Kids Experiencing Bad Guys Withdrawal? Let This Aaron Blabey Q&A About Game of Pets Fill the Void

Science fiction. Bit of a broad term, that. It can encompass everything from alien dragons to time travel to the occasional dystopian robot takeover. Historically there’s always been this vague understanding that science fiction for kids doesn’t “sell” the way that, say, fantasy does (never mind Hunger Games – look away, LOOK AWAY!!). Bless those souls that keep cranking it out then. When I was a kid I was 100% a science fiction nerd. You know who else is a bit of a science fiction writer himself? That Aaron Blabey guy. You know and love him from his Bad Guys series (one of my regrets is that my son got too old for me to finish the series with him and now I may never know what happened with Snake!!) but for so many kids they’re just the right size. Short, exciting, with just the right combination of art, humor, and explosions to transition them into longer novels. Longer novels like… the brand new Game of Pets series by (and isn’t this a coincidence?) Aaron Blabey! Kicking off with The Boy Who Knew Too Much (on sale today) this has the quintessential Blabey joie de vivre (with a touch of je ne sais quois). Or, as it publisher puts it:

“OK, here’s the situation:

Thanks to a diabolical intergalactic game show, we are all cooked.

Luckily, Griff, an 11-year-old kid with innumerable allergies, just got told by a talking axolotl named Bob that Griff is the only one who can save us.

I mean, that’s kind of good news, right?

Trouble is, Bob’s prophecy comes with a warning: “Watch your back, man…your PETS are not what they seem…”

Prepare to have your mind blown and your cats and dogs under heavy suspicion. It’s time to buckle up for an insane, laugh-out-loud new series, 260 million years in the making…”

So I’m going to talk to Aaron about the book and the series and pets and whatever else comes to mind. Doggone it.

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Betsy Bird: Aaron! Such a pleasure to get to ask you questions today. Having already conquered the world with your BAD GUYS and CAT ON THE RUN series, you’re switching gears a bit here with GAME OF PETS. Tell us a little bit about the origins of this book. Where’d you get the idea to give our animal companions such sordid intentions?

Aaron Blabey: Well, I’m kind of switching gears but not really. It’s more of an extension of my universe – the Blabeyverse, if you will. The idea is something I’d had up my sleeve for years. As you may have noticed, I have something of a track record when it comes to creating characters who are not what they seem and of all the ideas I’ve had, this one feels like the biggest. Game of Pets feels limitless, in terms of storytelling scope and it is easily the most fun I’ve had writing anything. The concept effortlessly lends itself to a layered narrative – with some big ideas embedded – but it’s all delivered as a gleeful and utterly bonkers comedy.

BB: “Gleeful and utterly bonkers” should be on the press package, most certainly. The book reads a bit older than some of your previous fare too. It’s got plenty of your fabulous art (I didn’t know how much I wanted to see an Aaron Blabey axolotl until now) but the text is a bit more sophisticated than it was in THE BAD GUYS series. Had you been hoping to write something a little older for a while, or did it just come out that way as you started to write?

Aaron: I’ve written all my books in parallel with my own kids, from picture books when they were little and then then shifting upwards as they got older. I specifically write for them, and I always have. That’s what grounds it. With that being the case, Game of Pets is a series of middle grade novels, lightly illustrated, as opposed to ‘graphic novels’ like The Bad Guys. This will hopefully feel like a natural progression for kids who’ve enjoyed the Bad Guys but now want something a little more expansive to sink their teeth into. Again, in terms of execution, it’s a slight gear change but tonally, it’s exactly the same. It’s just me. In fact, I’ve been questioning why I haven’t written older novels all along. As far as my sense of humor and storytelling instincts are concerned, I feel like I’m finally home.

And yes, I love Bob the axolotl too. He’s a keeper.

BB: Darn right. Okay, so give us a bit of a glimpse into your process. Since your art is so integral to your books, how do you create them? Are you simultaneously writing and sketching? Do you write everything and add the art later? What’s your methodology?

Aaron: I loosely plot the series and figure out what everyone looks like as part of that process but then, once the actual writing begins, I’m just inside the world and, the best way I can describe it is – I’m transcribing a movie that is playing in my head. Once the ‘movie’ is up and running, it’s just a matter of trying to keep up. Sometimes it feels like I’m attempting to capture it in real time. It comes out in a dizzying blur. I get it down as best I can and then circle back and finesse it. For The Bad Guys, yes, it was predominantly visual storytelling but, in the case of Game of Pets, I don’t start the final artwork until the novel is complete. The illustrations are just the icing on this one and I’m finding that delightful.

BB: Please note that this book definitely has an environmental focus at work. Any particular inspiration for that aspect of the story?

Aaron: I love that element of Game of Pets because I can’t think of any other work for children that raises a bunch of big environmental issues – and hopefully provokes some discussion around it – but does it by cloaking it all in the guise of an off-the-rails action-comedy. The messaging is delivered surreptitiously, slowing emerging through the absurd situations our hero, Griff, finds himself in. And to return to your first question, that is why I chose our pets as the perpetrators here – it’s funny and completely ridiculous but the critters in the story consistently bring up real-world problems that will potentially make kids think while they’re laughing at the chaos of the situation Griff has landed himself in. That’s my favorite thing about this series – it works on both levels throughout.

BB: Well, but there’s a whole range of different ideas at work in this book. When you’re writing something like GAME OF PETS do you have a clear outline in your mind of the book from the start or do you have to workshop your ideas a lot?

Aaron: The walls of my studio are covered in white-board paint. I get a marker and throw a million ideas up there and then let the story sneak up on me as I immerse myself in it. I plot it all out, but only very loosely, so that I can let the story surprise me during the actual writing. I figure if I can surprise myself, I have a shot at surprising the audience. I’ve been laughing out loud, a lot, while writing this one.

BB: Always a good sign. Along the same lines, is there anything you initially wanted to include in this book that you had to lose along the way? Anything you miss?

Aaron: Nope. I got it all in there, across the six-book arc. It’s VERY satisfying.

BB: Fair enough. Now can we hope for GAME OF PETS to become a series at all? Or is this a one and done situation?

Aaron: It’s a six-part series, with a cliffhanger at the end of each book. It feels pretty epic, if I say so myself.

BB: Finally, (and this is related) what else are you working on these days? What’s next for you?

Aaron: You’ll have to wait and see 🙂

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Mic drop on that interview thar. Hey, big thanks to Aaron for answering my questions to various degrees of enticement. Thanks too to Morgan Rath and the team at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for helping to put all of this together. As I mentioned before, The Boy Who Knew Too Much is out today (like, today today) so there’s no need to wait to purchase it. Give it a go. It’s good for what ails ya (particularly if what “ails ya” is a lack of humor in your daily life).

Filed under: Interviews