Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

 I've almost finished FUNNY HA HA.  I'm at W for Wodehouse.  I read one of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books years ago and it didn't make a huge impression on me.  I can't even remember which one it was.  Sometimes comedy classics misfire when it's not quite your humour and I thought it would be the case for this one.  I thought I'd plough through it anyway.  Page 568: The Spot of Art.  It really is a masterpiece.  I was so, so impressed with it.  It's simple, it's exceptionally well-paced.  Some of the best stories just feel right and I eased into this one like I was sliding into a warm bath.  And the dialogue.  My Lord, the dialogue really zings.  I didn't want it to end and I'm a restless reader at the best of times.   Here's an extract to give you an idea of the quality.   A bit of backstory: Wooster has set his sights on Miss Pendlebury, an artist who has just painted his portrait. ...

My boss provided the introduction. He asked me whether I'd read any of Saki's short stories after he’d read a very short story of mine about a talking ostrich called Belinda who lays garlic dips.  It was one of those crazy little dream-stories I've always really liked writing.  I wrote it with craziness and surrealism in mind.  I wanted to be a bit weird for weird’s sake.  Weird doesn’t take itself too seriously and this leads to a sense of freedom.  This gives them a bit more snap, crackle and pop than if I was writing something a bit more serious.   What I’ve learnt over the course of this year is that people like weird.  Or at least the sort of people I like like weird.  When I'd showed my boss that story, I was worried that he’d be a little bamboozled by it.  But regular readers don’t get bamboozled easily and my boss is a regular reader.  What actually happened was that he found it quite normal – normal within the construction...