I think one of the greatest things we can do is make people laugh.

I don’t mean force people to laugh (every act of word-paving builds a landscape of toe-stubbing clints and grikes), like turning the screws on the rack, screaming demoniacally ‘you will laugh with genuine feeling or I will abrade your reproductive organs!’. I mean injecting a thought or an idea into someone’s mind that produces an involuntary laugh, giggle or simply an unbidden smile.

To me, that’s gold. It means I’ve entertained and I would rather call myself an entertainer than a writer because, let’s face it, life is short, filled with struggles and hardship and far too much damn sadness and what we could all do with is a break, a moment when we feel lighter, unburdened and temporarily as care-free as we were before we grew breasts or penises (or both). One of my characters proclaimed; ‘laughter is the antidote to existential pain’ and I firmly believe that to be true. We humans, flawed and corrupted and damaged have an in-built protection mechanism. It’s called humour.

But what makes us laugh? It can be almost anything. Some people think an infant getting smacked in the mouth with a swing is funny. Not me. I think ideas are funny. I think the spreading of ideas that stimulate thought is great, but if you can inspire people to think and get them to laugh at the same time… that’s a job well done.