Patrick Ness is the award-winning author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men, and A Monster Calls to name just a few of his books. He has won the Carnegie Medal twice, the Costa Children’s Book Award, and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Today I talk to him about his hilarious new book Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance!

Before we settle down in The Reading Realm and talk about your life as an author and your books, what’s your drink and snack of choice? 

Pineapple juice and a Cadburys Creme Egg.  Not together. 

As much as I’d love to talk to you about the Chaos Walking series and your beautiful book Release, we’re here today to talk about Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance! Without giving too much away what can you tell us about this new story? 

The main plot is that Zeke’s friend Daniel starts wearing a hat.  And only birds usually wear hats.  Daniel is a lizard.  There’s no rule, just what everyone has “always done”.  Kerfuffle ensues.  Also, there’s a Death Ray of Death. 

I’m a big fan of your YA books like Different for Boys, so I was wondering about your experiences of now writing for a middle grade audience. What’s that move been like in terms of successes and challenges? What have you learned about writing for this age group? 

I actually don’t see any difference in terms of challenges.  Every book has a voice, so each book – regardless of age group – is finding the right voice for it.  Which is so tricky and halfway mystical.  For middle grade, it was finding the right middle grade voice.  As challenging as it always is for every book I write, but I put the same effort and work and emotional investment in it, regardless of age. 

I love all the quirky illustrations by Tim Miller! Can you remember the first time you saw them? What was that experience like?

First, I would say that I’m no illustrator, so I’m just in awe of illustrators can do.  They bring so much to a book that I can’t, and together we make something bigger than both of us.  I’ve been very lucky in my illustrators, and I’m hugely lucky with Tim, who captures so much character with these deadpan, deceptively simple lines.  I love them.  They’re perfect for the book, and that’s what Zeke will always look like to me now. 

There’s a point in the story where the lizards watch Miel being hugged by his dad and we learn that Daniel has two mums. What a gorgeous moment! I’m NOT going to ask, “Why do you think LGBTQ+ representation is important?” because the answer is pretty obvious to most people! Instead I’m going to ask how you went about balancing the surreal and funny with the more heart-warming and moving elements in the story?

I never look at either as “balance”.  I just see it as writing the accurate world of the story.  In this story, it’s realistic for Zeke to have the nation of France on his knee, but that doesn’t mean this world also has to lack emotion and good jokes.  It’s really just a matter of creating a universe where your story is completely realistic.  That’s all, but it’s also everything. 

You manage to weave into the story lots of very interesting animal facts. What’s been the weirdest animal fact you’ve discovered while writing this book? 

That wombats poop in cubes.  They really do!  I have no idea why.  But they do.  It’s amazing and random, and I would have loved to know that as a kid. 

One of the main themes in Chronicles of Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance is bigotry and prejudice. Would you agree? What other themes do you think are important in the story? 

Oh, I pretty much never think of theme when I’m writing.  I always feel that if I’m responding to a story, then I’m responding for a reason.  If I trust the story, that reason will be all over it.  It’s only at the end, looking back to see if I’ve done my job, that I really notice themes.  I’m just trying to respond emotionally to this characters and tell their truths.  Plus, I think if you start with a theme, you end up writing a sermon.  And who wants to read a sermon? 

I found the poster in Mr Ephesus’s office very interesting. It says PERFECT PEOPLE HAVE NO FRIENDS. Could you talk to us a bit more about this? 

It was something a good friend said to me once, and I believe it’s true.  It’s like Sister Michael says to the perfect Jenny in Derry Girls:  “You’ll go far in life, Jenny, but you won’t be well-liked.”  We love people for their imperfections, so stop trying to be perfect and just try to be good. 

Do you have any childhood memories about reading that really stand out for you? 

I learned to read from Richard Scarry’s Storybook Dictionary.  It was where pictures and letters suddenly matched up.  I’ve never stopped since! 

What does a day in your life look like when you’re writing?

As much as all writers like to pretend they’re Charles Bukowski, knocking out novels at the bar with a cigarette, we’re not.  You’ve got to sit down and put the work in.  I schedule mine like a work day, so I can have the rest of my life, too.  I’m usually working on two projects at once at different stages.  So a first draft of one thing in the morning, then a rewrite of another in the afternoon.  It works for me, but however you do it, if you finish writing your book, you’ve done it correctly. 

Are there any books you’ve enjoyed reading recently that you could recommend to us? 

I really enjoyed Olga Tokarczuk’s huge, epic Books of Jacob, set in 17th-Century Poland.  And I really loved Open Throat by Henry Hoke, told from the point of view of a California mountain lion.  I just want books to show me something different and unexpected. 

Will Zeke, Daniel and Alicia be going on any new adventures after this one? If so, what can you tell us about it? 

Looks like it!  But no, I cannot.  More when I can! 

Finally, can you describe Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance in three words?

Lizards wear hats!