed to, say, worldbuilding.
Schrefer: Well, I’d compare you to Stephen King, so there. Now, let’s go scare a bunch of kids!