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t is hard to match the young guy across the table who hasn’t had breakfast and can’t face it with the image he conjures of an old man crouched over a typewriter, pipe in mouth seeing words tumble on to the page in front of him. But this is the romantic notion that John van de Ruit, author of the enchanting Spud series, believes many attach to him.
“For me, it’s not like that. It’s a process. There’s a lot of making sausages about it. It can be a grind,” he says. He goes on to use much harsher terms - vomiting words - but then settles down to a coffee and a more analytical version of a carefully calculated writing process that delivered one of the most deceptively spontaneous books of the year.
Book of the year it will be as publisher Penguin and retailers ensure that copies are piled at shop doors. Van de Ruit, too, is prepared to admit that the series of four Spud books (the last is yet to be written) is probably the biggest thing he will do in his life in terms of reach. This is a commercial success story second to none. Already, the first two books have broken sales records, been published worldwide and even spawned a movie - a huge contrast to most somewhat dark, self conscious South African literature.
But, surprisingly, writing the Spud books was never about money for van de Ruit and he had no notion that the first book, let alone is sequels, would become a commercial hit. “All I wanted was to get published. I didn’t even know if other people would find it funny. The comic mistress is very fickle. I always doubt that (things will be) funny. It keeps me honest.”
Instead, his first novel was “a wing and a prayer book”. He had no idea of the rules, the writing process was haphazard and he was simply “cheekily throwing things into a book” with the aim of being published.
Technically, ‘Spud - Learning to Fly’, is different. “I feel that this book is superior to the others in writing and planning. For me, it is the best. .. Now there is more time, thought and crafting. But when it comes to the scope and the feeling, you can’t eclipse the first one and I haven’t tried,” he admits.
Van de Ruit spent a large portion of the 14 months that he took to write this third book working on voice, comic rhythms and tone which he describes as “subtle, ephemeral things”. For him, the details and the words are the easy part. The characters live in his imagination and he sees them much like a movie. “I paint a scene in my head and let the characters run away with it.”
When it comes to the structure of the book, he refers to a collection of mini stories in diary form with a plot line running through them. “Each has a different format. I have to sign post the plot line through the book - even through wacky, funny, bizarre events.”
In his typically quirky style, he likens the whole process to dropping a piece of bread for his readers to follow. The end result is a “bird’s nest of nylon - which is stronger than a single cord”.
Interestingly, notes that led to this third novel were penned into a notebook on a small island in South Vietnam. Exhausted from writing two books and the hype of promoting them, he took off to South East Asia which he describes as one of the best things he had done in years. His sojourn produced ideas for both this book and the one to come.
But what, exactly, did he set out to do in the Spud series anyway? Recreate and even fictionalise adolescence, he replies, adding that this was impossible to do in a single book because the age of Spud’s voice changes as do the intuitive comic and dramatic moments.
Spud is exactly what it set out to be - a novel rather than an autobiography and, if it has been influenced by a broader childhood experience and van de Ruit’s cacophony of theatrical experiences. it is certainly not a record of his life.
“My own childhood would have bored people to tears. But people want to believe it is true and I often sense disappointment when they realise that there is a dislocation between myself and my characters.”
Van de Ruit is adamant that the fourth Spud book, which is due out after the movie, will be the last. “I’m now beginning to get my wings. In the next book, I will fly off and explore something completely different. I want to write so that I can’t ever go back. I don’t want to touch it again.
“I know I’m going to cry as I will have to say goodbye to all the boys at once. No one line can really end it as the story and characters will live on in people’s minds. I want to trim and polish ... and tie up all the loose ends. I have got to finish in grand style which is why I don’t want to rush it.”
With that comes the inevitable question - what will he do after Spud? Ben Voss, his “Mamba compatriot” is putting together a team to produce an animated series about “freaks of nature” - delinquent circus animals that have risen up and killed their owners and trainers. “It will be National Geographic meets South Park. The characters will be way crazier and zanier than the Spud characters.”
Then there’s the intriguing notion of having a stab at writing the “big South African play” as well as more books - the perfect thing to do in one’s old age. Has he returned to his image of the old gent bent over his typewriter?
Whatever the future holds, van de Ruit is certain that he would rather write seven classics than be remembered for turning out a never-ending stream of formulaic tales that are easily forgotten.
“Then again, I might just disappear off the map for a while and wait,” he smiles. |
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