Snoopy strikes a chord in every writer

By John Jenkins

ANYBODY with a spark of creative talent who can make millions smile with the stroke of a pen - whether with a drawing or a few words - deserves the accolade genius. Such a man was Charles "Sparky" Schulz whose humor crossed international boundaries but who was best loved throughout the Americas and Britain.

As you can see from SNOOPY'S Guide to Writing Life, deftly edited by his son Monte and friend Barnaby Conrad, there was much more to Schulz than the ability to turn out a funny drawing. He was a driven man. Driven to appreciate the good things in life - music, art and books. An enjoyment that was totally catholic and eclectic without false boundaries of pop and classic or pseudo-intellectual analysis.

It is said that the Peanuts industry coined 30million dollars a year. Good. At a rough estimate that might work out at 2cents a laugh for the millions who smiled daily at the wry humor. Cheap at a thousand times the price. I love Charlie Brown and Lucy and Linus but Snoopy, perhaps because he yearned to be a writer, has always been my favourite.

This book is the kind of volume that you choose as a Christmas present for a friend and then either keep it yourself or go and buy another one because you can't give away a book which has been so obviously read.

For years a Snoopy mug stood on my desk and I wish I had a £ or even a $ for every cup of tea or coffee it had held. It showed Snoops, as he was known to my family, strolling along with a set of golf clubs over his shoulder, a cocky grin on his face and the hint of a swagger in his step.

The caption read: "I hate playing with a good loser."
It all started when I came back from a game uttering the same unsporting phrase unaware that my kids were within earshot. Their mother explained my less-than-generous nature.

They found the mug, bought it and gave it to me for Christmas. Perfect.

Generous tributes abound in the book. Monte thanks his father for introducing him to so many authors and other good things in life.
His friend Barnaby, who knows there's something of Charlie Brown in all of us, quotes two revealing anecdotes.
Sparky was in the army as a machine gunner driving into southern Germany in a half track just before the end of the war. Suddenly somebody shouted: "Look over there, shoot him." But as Sparky pulled the trigger he realized he had forgotten to load the gun. A moment later, before he could load, a German came out with his hands up. "I'm sure glad I hadn't been able to shoot him."

And when Barnaby interviewed him for the New York Times magazine he asked the question which occurred to many of us: "Do you think of yourself as a frustrated writer?"
"No, I've always wanted to be a cartoonist and I'm happy to be just that. Cartooning is a fairly sort of proposition. You have to be fairly intelligent - if you were really intelligent you'd be doing something else...you have to write fairly well - if you wrote really well you'd be writing books. It's great for a fairly person like me."

In the book, among the cartoons, are some serious insights from 32 best selling authors. Among them are Ray Bradbury, William F. Buckley, Julia Child, Sue Grafton, Elmore Leonard, Danielle Steel, Ed McBain and Fannie Flagg.

Sparky, who was often an honoured guest and contributor to the world famous Santa Barbara Writers' Conference near his home in California, would have liked that. He enjoyed his contact with writers as much as they enjoyed their contact with him.

SNOOPY'S Guide to the Writing Life, Edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz is published by Writers Digest Books at £12.99.

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