Who better to tell us a few things about creativity than John Cleese, the beloved award-winning writer of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and a ton of other great stuff, eh?
A more cynical person might say the book has “stocking-stuffer” written all over it because the content is about the length of an essay stretched out into a dinky, gift-sized hardback aimed squarely at the more bookish members of your fam. But not me - I don’t think there’s a “might” about it!
Still, it’s not a bad read. It’s mostly aimed at wannabe writers, which makes sense as that’s Cleese’s background, and much of the advice is what you’d see in any other writing/creativity book: write what you know, be kind to your emerging ideas by not being overly critical of them to start with, the dangers of overconfidence, “kill your darlings” (ie. let go of ideas you like if they no longer fit the narrative), anyone can be creative and skilful at art, it’s not something you’re born with, it’s something you develop over time.
I also don’t necessarily agree in blocking out arbitrary amounts of time for writing, like 90 minute chunks, as I find, depending on the day, I can be productive in shorter 10 minute bursts, particularly in the early stages of a project, and that length of time might be intimidating to people starting out. But I do agree that perseverance and consistency is vitally important to success.
What stands out the most in this book is that Cleese relates an anecdote where he and his former writing partner, ex-Monty Pythoner Graham Chapman, used to spend hours writing and not come up with anything worthwhile - but that the time spent seemingly wastefully was necessary in order to reach somewhere that was good. And I think that’s definitely worth iterating to inexperienced writers: time spent thinking about your project, even if you don’t add words/pages, is still progress, so don’t get discouraged.
Patience, allowing yourself to feel somewhat panicked/uncertain, and not expecting to have all of your ideas fleshed out immediately, are all lessons worth keeping in mind, even if you’ve heard them before. Though I’m not sure we all have so many people in our lives who would be willing to read our writing efforts and provide feedback like John does. And parts of the book feel like vague anecdotes, ie. the importance of play/the unconscious, like he read an article or two once and is recounting it semi-reliably here.
Creativity may not be the most original or substantial thing John Cleese has written but, as he says, it’s not the originality that matters but the way it’s written, and he remains charming and pleasant company, however brief this book was.
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