It’s not very often that books about fronds focus on a group of boys. Even less often that these groups of friends are shown in a positive, supportive light. That’s what makes ‘The Council of Good Friends’ so brilliant – we get to see boys’ friendships in all their multi-faceted glory: having fun, pranking each other, but also providing advice and emotional support. It’s a great counterbalance to the toxic masculinity so often feted in the media.

Be sure to read Nikesh’s Q&A about the creation of this wonderful story.

“Vinay, Musa, Inua and Nish are best friends. Nothing can separate them… until one day when Vinay’s cousin comes to invade his bunk bed haven (i.e. share his room). When a prank war starts, can the friends remember what really matters?”

I’m lucky enough to be hosting a Q & A with author Nikesh Shukla….

Can you tell us a bit about your new book?

The book is about a group of friends, a group of male friends, a group of male friends who are there for each other, a group of male friends who are there for each other, but also get into capers, mischief, chaos and scrapes, just because… well, we all do, right? I wanted to write a book about boys who aren’t afraid of being vulnerable with each other, boys who can communicate and say how they feel, boys who can hold their hands up when they get stuff wrong, and boys who get into capers. It’s about Vinay, Musa, Inua and Nish, a solid group of friends who play together and hang out and watch every Marvel film and play football and cricket, and also, get into capers. When Vinay is about to get his own bedroom, he is horrified to learn that he has to share it with his cousin from India, Nikesh, and Nikesh thinks it’s his room. This kicks off a prank war that sends the boys to the edge and back.

How did you find it writing for a younger audience, having previously written for teens and adults? Is this always something you’ve wanted to do?

I’ve never really set out to write a thing for a specific audience. It’s just been a feeling that I needed to do it. I started writing YA because I was a youth worker at the time and the kids I worked with didn’t read YA, because they wanted more stuff that was contemporary and set in Bristol where I live. And I thought, I will do this for you. I wrote a memoir because I needed to read that book once and I didn’t want anyone else yearn for something that didn’t exist. I wrote Spider-Man because… well, that’s the best thing ever. This book, I wanted to write something my kids could read. They know I’m a writer in the abstract, but now they can experience it. When I gave them the book, they both read it on the way home. And then, when I emerged from the toilet, later that day, they both had lined up at the door with a pen and their copy of the book, requesting a signature. It was the proudest moment of my life. Apart from writing Spider-Man.

Where did you get the inspiration for this story?

Partly, it was me sharing a bedroom with a relative at a young age and us getting engaged in a prank war and hating and loving each other, and learning to get along the hard way. Partly, it was also about rekindling my faith in male friendships that aren’t based on bants and humiliation and stereotypical visions of what men and boys are like. I wanted to show that boys can be vulnerable with each other, and communicate with each other, and that not make them any less manly. Whatever that means. Also, I wanted it to be fun and funny. It’s inspired also by a lockdown experience I had where a bunch of friends and I started a Sunday movie club, that became a WhatsApp group about the movie, that then became a place where each of us was able to share our truest, most tender selves, and I realised I had been lacking this in my male friendships for so long. And I was in my forties! I wanted to write backwards to myself as a kid and show myself what was possible. As a youth worker, as an uncle to new nephews, as a parent and a child, as a brother and a friend, as a co-worker and a mentor, it felt important to me to write a fun book where boys can appear soft.

Why do you think it’s so important to have books like this for boys in particular?

Because the more the better! I’m not going to sit here and say that books like this don’t exist. Because that’s disingenuous. They do. Writers have been writing tender and thoughtful boys in funny books for decades. I guess, I wanted to add to the canon of that. I wanted to write towards a utopian vision of what a boy can be. I see so often mentions of the impact of Andrew Tate in schools and have spoken to teachers about the impact his words have had on young men. Now feels like a good time to combat those words with a different take. I’m not saying what I have to say is more compelling than what he might have to say. But hopefully this will reach the people who need it

Did you find it difficult to balance the funny scenes with the more sensitive, quieter sections?

Nope. You have to have the quieter scenes in order to ramp up towards and down from big funny set pieces. Comedy is all about truth. Telling the truth, albeit in a funny way. And often comedy comes from pain. The quieter bits give the readers, and the characters, reflection points and they also give the plot an even pacing.

Do the themes, the characters or plot come first for you when writing?

Depends on what I’m writing, if I’m being honest. Sometimes I’ll be struck by an image or I’ll be wrestling with a question, either an internal one about why I am the way I am, or an external one where I’m wondering about why the world is the way it is, and I then think about reimagining either myself, or the world. Sometimes I’ll have a character or a setting or a feeling. Sometimes it’ll be a plot. With this, it was a feeling. The feeling was a warmth towards my friendship group.

What did you think when you first saw the illustrations for the book?

Rochelle, you nailed it. I salute you. I loved them so much. She got the energy and the comedy. She really got the characters. And most of all, she got the tone. Really pleased with how it has turned out.

Are you working on anything now?

Yes. I’m figuring out my next YA project, hoping for another Council of Good Friends book and completing my Spider-Man India miniseries.

The Council of Good Friends by Nikesh Shukla, illustrated by Rochelle Falconer, is published by Knights Of, out now. www.knightsof.media

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Thank you, Nikesh, for sharing those insights. I’m very excited to learn that there’s another ‘council’ adventure in the pipeline!

Jo.

*Many thanks to Knights Of for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour. Make sure you visit the other stops too*