The Boy Who Made the World Disappear: Q&A with Ben Miller

April 3rd 2020

Ben Miller is an actor, director and comedian as well as writer of children's books, and is best known for writing and starring in The Armstrong and Miller Show and the crime comedy drama Death in Paradise. His first children's novel, The Night I Met Father Christmas, was a big hit in 2019. 

We caught up with Ben to find out more about his latest book, The Boy Who Made the World Disappear, which is due out in paperback on 2nd April. 

Q: You were a scientist before you became a comedian and then a writer. Do you find these ‘roles’ overlap in your writing? 

Definitely! I’m always trying to sneak science into the things I write. My first book, The Night I Met Father Christmas, has Father Christmas visit the British Antarctic Survey to deliver a present. And my second book, The Boy Who Made The World Disappear, is about a boy who is given a pet black hole by a disgruntled astronomer. I’d love the stories to spark children's interest. The world needs more scientists! 

Q: You’ve also written non-fiction for older children and teens, on science themes – It’s Not Rocket Science and The Aliens Are Coming! What made you decide to start writing fiction, and for younger readers?

It was having children of my own and wanting to write for them. So far, each of my children’s books has featured my real-life children as characters. The Night I Met Father Christmas features my oldest child, Jackson, and my middle child Harrison is the hero of The Boy Who Made The World Disappear. I’m now on book three, for my daughter Lana. I’m starting to run out of children, so I’m wondering if the book after this could be about one of my dogs...

Q: Studies show that reading for pleasure is vitally important for children’s attainment in all areas. How do you think we can encourage children who are reluctant readers to pick up a book? 

It’s all about fitting the book to the child. What worked for mine was taking them to my local bookshop, Octavia’s, and finding something that sparked their interest. With Jackson (13), my oldest, it was Alex Rider. With Harrison (8) it was the Claude books. Lana (4) is happy with any book that has a purple cover. And if there’s a sparkly unicorn, so much the better. 

Q: In The Boy Who Made the World Disappear, the main character is given a balloon which is actually a black hole, and can make things disappear if he wishes. How easy (or difficult) was it to incorporate the science into the story? What are the challenges in writing fiction that both entertains and educates?

Yes, in that story, Harrison has an anger problem and uses the black hole to get rid of anything that makes him cross. Of course by the end of the story he realises there are better ways of dealing with his emotions, but not before he’s had a lot of fun throwing in broccoli, the school bully, and the entire school swimming pool (like the real Harrison, he hates swimming). Basically I try to make the stories as entertaining as possible, while keeping the science accurate. And I do want children to get something from the story, that will help them in their everyday lives. In this case, it’s that anger isn’t a bad thing in itself, it’s what you do with it.

Q: The black hole is an appropriate metaphor for anger. How did being a parent influence your characterisation when writing the book?

Massively. Harrison struggles with anger himself and I wanted to write a story that helped him deal with it. I also learned a lot about him as a person — for example, when he kicks off it’s often because there’s something he’s anxious about. 

Q: What would you like to make disappear? 

Is it too late to put Brexit in a black hole? 

Q: What’s your writing routine like when working on a project? 

Ah. How honest am I going to be? A lot of my “writing” might look to someone else like “faffing about”. I’m always impressed by those articles you see where authors get up at 6am, have a bath in ice cold water, run seven miles, then dash off 3,000 words. Personally I would always prefer a kip. Let’s just say my “routine” is the antimatter version of that. 

The Boy Who Made the World Disappear is available in paperback from 2nd April.