What if we told you a big-time Hollywood writer’s namesake in Burnaby holds the answers on how to do (almost) anything?
Whether you want to know how to open bottles without bottle openers, teach a bear to ride a unicycle or convincingly fake your own death, Ryan Murphy of Burnaby (not of Glee and American Horror Story fame) has all the answers — in his newly published book fresh off the press.
In an interview with the NOW, the long-time standup comedian and men’s magazine writer-turned-author said writing “how-to” articles — like how to crash a wedding, how to give a wedding toast and how to pull off a criminal heist — during his stint at the magazine ignited his imagination and paved the way for his future book.
“I loved getting into the research and becoming an expert on something for 24 hours before moving on to the next topic and becoming an expert another 24 hours later,” he said.
Curiosity and the inclination to dive head-first into research, the Nova Scotia native said, was one of the main reasons he got into writing. With his book named, How to Do (almost) Anything, Murphy brings all these over-the-top “crazy ideas” in his head to the public to read and rejoice.
The decision to compile all his how-to articles into a book came to him when he was revisited the old articles and realized how much progress he’s had as a writer, he said. Adding a little bit of flair and modernization to his old stories, he sought to share his “know-it-all” wisdom with a humorous twist to the world.
Murphy noted the chapters were reworked to better fit in the world today and give a more accurate reflection of who he is as a person, father and a writer.
“I made calls, spent tons of time on the internet…the far reaches of the web and tried to come up with all the different answers and explanations and tried to put a bit of a funny spin on it.”
Growing up, Murphy always wanted to write a book — “that was my idea of what a writer was,” he said.
Writing for web or marketing and advertising campaigns was not something that was on his radar, he noted. About 15 years ago, he kicked off his writing career contributing to books from other authors and writing passages for the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series.
“I had a great time helping other people create their books and punching them up trying to provide the funny little bits for those books,” he said. “But in the back of my mind, I knew that I always wanted to [write] my own book.”
“It was just about writing at the right time…when I felt I was ready for it, when I felt I was good and had enough material to draw upon. As I was waiting, the self-publication craze took off and I decided to try it for myself.”
For Murphy, ideas kept coming to him — good or bad — and he acknowledges that some of his ideas were bad when he started out in his 20s. However, back then it never occurred to him that the world wouldn’t want to hear or see those ideas come to life.
While he can be self-critical now and do better, he admits that he is grateful to have not known back then. “It never stopped me, never slowed me down,” he noted. “I was never self-conscious about what I was producing. And I think that’s a really important thing. I think if you are overly critical, you’ll never produce anything. That was not part of my DNA back then, and it allowed me to get all the bad stuff to a point where I can be pleased.”
The earliest memories of his writing career, Murphy vividly remembered, was when he was about four years old. “I remember waking up in the middle of the night at 3 o’clock in the morning and I had an idea and couldn’t wait to share them,” he said. “I knew it was gold. So I rolled over, took one of my big oversized crayons and a big oversized pad of paper and wrote down the idea…I thought it was brilliant and couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning and read it and show my parents.”
But the reality of being four years old dawned on him as he woke up and realized he actually didn’t know how to write. Despite the fact that he couldn’t write, Murphy remembered having the excitement and will to share ideas out in the world and put a smile on people’s faces, a passion that he has carried with him throughout his life.
How To Do (Almost) Anything: A Handy Guide to Doing the Impossible from the World’s Biggest Know-It-All is now available for purchase from Amazon.
As a footnote, for everyone who reads his book, he teased — “at the very end I have a collection of books from the publisher…they’re actually just fake books, they do not exist,” adding that he had a great deal of fun writing those.
Without this author note, readers might find it hard pressed to find the other books as they don’t exist in reality.
