Superhero Plumbers and Toilet Monsters: An Interview with The Unflushables Author Ron Bates

James Patterson presents The Unflushables, by Ron Bates, is an exciting middle-grade read about mutant creatures living in the sewers of Nitro City, and the hero plumbers who come to the rescue. We got the chance to talk with the author about his humorous and adventure-filled book, some of his favorite reads growing up, and what’s next for him.
As a mother of three boys, I’d first like to say thank you for writing a funny book all about mutant sewer creatures stopping up toilets because it has given us lots to discuss the past few days! When your kids talk about croctupus attacks over breakfast you know the book has captured their imaginations!
My 11-year-old son, who is reading the book now and sharing his favorite parts with his younger siblings, wants to know: What inspired you to write a book about super plumbers and toilet monsters (besides because it’s awesome!)? 
RB: First, please thank your son for me, because he just made my day! As for the inspiration behind the book, I’ve had this fascination with plumbers for a long time. People call them when they have a dire emergency—one that’s preventing them from having any kind of normal life—and plumbers walk in like these cool, calm, collected heroes and save the day.  I don’t think we fully appreciate how much we rely on plumbing, and how awful life becomes when we’re without it. I mean, a broken refrigerator is a problem, but a backed-up toilet? That’s a tragedy. And we’re helpless until the plumber shows up with their awesome, mysterious, ninja-like unclogging skills. So I already had this exalted view of plumbers, and then I started hearing stories about alligators in the sewers, and pythons crawling out of toilets. When I thought about what else might be lurking in those dark tunnels, and how plumbers might have to face off against some pretty ferocious creatures, it was incredibly easy to imagine them as superheroes.
Gloomy Valley Middle School is experiencing troubled times, between clogged toilets and Taco Tuesdays. I love that you created a necessary partnership between Principal Bogart and the main character, thirteen-year-old Sully Stringfellow, in their efforts to fix the school’s plumbing. Most books have the main character and the principal at odds. Why did you decide to take that angle?
I’m really glad you picked up on that, because it was so much fun to create a principal who doesn’t fit that typical, by-the-book, authoritarian mold. In this case, Leonard is a principal who has adjusted to the new realities of Nitro City—he knows Ironwater controls everything and the only way to keep his job is to fly under their radar. So while other principals see Sully’s plumbing fixation as a problem, Leonard sees it as a solution. I liked giving them that kind of student/principal relationship because it spotlighted the fact that Sully is not really an outlaw, he’s more like a plunger-carrying secret agent who is forced to break the rules for a just cause. Having him covertly collaborate with Leonard gives him kind of an unofficial restroom-guardian legitimacy.
Sully has a passion for plumbing like some kids have a passion for soccer or robotics. Tell us a little about Sully and his interest in unclogging toilets for those who haven’t read the book yet.
Sully is a leak freak, a flush puppy, a pooper trooper—in other words, a born plumber. He collects plumber trading cards, has posters of the great plumbers on his walls, and is completely obsessed with anything related to plumbing. It’s understandable because plumbers are heroes in Nitro City—they’re the fighting force that pushed back the dangerous, mutated monsters that live in the sewers. Unfortunately, things in Nitro City have changed recently, and all plumbing is controlled by a single corporation. So Sully is forced to learn his trade in secret, working as a “plunger caddy” for Max Bleeker, an outlaw plumber who doesn’t much care about rules, or his customers, or the personal safety of his one and only employee.
I also love that you made Sully’s relationship with his grandfather, Big Joe, such a large part of the story as kids often have close relationships with their grandparents, and it’s neat to see that reflected in a book. What was your inspiration for that?
I think part of it goes back to my own relationship with my grandfather. He was an auto mechanic, and sometimes I’d hold the flashlight or pass him tools while he worked on cars. The truth is, he could be kind of a grouch under the hood, especially if I was daydreaming or not paying attention, which was most of the time. What I didn’t realize was that there was this apprentice quality to what we were doing—I was helping, but he was teaching me, too. Of course, I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I was a lot more interested in writing than auto repair, and it didn’t seem like we had a whole lot in common. Then when I got older, I found out that he had a secret past—my auto-mechanic grandfather had been a songwriter and a country music performer. He’d had his own band, Shorty Bates and His Texas Saddle Pals, and they’d put out a few records. Learning he had this other side to his life was kind of like meeting him for the first time, and I saw everything through different eyes. Sully experiences something similar with Big Joe.
You have written two other books set in middle school, How to Make Friends and Monsters and How to Survive Middle School and Monster Bots. What do you enjoy most about writing about middle school?
When you write middle-grade fiction, middle school is the great gathering place. That’s the society my readers live in, or at least the one they’ll be living in soon. I love writing middle-grade books because to me, it’s just a fantastic age for storytelling. You’re still a kid, which means that you’re open to the idea that anything magical, or mysterious, or miraculous can happen. That gives writers the freedom to create some amazing characters. At the same time, that age group is old enough to engage with complicated storylines. You never have to write down to them because their minds are constantly expanding. So for writers, it’s got that appealing challenge we all crave, but there’s also the fun of reliving a fascinating, confusing, troubling, exciting, thrill-ride of an age. But mainly, I’m writing the kind of stories that I like, and hopefully they’ll find their way into the hands of readers who like them, too.
Were you a big reader as a kid? What were some of your favorite books?
I was a big reader when I was young, the kind of kid who can’t wait to finish one book so he can get to the bookstore and pick up the next one. I’m pretty sure I read all the Encyclopedia Brown books—all I could get my hands on, anyway. I loved The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There was a book called The Horse Who Lived Upstairs that I remember being obsessed with, probably because I always wanted a horse and a two-story house, and we had neither. I liked Roald Dahl and the Amelia Bedelia books. Those made me laugh. But there was a period in my teens when I pretty much stopped reading as a pastime, which I think happens to a lot of kids. Part of it is school. There’s so much reading that you have to do that it’s hard to make time for the reading you want to do. Plus there’s sports and movies and clubs and other demands on your time. Fortunately that phase passed, and I rediscovered books. Turns out it’s a pretty easy obsession to pick up again.
For those kiddos who are interested in writing books, when did you start to write? What is your writing process like? 
I started writing in the third grade. My teacher, Mrs. Campbell, who was so encouraging and was the first person to tell me I might be pretty good at this, would have us write a story every week and then read it in front of the class. I was terrified, but once I got up there and started to read and got my first laugh from my classmates, I was hooked. After that, my stories got longer and longer. I remember Mrs. Campbell started saving my story for last each week, which I took as her making me the grand finale, but it was probably just because mine were always so long and she knew that by putting me last, there was a good chance they’d be saved by the bell! As for my process, I see the storyline like a movie in my head. I imagine scenes and put them where I think they should be, then have my characters move through them. I know a lot of writers like to create a story then work out the conclusion over the course of the book, but I really need to have some idea of how it ends before I start. It’s a phobia—I have a horrible sense of direction, and I’m always getting lost, so I’m terrified of not knowing where I’m going!
Do you foresee that there might be a sequel to The Unflushables (we hope!)? Surely there are always more toilets to unclog?
Thanks so much for asking. You’re right, there are more toilets to unclog and more sewers to explore, and I’d love to write a sequel because I’m not ready to let these characters go. There’s a lot more fun to be had in Nitro City, and I’ve got a new storyline in mind that I can’t wait to get on paper. At the moment, I’m working on a different book—this one isn’t about plumbers, but I’m having a really good time with it—and I’ll be wrapping that one up shortly. But as soon as it’s done, I’d be thrilled to spend some time with Sully, Big Joe, Izzy, Nixon and Max. I’ve really missed hanging out with them.