20 QUESTIONS WITH NED VIZZINI

Book cover image used with permission of
Free Spirit Publishing.

THE QUESTIONS 11 - 20

If you could change one thing about your generation what would it be? Why?

Less TV. I would love for us all to just boycott TV for a year and give the network execs epilepsy.

What do you consider a positive strength of your generation? Why?

We do work hard. Kids get out of high school and try to make it in Internet companies. They take internships in 11^th and 12^th grade. We all want that cash, and I don't think we're afraid to work for it.

Moxy Fruvous - what's the deal with that? Why are they so great? Do you identify with any of the music of your generation? Why or why not?

Moxy Fruvous (www.fruvous.com) is just a skilled pop band, and one of the things I latched on to in order to get some individuality in high school. They're great because they can really sing and play their instruments and they write some fine songs. I identify with lots of my generation's music, most notably Nirvana. I'm an obsessive Nirvana fan; I spend some late nights getting bootleg Nirvana mp3s and I know most of the lyrics.

I don't identify with rap, except for Eminem. Emimem I love because he talks about how bad his life sucks, and he has a terrific sense of humor about it. All the other rappers are just bragging, so they make me jealous and depressed.

When I was a teen the Cold War ended and the Berlin Wall fell - what world events (if any) do you think have helped shape the identity of your generation? Why?

Hmmm, there seem to be a lot of 'speak for your generation' questions. I just want to say that I'm a silly guy with a book (Teen Angst? Naaah…, mindless plug), and I shouldn't speak for anybody. But the things I remember were Rodney King getting beaten and Nelson Mandela getting out of jail. The O.J. trial, where it seemed like the media could never outdo itself, and Monica Lewinski, where it finally did. Columbine. The important years were 1990, when we all got Nintendos, and 1995, when we all got AOL.

What do you hope teens will get from reading your book?

Just some laughs, and the ability to look at their own situations. Hopefully they'll find one story in Teen Angst? that really hits them, that reminds them of something they went through, that makes them feel, you know, warm and fuzzy. The nicest comment I have gotten from teens is that they read the book all at once. That means they got it; you don't read 200 pages of something if you don't get it.

Tell us about what DIDN'T make it in to your book?

The time I took lots of drugs and bit the head off a bat! No, seriously, most of the essays that got cut from Teen Angst? were either too New York-specific or too time-specific. For example, I wrote one about a computer convention that happened in June 1997; that would have looked hopelessly dated in the book now that all the computer products are discontinued! Also, some essays talked about places or events that only a New Yorker would understand - we cut those so as not to alienate readers. And some essays were just stupid; you can see them at http://members.tripod.com/nedvizzini.

Are you planning a sequel?

Only if there's a great public clamoring for one. Writing about my life was great in high school, but now I'm 19; I don't want to enter the cluttered field of 20-something personal essayists. Plus, I'm just not as interesting as some people would like to think…

How hard was it to get published? In the book it sounds like it "just happened", was it really that simple?

Woody Allen said that 90% of life is showing up. That's basically how my writing career has worked. I just showed up. I'm not going to repeat the story (it's in the introduction of Teen Angst? Naaah…), but here's the short version:

1. In 1996, when I was 15, I sent a sample of my work (an essay that I wrote) to a local newspaper called New York Press (www.nypress.com).
2. The editors at the paper liked my sample, so I became a New York Press freelancer, writing when I liked and getting published and paid only if my articles were good enough.
3. In 1998, the New York Times Magazine asked me to write an essay for them (they had seen my work in New York Press).
4. Someone at Free Spirit Publishing saw the New York Times Magazine article and emailed me, asking if I was interested in doing a book.

I guess that sounds easy, and I know I've been very lucky, but those four steps took four years. To do anything for four years requires stubbornness, and that's the trait that has served me best. Showing up and staying stubborn. Baby.

Any advice for aspiring young writers?

Very simple. If you want to be a writer, take any magazine or newspaper that you read and look in the front (where the writers and editors are listed, this is called the 'masthead'). You see that little address down there? That's the 'slush mail' address, where you can send unsolicited writing. The newspapers and magazines don't like getting slush mail, because most of it is very bad, but if you send something to that address, it will get read; and if an editor likes it, he will call you up.

Breaking into the writing industry isn't like becoming a movie star - you don't need inside connections. You just need to write to the slush mail address.

Ned, what do you see yourself doing for a career: going in to politics (you'd be great) and if so how do you think the underage drinking will be handled by the press? What about a career journalism? Do you have any faith in the media to report facts without sensation?

Ha ha! Politics! Believe me, publishing a book about my life has been quite enough; I don't need to pry my insides open in the name of politics and let everybody see what's inside. Politicians can't do anything without deep analysis. How could anyone live like that?

My policy is simple. If I can make a living out of writing - which is starting to actually look possible! - I'll do that. I love writing and it comes to me naturally. That means journalism and a novel, if I have it in me. Then again, if I can't make a living out of writing - also quite possible! - it's computer programming all the way. Baby.

More- Home- Q& A 1 thru 10 - The Full Interview