Andy Griffiths answers: what does it take to be an author?

Andy Griffiths has a knack for tapping into the magic of childhood. His books speak to young readers – and have done for generations now – with a unique voice, almost always complemented by Terry Denton’s irreverent illustrations.  

These are stories of mischief and mayhem, surreal scenarios, and worlds that maybe only kids can fully appreciate. With bookshelf staples like the Treehouse series, The Day My Bum Went Psycho and the Just! series, Griffiths has become a modern literary legend. 

Decades into his writing career, Griffiths is still dreaming up fantastic and hilarious stories, having released his latest, You & Me and the Peanut Butter Beast, in August this year.  

For Deakin’s latest Stories of Wonder podcast, host Dom Hennequin catches Griffiths between books, quizzing him on just what it takes to become a successful author, and exploring the journey so far.  

Meet Deakin alum and award-winning author, Andy Griffiths   

Ask anyone who grew up in the 90s, 2000s and beyond, and they’ll know Andy Griffiths’ books.  

Of the dozens of books he’s written, Griffiths’ most celebrated works might be Just! series classics like Just Tricking! and Just Stupid!, which find fun in the antic-fueled trouble of childhood.  

Then there’s Griffiths’ Treehouse book series, thirteen volumes that follow the pseudo-autobiographical characters of Andy and Terry in their distracting, ever-expanding treehouse.  

These signature stories came from the mind of the adult Griffiths but, even as a child, there were glimpses of the award-winning author to come. 

‘I was immediately, as soon as I could pick up a pen, writing and drawing little things,’ he says. ‘Famously in the family lore, I wrote a get-well card for my dad and I said, “Dear Daddy, get well soon.” And he turned the page, and it said, “Or you are doomed,” and showed him being buried in the backyard with an icy pole stick cross.’ 

While Griffiths would eventually dive into the finer techniques of writing at Deakin University, his primary school-aged self instead relied on some in-built storytelling instincts.  

‘I knew from a very young age that to do the opposite of what the reader was expecting could produce laughter,’ he says. ‘You could get shock – you could get shocked laughter. And that’s what I used to do at school with my friends, was draw little cartoons and we’d just be killing ourselves, laughing down the back. And it’s a very pure form of communication. So, I was always writing in some form or another.’ 

Those days of schoolyard laughter would prove to be more than just formative fun for Griffiths. Invariably, this childhood universe would be the setting of much-loved books to come.  

‘Terry [Denton] and I would always be reveling in the joy and delight of being a child,’ he says. ‘That’s what I wanted to celebrate.’ 

About Andy Griffiths: what does it take to become an author?  

Despite a precocious talent for spinning weird and wonderful tales, it was music that grabbed Griffiths after finishing school.  

Inspired by the lyricism of artists like David Bowie and Alice Cooper, Griffiths gravitated towards Melbourne’s DIY punk scene. When his band, Gothic Farmyard, broke up, he figured he might have what it takes to become an author, pursuing his love of language and the written word in earnest. 

‘I extracted myself from that scene, started taking learn-to-write courses, reading books on how to write better,’ he says. ‘And I was like, oh yeah, I can improve what I do. There are techniques. And so, I took that raw kind of instinctual talent and started learning about it.’ 

At the same time, Griffiths was studying for a DipEd at Deakin, before becoming an English teacher. In school, he found young students disengaged from reading, so he started writing ‘little punk rock stories’ to show them that reading could be fun. 

‘I wrote The Day My Bum Went Psycho,’ he says. ‘And they were like, wow, you can write about this stuff? I said, yes – writing is an infinite playground for imagination. There are no limits. So, by example, I was inspiring them to write, and I was publishing their work by photocopying it, binding it and putting it in the school library.’ 

How to become an impactful author: what did Andy Griffiths’ journey look like?  

Publishing stories for school classes, though, was never going to be enough to scratch Griffiths’ literary itch. He wanted to get his own stories published. 

‘I just thought, yeah, I would love to be able to write for a living,’ he says. ‘I came back to Melbourne, did a Graduate Diploma of Fiction and a Graduate Diploma of Editing at Deakin College in Toorak, and wrote twelve hours a day on my own time with my own little stock of money, which was not a lot. And just broke through to find what my voice was, which was not obvious to me. I thought, you know, I’ve got to learn to write properly now.’ 

Although Griffiths clearly had the right storytelling instincts from a young age, the subtleties of how to ‘write properly’ weren’t so innate. In figuring out what it takes to become an author, his next phase of development came from hard work and the help of one teacher in particular. 

‘My teacher at Deakin was Carmel Bird, who is a wonderful teacher of writing,’ Griffiths says. ‘She always refused to tell me how to do anything. She just said, here’s some principles of good writing, take them or leave them. And by the end of the year I went, right, I know roughly what techniques are and what rules are. And I knew confidently then that I could break them if I needed to – and the essence of comedy is breaking rules.’ 

What does a career as an author look like?  

With two years of study under his belt, Griffiths returned to teaching, bringing his sharpened writing skills along with him. Griffiths had also made a connection with an educational publisher who wanted to publish some of his pieces as a creative writing textbook for teachers. It wasn’t the pure literary success he was dreaming of, but it was a start – and a fateful one. 

‘Her name was Rina Leeuwenberg and she worked at Longman Cheshire,’ he says. ‘I remember having a meeting, and she said, “I’m going to get this guy, Terry Denton”. He’s a freelance illustrator, and very funny. I think he’d be a good match for your humour. And she was so on the money there.’ 

Denton – already an in-demand illustrator – proved more than just a good visual foil for Griffiths’ zany prose. Together, they formed a long-lasting creative partnership, encouraging each other to new heights of silliness. Although the reality of their entwined careers is less eye-popping than the Treehouse books would have us believe, Griffiths’ career as an author has still been a wild ride, having now written dozens of books since his first – Just Tricking! – in 1997. 

Beyond the books  

For Andy Griffiths, becoming an author is about more than just telling a story – especially when the target audience is children. Books, he says, can help to grow a child’s imagination and develop skills for life beyond their pages. 

‘[When you’re reading], you’re growing your imagination and you’re also improving your reading skills, so your literacy is naturally getting better,’ Griffiths says. ‘You can write that job application letter so much more convincingly.’ 

Griffiths is also a long-time ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, a publishing industry initiative for children’s literacy in remote or under-resourced indigenous communities.  

‘We figured, you cannot learn to read if there are no books,’ he says. ‘And, in some ways, indigenous people in these communities are very good readers of their landscape – they are far more literate than me or you in those areas. But they also have to deal with the world beyond their communities where not having literacy is a disadvantage.’ 

Visiting these communities, Griffiths has helped translate the unique experiences of indigenous children into relatable, familiar stories, helping them develop their literacy skills in the process. 

‘That’s grown into a whole publishing programme where 150 such books have been created with different communities where the kids can see their own lives reflected back in the books,’ he says. 

Andy Griffiths’ final thoughts on how to become an impactful author  

For children (and, often, their parents) who have been exposed to the wonderful worlds of Andy Griffiths’ books, there’s a lasting impression. For Griffiths, becoming an impactful author has been the result of dedicated study, dogged persistence, and – importantly – staying true to his own voice. 

‘A writer is someone who comes out and says what they’re honestly thinking,’ he says. ‘And then everyone else goes, I was thinking that, but I thought I was weird.’

While his illustrating companion, Terry Denton, has taken a well-deserved break, there’s no sign that Griffiths is slowing down. The second book in his new series, which features the reader (You) as one of the main characters – You & Me and the Peanut Butter Beast – is out now, with plenty more impactful writing to come. 

Searching for more inspiring Stories of Wonder? Discover our latest episodes, featuring: 

Jaleesa Basnight, Lucky Perera, Lucas Rosson, Keira Morgan Hughes, Tim Harte, Al Fricker,  Cassandra Iannucci and Alex Green, and Anna Charalambous.