© MPL Communications/Paul McCartney & Kathryn Durst
My Writing Routine
Where did the idea for the book come from?
One day one of my grandkids, instead of calling me Grandad, called me Grandude: “Grandude, can we do this . . . ?” I thought, Well, that’s nice, I like that, so I started to think of stories about this character Grandude. I thought, I’ll make him magical. The kids say, “Hey Grandude, can we go somewhere?” and he takes them on magical adventures. That’s how it started – one of my grandkids just called me Grandude one day, and that was it.
Will there be more adventures of Grandude?
Well, you know, maybe we’ll see how this goes. If people like it, then I’ve definitely got a few more adventures up my sleeve – or Grandude has – so it would be quite nice to continue. I’m ready to write more if people do like it.
© MPL Communications/Paul McCartney & Kathryn Durst
How did you collaborate with Kathryn Durst?
I was shown the work of a few illustrators, and because I read a lot of children’s books to my own kids when they were growing up, I know the styles that are out there and I liked her style very much. I thought it suited Grandude perfectly. It was slightly unusual and bohemian, and she made him a bit of an eccentric character, so she was really good. But there was one thing that happened during the making of the book. She’d do an illustration and it would come to me to approve it, and I’d say, “Oh yeah, it’s great.” I loved what she was doing. There was just one funny little detail: in one of the adventures the kids and Grandude were all riding horses and their stirrups were just hanging down – their feet weren’t in the stirrups. So I said to the publishers, “They’re riding horses – their feet should be in the stirrups, shouldn’t they?” And they said, “You know, that’s funny – the American publishers picked up on that too,” so we had to ring Kathryn and say, “Could you just stick their feet in the stirrups?” If you look, you will note that they’ve all got their feet in the stirrups now!
Is writing a picture book for children anything like writing a song?
Well, you know, it is a little bit like that, in as much as you’ve gotta use your imagination – you’re making something up. If it’s a song, you’re making up words and music, and maybe a story. If it’s a children’s book, then obviously you don’t need the music but you still gotta have the imagination, and that’s actually what’s fun about it: you’re making stuff up, but if you’re writing a children’s book your story tends to go to more far out places. You can rub a compass and go to Zanzibar – you can go wherever you like. You could do that in a song, but you tend to keep it a little bit more feet-on-the-ground.
The paperback of Hey Grandude! comes out on 17th September and includes a story CD, featuring narration and instrumental music by Paul.