Neal Shusterman’s main technique when story telling is to focus on teenagers and teenager driven problems, most prominent are mental health, like depression, anxiety and self-harm or social pressures, like bullying, peer pressure, body image, or sexuality. His main goal when writing is to connect to teens. He tends to not have many calm moments in his writing, captivating his audience with the fast-paced storytelling. His fast pace storytelling is what hooks his readers in and never lets them go. Neal uses humor to his advantage. Most of his stories are dystopias or dramatic young adult fiction, so he adds humor to lighten the story and add relief where needed. Most of his works are rooted in other authors' works which he looks up to. It is not plagiarism but just inspiration, as many of the authors he looks up to also look up to him, creating a collective for storytelling. 

His characterization is where he shines. Shusterman tends to lean more towards juvenile authority in his writing. With central conflicts based on children and young adults questioning authority, or what he likes to call “ Proactive Citizenry,” Neal’s characters end up in trouble or in jail quite often. His characters focus on challenging societal norms and laws they see as unfair. Characters in Shusterman’s novel usually take on different looks, for example southern gothic in his story Unwind. He weaves Foucault's theory in most of his books effortlessly, creating characters that use knowledge to gain power and vice versa. With this lust for knowledge comes sharp emotional arcs and added internal reflection. Characters in these novels reflect what teens go through in real life. The emotions displayed are parallel to that of the real world with internal conflicts that feel personal to the reader. Shusterman’s characters are complex and realistic.