Peer inside the mind of author Andy Stanton and help pupils understand how to write a comically unlikeable character…
Describing a character who is off-putting is challenging; making the description funny as well is even harder.
Taking things to extremes without going too far is difficult, but much of the humour is found in the over-the-top horribleness of the description.
It is very helpful to have such a masterful example of this balancing act in Andy Stanton’s Mr Gum. This resource pack will help you guide KS2 children through the process of analysing the iconic, anarchic description of Mr Gum, from the very beginning of Stanton’s brilliant You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum.
It will help with the selection of techniques children might adapt to create a hilariously unpleasant character of their own.
This process will enhance broader study of the novel or simply increase enjoyment of it as a class story. Alternatively, the extract could be used in isolation, as a means for teaching certain authorial techniques – especially those of description taken to comedic extremes.
It’s likely that study of the extract will amuse children so much they seek out and read the whole novel for themselves.
Writing resources included
- Extract from You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum by Andy Stanton
- ‘How writers can create a comically unpleasant character’ poster
- ‘Exploring Writers’ techniques’ worksheet
- ‘Exploring Writers’ techniques’ working wall display
- Potential unpleasant character ideas
- Planning sheet
5 tips for writing comedic characters
Author Andy Stanton offers his advice…
Focus on your humour
If something makes you laugh, then the chances are it might make someone else giggle, too.
Jokes kill narrative
They go sideways, whereas narrative goes forward. So, the trick is to keep the narrative progressing whilst nimbly stitching in the jokes wherever you can. This is particularly important when going off on comedic digressions: a digression must really earn its place and not be so digressive that it kills the pace.
Comedy is just one element
You still have to give us all the things that any decent writer of fiction must provide: a cast of diverse characters and emotional stakes we care about, suspense, peril, relationships, alliances and enmities, tension… Otherwise you may as well be writing a joke book (no shade on anyone writing joke books, but hey).
Jokes have rhythm
They are all about the set-up and the pay-off. Construct your smallest jokes with that in mind and your bigger comedic set pieces likewise. What part of the scenario do you want to show? What do you want to hide? When do you want to reveal the surprise and make us laugh?
Don’t sell your readers short
Fart jokes, poo jokes, bum jokes (and of course ‘picking his nose and eating it’ jokes) all have their place. But readers deserve a richer comedic menu than constant gross-out. Credit them as such and give them something that will really blow their minds.
What is You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! about?
The whole thing about Mr Gum is that I always credited children with the intelligence and experience to know when they were firmly in ‘storyland’.
We all know that none of what happens in a story is real, and yet we suspend our disbelief and care about it anyway.
With that in mind, I set out to create a cast of larger-than-life characters who would fulfil traditional narrative roles in as ‘obvious’ a way as possible
At the same time, I’m not making fun of storytelling; I have nothing but respect for fiction. So, I worked hard in the books to convey real emotional truths beneath the artifice.
That, then, is the balancing act: how to take stock character roles and demonstrate that I – or anyone – can make something fresh and exciting and singular from such ingredients.
Mr Gum is very clearly there to fulfil the role of being THE VILLAIN. I thought it crucial to make him fairly useless and inept: he’s painted as utterly terrifying to the other characters in his world, but I never wanted to make him genuinely frightening to children in real life…
Instead, I wanted those reading my books to be giggling at Mr Gum, going ‘UGH!’ in revolted outrage and judging him for his obvious failures and shortcomings.
Comedy is often about someone doing something ‘wrong’ and Mr Gum is clear example of somebody who is doing everything wrong in life.
To children, much of the adult world must appear insane. So, I turned the insanity up to 11 and gave them permission to laugh at it.
The secret formula in Mr Gum is very simple: none of the so-called ‘adults’ has very much sense at all, and it’s Mr Gum’s nine-year-old nemesis, Polly, who’s the moral compass.
Underneath all the silliness and irreverence, I’m championing kid power all the way.
Thank you to Lindsay Pickton for creating the resource pack. Browse more WAGOLL packs from real authors.
