It was Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I bet you will never guess in a million years what that book was, so I’ll tell you. It made me look at my writing in a completely different way, and I’ve never looked back. “People don’t take funny writing seriously!” Or worse: “People don’t take funny writers seriously.” I was holding back a fundamental part of my voice when I chose to ignore my funny side.
Like I said above, it’s my thing to make people laugh, and when you try to deny your thing, you’re not being your authentic self.
But the truth is, I wasn’t being honest with my writing voice when I was writing Very Serious Books. I don’t have to tell you, Nerdy Book Clubbers, that through reading about Serious issues, we see ourselves in others, others in ourselves, develop empathy, learn about humanity, and travel the world, which can be a cruel, difficult, warty place. Now, don’t get me wrong, Very Serious Books are important. I have a whole pile of unpublished books that are not the least bit funny. So it might come as a surprise to you that I started out writing Very Serious Books. It’s addictive, actually, that heady feeling of making someone guffaw or even chuckle, and my secret shame is that I will do nearly anything for a laugh. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as making someone laugh or smile with something I’ve said/written/done.
So the truth is that, yes, I know I’m funny. I’ve been told over the years that: I am funny, should be a stand-up comedian, write hilarious Facebook posts, and so on. Especially after the checks have cleared.” (Actually, that last sentence is my embellishment-I do write fiction for a living, after all.) Because really, how does a polite Canadian respond without sounding obnoxiously braggy (I’m cringing even as I type this, many years later)? Well, this polite Canadian answered by stammering out an, “Um, well yes, as a matter of fact, they do. I still cringe when I think of the time when a very big deal New York editor asked me that question when we were discussing one of my manuscripts.
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