Writing for Fun: Andy Griffiths on ‘Once Upon a Slime’

Monday, 4 February 2013 Books+Publishing

In his new book Once Upon a Slime: 45 Fun Ways to Get Writing … Fast! (Pan Macmillan, April) Andy Griffiths gives advice to inspire young writers. The author spoke to Meredith Lewin. You can read Lewin’s review of Once Upon a Slime here.

Once Upon a Slime encourages writers to reach beyond their capabilities. At this point in your career, how do you continue to push yourself as a writer, and is there anything you’ve ever wanted to try writing but, for whatever reasons, haven’t done so yet?

I’ve been fascinated by humour all my life and even as a young child my instinct was always to write things that made people laugh. When I got serious about writing in my late twenties, my ambition was to write the funniest book that I could possibly write. It took me 10 years to figure out how to write the book that became Just Tricking! (Pan Macmillan) and when it came out it was well received, but I noticed readers always mentioned two or three stories which they found funnier than the others. So I realised that I still had work to do … I had to try to write a book in which all the stories were as funny as the funniest stories in the first book. Just Annoying! (Pan Macmillan) was overall funnier, I think, but, annoyingly, there were a few stories that were even funnier than the others. So I started a third book … and a fourth … twenty-five books later I’m still learning, still experimenting, still improving and still trying to write the funniest book that I can possibly write for the widest possible age range. I always listen carefully to the response of the audience to each book and then try to focus on what’s working and build on that in the next one. It’s a never-ending and completely absorbing process.

Early on I had the idea that I would eventually write an adult novel, but the ideas for children’s books just kept on coming. And, meanwhile, over the years many teachers and parents have told me how much they enjoy the books when reading them to children and how they’ve become classroom and family favourites so, in effect, I feel like I’m already writing for adults but without excluding children, which makes me very happy.

The main idea in this book is that writing is fun—something many people seem to lose sight of as they get older. What’s your best advice for rediscovering the joys of writing as an adult?

I’m passionate about keeping in touch with whatever gives you joy now or what gave you joy when you were young, whether it was music, art, books, food, cars, sport, comics or whatever. These early sources of fascination hold great power and can connect us to primal sources of inspiration, so I recommend you make the effort to revisit them on a regular basis and remember and re-experience the feelings you had when you first encountered them. (For me it was the early albums of Alice Cooper and the lurid horror/sci-fi comics of the early 70s that opened the door to a realm of excitement and pleasure beyond the everyday normality of the suburbs.) Writing about something that brought—or brings—you joy tends to awaken those feelings in both you and your readers.

Though many writing books promise anyone can be a great writer with practice, it seems one of the biggest hurdles we face is believing this to be true. What are your best suggestions for overcoming self doubt?

I’m not sure that everybody can become a ‘great’ writer with practice but I don’t think that’s necessarily the point or even especially desirable. We are telling each other—and ourselves—stories all the time. Whether they are major life dramas or simply what happened in the shopping centre carpark yesterday afternoon, we love to surprise, delight, scare and hold the attention of our listener and we’ve had a lifetime of practice. Writing is simply storytelling in another form with strategies and techniques that can be learned and practised. So the first step to overcoming doubt is to realise that you are a born storyteller. The second is to write your first drafts reasonably quickly so that self-destructive or doubting thoughts don’t have a chance to enter into the process. Once you have something on the page you can always improve it. But if you haven’t written anything there’s nothing to improve.

Comedy’s such an important part of your work; yet, for most writers, it is one of the hardest skills to master. Do you think humour is something that can be learned?

For sure. You can definitely zero in on the types of things that make you laugh, study them closely and then look for opportunities to incorporate these elements into your writing. I am constantly analysing—and being inspired by—humour in all its forms, whether it’s written, filmed, performed live or simply happening around me. I also attend comedy workshops and seminars, read books on comedy and listen to the writer’s and director’s commentaries on my favourite movies and sitcoms. Comedy is a subject I never tire of.

You mention several books that inspired you, such as the ‘Coles Funny Picture Books’ and Der Struwwelpeter. Are there any books on writing itself that you’ve turned to for help? (Other than your own!)

I was helped enormously by Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala Publications) where I first encountered the concept of timed writing practice (set a time limit, keep your hand moving, don’t think, be specific and lose control). It’s a great way to get in touch with your subconscious, your feelings, your stories and, most importantly, starts building up your ‘writing muscles’, which respond to writing practice the same way the physical muscles in your body respond to exercise.

When teaching writing to younger children, how do they respond to the idea of themselves as storytellers? Are they excited about making their own entertainment, despite living in an era where entertainment is all around them?

Yes, I only have to show children a few examples of 12-page pocket books (one of the 45 writing activities in the book) and they can’t wait to start working on their own. A good creative writing activity is one that sets parameters for a child’s writing: it specifies audience, form and purpose. Far from shutting a child’s creativity down, these parameters actually open it up. They offer the child a definite ‘problem’ to solve … and we are all creative when faced with a problem.

In this book your number-one writing tip is to write every day. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever been given?

I remember at a writing festival in 1988 at a session on computers and writing, a writer stood up and passionately declared that he would always use a pen or a typewriter to write and would never use a computer. He received an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience … but not from me. I’d already discovered the power of the computer for editing and rewriting. Humour relies on precision and a word processor allows you to rewrite a piece as many times as necessary until it’s exactly right. That being said, I love the freedom of pen and paper when creating first drafts.

What was the last book you read and loved?

The Harp in the South (Penguin) by Ruth Park. It’s vivid, sad, funny, hopeful and harsh. A deeply beautiful book.

Category: Features