John Michael is an English teacher by day, where he does his best to instil a love of literature into the heart of every student who wanders into his classroom – willingly or unwittingly! By night, he transforms into a writer – creating new worlds for young readers, full of unpredictable scenarios, zany humour and madcap imaginings. His latest middle grade novel is called Googol Boy and the Peculiar Incident of the Great Quiz Trophy, with illustrations by Dave Atze.
Today, John Michael is on the blog to take on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
John Michael
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born in a place called Alba Longa and raised by a hairy foster mother who was, in fact, a wolf. Oh, wait … that’s the story of Romulus and Remus. Sorry, my story is much more humdrum. I was born in Sydney and I’ve been in Sydney ever since – birth, school, university and back to school again (no… I’m not repeating – I’m a teacher).
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
When I was twelve, I was really good at playing pranks and tricks on my parents so I wanted to be a clown like Krusty or Bozo.
When I was eighteen, I was really good at arguing with my parents so I wanted to be a lawyer like Atticus Finch or Perry Mason.
When I was thirty (and after having kids of my own), I wanted to be a time traveller and go back in time and apologise to my parents for annoying them so much!
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
That your goals and dreams should turn out the way you envisaged them. It seems, however, that fate doesn’t really care about your plans so remember, pretend to be normal, smile while you still have teeth and always be grateful because life has a way of sorting itself out.
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Salvador Dali
Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
The Etched City by K. J. Bishop
These three composers, with their utilisation of rich symbolism, dreamlike qualities, incongruous imagery and gothic elements, have influenced my writing because I have always found that such weird, uncanny and eery aspects within art awaken our sensibilities and provide us with a fresh and revitalised interpretation of the world and our place in it.
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a children’s book?
Well, I did consider being a mime artist for a while but Marcel Marceau had monopolised the whole industry. And then there was my infatuation with accordions but Weird Al Yankovic had everything covered in that area. So what was left, really?
Writing middle grade books is an absolute honour and privilege. You are in a position where you can mould young minds but, just like with Spider-Man and Googol Boy, with great power comes great responsibility. As an author you are in a position to capture the imagination of young kids, unshackle them from the constraints of reality, broaden their knowledge and, hopefully, create life-long readers.
‘It seems, however, that fate doesn’t really care about your plans so remember, pretend to be normal, smile while you still have teeth and always be grateful because life has a way of sorting itself out.’
6. Please tell us about your latest book!
“My brain became inflamed – my neurons throbbed; my synapses sizzled. The colourful music filled me, washing over me – I could feel it on my skin, entering my pores, consuming me. The sweet tones exploded in my mouth in an ecstasy of flavours tasting like shimmering words, infinite knowledge and piercing wisdom. My senses were overwhelmed by a tsunami of stimuli. I was drinking from the golden cup but it was filling me up all too quickly – my tastebuds savoured stories and tragedies, my ears absorbed ballads and histories.” p.36
Googol Boy is about a clueless teenager who is zapped by lightning while working on his computer, he absorbs all the information off the internet and his (very) ordinary brain starts to exhibit extraordinary potential. As Howie struggles to control his new-found power he is faced with all sorts of hilarious predicaments, from contending with mega-mean teachers to being ridiculed by the school braniac, a petite know-it-all determined to humiliate him. Howie has to overcome the enormous obstacles before him to defeat his annoying arch-nemesis and solve the peculiar mystery of the stolen Great Quiz Trophy.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
First of all, I want my readers to snort, snicker, chuckle, chortle, giggle and guffaw ‘during’ their reading of the novel. What would readers take away ‘after’ they’ve finished the book? This is the best part about Googol Boy – you will learn without even trying! Just like getting fit without exercising or like growing a moustache without hitting puberty. The book is jammed packed with all sorts of interesting information, enticing illustrations and there’s even a fun fact section in each chapter! Did you know that Googol is the correct spelling of Google?! See! You’ve learnt something new already! Without trying!
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
Such a difficult question to answer because, as an English teacher, you admire many different writers for different reasons. It’s like asking me who’s my favourite child (okay, it depends on who annoys me the least on any given week).
I still love Dr Seuss! The iconic characters, such weird and wacky worlds, the tempo and rhythm and internal rhyming, and the marvellous illustrations. When I teach extracts from Dr Seuss books to my junior students, we go to town with the rhymes! We even have a rhyme-off to see who can be the speediest rhymester!
Then there’s Lewis Carol, Roald Dahl, J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, E. T. A Hoffmann, Mark Twain, J. R. R. Tolkien, (and for older readers) Annie Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Haruki Murakami, J. M. Coetzee, David Malouf, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot… (sorry, I better stop now or this list will go on and on and on).
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I’m not sure that I would label myself as ambitious but I’ve always tried to nurture my creative side. As a kid, I would always be reading, drawing and painting. At university, I was drawing cartoons during lectures. As a teacher, you try to be creative when you’ve got a class (not that you always succeed). And then, I finally bit the bullet and wrote my first novel and was so fortunate (and lucky) to get published. In terms of goals, I have already completed my second book of the Googol Boy series and have almost finished the third one. But, of course, books are nothing without readers and I think that it goes without saying that my ultimate goal is to have a reader out there somewhere chuckling and guffawing loudly.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
When I teach my students creative writing, I always tell them that there are two golden rules: Reading & Vicissitudes. Firstly, if you are writing about a man rowing across the bay, see how Hemingway has done it or read an extract from Moby Dick. You must read, read, and read some more! Or, as Annie Proulx puts it, “Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” Secondly, you must have vagaries or fluctuations in your story. In other words, use contrasts. Vary your mood and tone, character portrayals, scenery and setting, stylistic devices or even style of writing in order to maintain the reader’s interest. As John Steinbeck states so eloquently, “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
Thank you for playing!
The best part of life is having the opportunity to play, so thank you!
—Googol Boy and the Peculiar Incident of the Great Quiz Trophy by John Michael and illustrated by Dave Atze (Big Sky Publishing) is out now.
Googol Boy and the Peculiar Incident of the Great Quiz Trophy
Googol Boy: Book 1
When an unassuming, rather clueless teenager is zapped by lightning while working on his computer, he absorbs all the information off the internet and his (very) ordinary brain starts to exhibit extraordinary potential.
As Howie struggles to control his new-found power he is faced with all sorts of hilarious predicaments, from contending with mega-mean teachers to being ridiculed by the school braniac, a petite know-it-all determined to humiliate him...
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