Pratchett recalls that it was noted on his school reports that he had a good imagination, but, as he jokes, the comments were normally written as negative aspects of his school life – comments like ‘should pay more attention in class’ instead of ‘bound for literary stardom’. But the school also nurtured Pratchett’s talents, as he wrote his first short story there at the age of 13 (‘The Hades Business’ in 1961), which was published in the school magazine. Pratchett’s headteacher, however, condemned the moral tone of the story. Why? The basic plot was slightly subversive, especially for a child of 13: the Devil is having trouble recruiting souls for Hell, so he decides to get a business partner to create a theme park out of Hades, thus encouraging people to join. The Hades theme park becomes successful – so much so that the Devil decides to give up Hell and return to Heaven – just for a little peace and quiet.
To my mind, like so many of his short stories in the 1960s, there is an underlying message in the story if one wants to find it. Cheats never prosper, for example, could be a good moral pay-off for ‘The Hades Business’, so I’m sure the headteacher noticed something of merit in Pratchett’s work.* Despite the headteacher’s concerns, other stories followed in the school magazine, such as ‘Solution’ and ‘The Picture’.* Two years later (in 1963), ‘The Hades Business’ was published in Science Fantasy magazine and with the money he made from this sale Pratchett decided to buy himself a typewriter.
Some people also see a comparison with Pratchett’s fourth Discworld novel Mort.
These two stories definitely appeared in the school magazine, but as Pratchett never kept copies of them, it is uncertain how many others were printed.
Appearing in Science Fantasy magazine was a great achievement. By August 1963 the magazine was in its 12th year and had won a lot of respect. Volume 20, No 60 (Pratchett’s issue) boasted a short story ‘Same Time, Same Place’ by Mervyn Peake and an appreciation of Peake by Michael Moorcock. Pratchett’s achievement of appearing in Science Fantasy magazine at the age of 15 is not one to be taken lightly.
The very act of submitting the story to Science Fantasy magazine shows that Pratchett believed in his own abilities and had a desire to be a published writer. Buying the typewriter proved his passion for doing so. Again, it is an impressive and very single-minded thing for a 15-year-old to do, but he remained level-headed about the future. ‘When I was a little lad and thought about being a writer, I remember reading that the chances of making any kind of living at all from it were so low as to be negligible,’ he recalled. But the dream was there.
‘Like a child lost in the chasmic mazes of a darkening forest, so was Titus lost in the uncharted wilderness of a region long forgotten. As a child might stare in wonder and apprehension along an avenue of dusk and silence, and then, turning his head along another, and another, each as empty and breathless, so Titus stared in apprehension and with a hammering heart along the rides and avenues of stone.’
Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast)
Before the sale of ‘The Hades Business’, Pratchett had shown no real indication as to what he wanted to do in life. In retrospect, the move from insatiable reader to writer seems a natural one, but it was continued success that inspired him to consider a future as a writer. He wasn’t being rejected, he was being encouraged.
Pratchett has described himself as a ‘bolshy’ kid. This is not to say that he was naughty, just a little headstrong. He knew his own mind and had a determination to see things through. This is echoed throughout his youth, from reading the whole of The Lord of the Rings in one sitting, to studying hard at school. He seemed to know instinctively what his priorities in life were.
So was Pratchett doing well academically? To a degree, yes; but, as he now explains, he did find maths a struggle, eventually parking an early ambition to be an astronomer because it meant you had to be good at figures.
He enjoyed more creative subjects. At school he loved lessons such as design technology (notably woodwork) rather than the more academic lessons such as maths and Latin. Outside school, Pratchett and his father were members of the Chiltern Amateur Radio Club (from the early 1960s), where their sense of humour was clear in their joint call sign: Home-brew R1155. So given the desire to play around with technology combined with a love of woodwork, one might expect that Pratchett seemed destined for a more practical career – not unlike his father – rather than writing. As it turned out, all these practical skills were nothing more than hobbies, as well as fuel for an active imagination.
The young Pratchett continued to do well at school. He achieved five O levels and started A levels in art, history and English, but he heard that there was a vacancy at the Bucks Free Press (a local newspaper). After consulting his parents, he went for the job and, remarkably, he got it, leaving school in 1965. When he got to the newspaper, he found that his education was far from over. He had to take a two-year National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency course. He would come top in the country. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he also passed an A level in English while on day release (his only A level pass).
Pratchett fell easily into journalism. He has described himself as a ‘born journalist’, and that the pleasure of hitting the keys as a touch typist is almost like a therapy to him. One cannot but agree, because in November 1965 Pratchett found his short story ‘The Night Dweller’ in a paperback anthology entitled New Worlds SF, edited by Michael Moorcock.* ‘The Night Dweller’ is not considered a milestone in Pratchett’s back catalogue. The few copies that come onto the market through antiquarian book dealers are often underplayed today and Pratchett fans are not exactly overcome with enthusiasm for the story either. What is interesting is the fact that Pratchett was still submitting stories for publication and, shortly after leaving school, he had had his second real success as a short-story writer.
Some people call this paperback The Wrecks of Time because the cover of the book depicts an interpretation of James Colvin’s headline story inside.
Pratchett’s drive, enthusiasm and natural ability had paid dividends again, and his talents as a writer of science fiction and fantasy did not go unnoticed at the Bucks Free Press. Very quickly he was given his own column, taking over ‘Story Time with Uncle Jim’ in the ‘Children’s Circle’ section. Between 8 October 1965 and 17 July 1970, Pratchett wrote children’s stories, sometimes in weekly episodes. In total he wrote 247 episodes, amounting to 67 individual tales, all fantasy stories but none of them with titles. They have never been anthologised in print but most are accessible on a website (www.terrypratchett.weebly.com), where they are now given distinguishing titles. Some of the stories can be viewed as pdfs of the original newspaper, or as text-only documents, whatever suits the reader. None of the stories were written under Pratchett’s own name but they include Carpet People and other very Pratchett-like characters and situations, clearly showing the formation of the wit and wisdom of Discworld years before it was conceived. When one reads the stories today, one can detect glimmers of the Pratchett we have grown to know and love over the years, so they are worthy of some analysis here.
‘And, picking up their axes, they all walked off into the carpet, to chop down some big hairs to rebuild the village.’
(Part one of an untitled story from the Bucks Free Press)
It was on 8 October 1965 that Pratchett began a 12-part series that is now known as the original version of The Carpet People. It starts with the ash falling from a human’s cigarette, floating down to a thick carpet and being noticed by one of the Carpet People who is standing propped up against one of the carpet hairs, ‘which to him was as big as a tree’.
Straight away the story is upon us, but then it needed to be. Each instalment of an ‘Uncle Jim’ story was no more than the equivalent of one side of typed, single-spaced, A4 paper in length. So Pratchett had to engage with his audience straightaway, and the name Uncle Jim and the caveat Children’s Circle gave him clear parameters to work to.
There