I grew up in Toronto, Canada. The most obvious way this influenced my writing was that I was exposed to both British and American humour (Canada being on the periphery of both empires). This gave me a wider array of comic options to choose from when I started writing than if I had been born wholly in one culture or the other. (I also had access to Canadian humour, which is its own unique beast. It is! It is! I know it is! CodCo - I rest my case.) I believe that my humour is richer and more complex because of this.

My family moved around somewhat when I was young. In the 1960s, for example, we spent some time in Berkeley, California. In the early 1970s, we lived for six months in Israel, and, for all but the final two weeks or so, we were told that we had moved there permanently. When we did leave, we drove across the country to Haifa, had a cruise up the Mediterranean and spent a week in Paris (where my dad is from and still has family). On the one hand, it was a difficult experience for me: I lost a year of school, with all the social and intellectual implications that that, uhh, implies. On the other hand, I learned first-hand that the way people in my country live is not the only way one can live. That gave me the ability to question why things in our society are the way they are, an ability that I believe is an important part of being a writer. It took me a lot of retrospect to appreciate this, but I now believe that travel when one is young can be an important part of a artist's growth.

When I was eight years old, I had a conversion experience (you’ve probably heard a story similar to mine: a kid was given a camera when he was 10, and all he ever wanted to do with his life was make movies): in the parking lot of my grade school, I decided that I wanted to devote my life to writing comedy.

I've been doing it ever since.

The first thing I wrote were parodies of the Sherlock Holmes stories that I was reading at the time. I used the backs of my dad’s legal sized accounting pads (the fronts had too many criss-crossing lines). I wrote three stories; each one took up a single sheet of paper. I remember thinking to myself, “How do writers fill their stories with so much detail?” Since then, I have written 22 collections of short stories, six collections of cartoons (all of which can be found on my Web site), a novel, 15 short stories and novelettes and over 100 (alas, mostly unproduced) scripts for film, radio and television. I guess I must have figured out the secret…

(Oh, just so you don’t think I was a precocious child – how many children actually devote their lives to what they want to be when they are eight years old? – I was watching an episode of The Green Room with guest Eddie Izzard one evening. Izzard told the story of meeting his idol, Richard Pryor. In the course of their discussion, they found that they had something in common: they both knew they wanted to be comedians when they were four years old. FOUR YEARS OLD! So, far from being precocious, I was already actually four years behind!)

I am primarily a humour writer, but I have combined it with a lot of science fiction over the last six or seven years. Most major publishers, particularly genre publishers, will not publish this kind of material. Period. There is a story that I have heard from two sources about a writer who pitched a humourous science fiction novel to a major genre publisher. The publisher responded, "We already have The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - we don't need anything else." The industry really has a problem with humourous science fiction. (You can get it published if you have a huge success with a serious book first, but since I only write humour, that option was not available to me.)

But, it gets worse. My major project, which has encompassed five self-published books and counting, is the Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS), which sends reporters into other dimensions and has them report back on what they find there. (It has been compared by a couple of readers as "a science fiction version of The Onion.) Fake news is a strange format, not as easily understood as a short story or a novel. To a publisher who is already skittish about the content, the format would be a definite deal breaker.

Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, everything in the ARNS books was originally published on my Web site, Les Pages aux Folles (http://www.lespagesauxfolles.ca), so the publisher wouldn't get first publication rights. Yikes!

Given all of this, self-publishing was the only way I could see getting my words into print.

Because a lot of what I write for my Web site is topical, I cut articles that inspire me out of the newspaper (I have several piles of clippings around my computer); I consult them when I need to check a detail or need to be inspired (human greed and stupidity are a constant source of inspiration for me).

For longer pieces, I usually spend time taking notes before I sit down to write a word. These notes can be anything from character descriptions to plot points to the punchlines of jokes. I always carry a notepad and writing utensil with me to take notes whenever I'm inspired; at the earliest convenience, I type them into a file on my computer. Only when I'm confident that I know enough of the story (including the ending) do I actually start writing.

My ideas generally develop organically - one idea growing out of something I had written previously.

My first novel was called Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience). It follows the adventures of two Transdimensional Authority (TA) agents, rookie Noomi Rapier and veteran Crash Chumley, as they investigate a potential cross-dimensional crime. The TA had been briefly mentioned in my Alternate Reality News Service books. When I decided to write my first novel, I wanted to do something in the conceptual space of transdimensional travel that I had established in the ARNS books, but I didn't want to focus on the cross-reality news service. The TA, on the other hand, was an idea that seemed ripe for expanding upon.

My follow-up novel, You Can't Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With its Head) is currently awaiting editorial input from my publisher (Elsewhen Press). It follows several different TA investigators (including Noomi and Crash) as they chase down parts of a fiendish plan. One of the major reasons for this episodic structure is that there was a line in the first novel that described all of the TA investigators as "fire hydrants with dark glasses and limbs." After the book came out, I thought that that was a little unfair, and decided to use my next novel to show that, even though the TA may hire people with a specific body type, they are very different characters.

From behind, firmly grasping a butterfly net in both hands.

I have worked with a couple of different artists, now. Generally, I have a clear idea of what I would like to see. I create a sketch in paint (basically, boxes that show where I want the different elements) with a written description, both of which I send to the artist. Then, there is a back and forth, and we eventually come to an agreement on a cover we both like.

Although I usually have my own ideas, I always listen to cover artists, and incorporate their input when I can. I find that artists work better - and the results are better - when you give them room to exercise their own creativity.

Making myself laugh.

Like a lot of writers, I write the sort of work that I would like to experience myself. I have a dry, inventive, intellectual sense of humour that is sadly too rare to find these days. So, I write to amuse myself. (I assume I am not alone in my sense of humour, and that others who share my sensibility will like what I write.)

Surprising myself.

I tend to have a good idea of where I want to end up when I sit down to write a short piece or a scene from a longer piece. I love it, though, when, in the middle of writing a sentence, an unexpected idea pops up. (An important aspect of humour is surprise, so it's important for me to be able to surprise myself.)

Finishing an article or a scene and being able to say, "I accomplished what I set out to do." Or, "This is better than I originally imagined it." Knowing that I have written something that will make other people laugh is a wonderful feeling.

Yes, there is a lot of joy in what I do.

My two earliest influences were Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the Marx Brothers. At first, this may seem like an unlikely combination, but they both taught me two lessons that affect my work to this day: 1) maintain a high volume of comic elements, and; 2) use all of the comic devices at your disposal. The first point is important because the reader soon learns that if he doesn’t get a specific bit of humour, another will be along soon; as long as the reader gets most of the jokes, he won’t begrudge me some of the more topical or obscure or flat out strange. The second point is important because writers who use only one or two comic devices can become predictable, and, as I may have predictably previously mentioned, surprise is one of the main characteristics of humour.

I have also been drawn to some of the earliest novelists: Cervantes (Don Quixote) and Laurence Sterne (Tristram Shandy). We tend to think of perfect novels as having a single storyline (with an occasional, but totally begrudged, sub-plot) with a small number of characters. But, this ideal of "the well written novel" is actually a 19th century creation. Writers like Cervantes and Sterne tried to fit as much life into their works as could fit between two covers. Modern authors who do this tend to write literary fiction; Thomas Pynchon (V, Gravity's Rainbow and Against the Day, among others) is one of my all-time favourites.

These are the writers I enjoy who have, over the years, inspired me.

The monsters under it.

Reading and spending time with friends and family.

Because a lot of what I write for my Web site is topical, I read two newspapers a day to stay on top of current affairs. Because I write a lot of science fiction, I read Scientific American and Scientific American Mind when I can find the time. I also read a lot of fiction for pleasure (and to kill time on the commute to get anywhere from the suburb where I live).

The attraction of family and friends should be obvious.

A terrible mess.

In front of me is a computer monitor. Behind it is a frame with three pictures of two of my nephews when they were younglings. Leaning against the bottom of the monitor is a fridge magnet with a man holding a large tool that reads: "A big enough hammer can fix any computer problem." In front of that are: newspaper clippings; empty drug boxes; speakers; paper clips.

Then, the table dips. On the dip are: used newspaper clippings waiting to be recycled; asthma inhalers; a small globe with stones that represent different countries; my computer keyboard.

To the left of the monitor is an old printer that doesn't actually print anything (but is still useful as a scanner). On top of that is a large pile of newspaper clippings (general articles for satirical writing). In front of it is a weekly pillbox in which I keep my heart drugs. Nearest to me are a memory stick I use to transport writing to the computer in another room that has a working printer and, for some reason, a hair band for my ponytail.

To the right of the monitor is a box of tissues on which rests another large pile of clippings (specifically for Alternate Reality News Service articles - I did mention that I cut a lot of articles out of newspapers, did I not?). On top of the clippings is a calendar I use to keep track of my commitments.

I could clean it up, I suppose, but then how would I ever be able to find things?