Martin Hastie is a stand-up comedian and scriptwriter who, together with the irrepressible Steve Willis, wrote several stories for our first anthology No More Fairy Tales; Stories to Save Our Planet.
No More Fairy Tales had a presence at the last three United Nations Climate Change Conferences. Most recently, this was COP30 in Brazil. It’s also contributed to a net-zero dinner for MPs and has already inspired some ideas.
What we love about Martin’s style is the way he brings a quirky humour to his stories, but also moments of pathos, all the more moving for being understated.
Here’s our Q&A with Martin
How did you come to be involved in No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet?
In the most unlikely of ways. I lost my wife, Liz, to Covid in 2022. At a gathering in her memory, I found myself sitting next to Steve Willis, the husband of one of Liz’s colleagues. He introduced himself as an engineer working on large-scale solutions to tackle the climate crisis. I introduced myself as a freelance writer looking for new projects. He mentioned that he was looking for a writer to help polish some short stories he’d written. The next thing we knew, we were working on ideas to try to save the world. The best thing about this was that Liz would have absolutely loved it. She, more than anyone, taught me about the importance of looking after the planet.
How did you come up with the ideas for the stories?
Steve was very much the ideas man. He has a way of seeing the world that is entirely alien to me: scientific, technical, methodical. He was talking of mind-blowing ideas like creating the ocean as its own nation, and he’d devised a method by which he felt the victims on the Titanic could have been saved. I loved listening to him expounding his theories with great enthusiasm. The one area in which he was, by his own admission, slightly lacking was in creating rounded, relatable characters and relationships. So, I tried to add a little colour, and together – and with Denise’s help as editor – we bashed the stories around until we had them in good shape. The collaborations were great fun and helped to keep me sane during the toughest year of my life.
Which was your favourite of the stories you co-wrote?
I have great affection for all of them, but Mangrove Maj is the one that means the most to me. It’s about a man who’s lost his wife, but that’s the only similarity to my own life. From Steve’s initial idea of planting mangrove terraces, the story and the characters just leapt out at me. It’s about a rich man who owns his own island, eventually deciding to use it for the good of mankind. An absurd fantasy, you might think, but I’d like to believe that it could happen. When Netflix eventually come knocking, it will make a good episode for our anthology series.
What sort of feedback have you had on the book?
When I met Steve, I’d never even heard of climate fiction, and I suspect this was also true of most of my friends and family. It was great to be able to introduce them to the concept, especially because we’d specifically decided to avoid doom and gloom and dystopian nightmares which, I imagine, are what a lot of readers would have been expecting. The optimistic visions and the incredible scope of the ideas we brought together really seemed to resonate with people, and the feedback I received was universally positive and encouraging.
How did you get into writing?
After years of fruitlessly plugging away on scripts and novels, it was a bit of a whirlwind in the end. In the space of two years, I sold some jokes and sketches to Radio 4, another joke was selected for the Mirror’s Top 20 Tweets of the Year, I won a stand-up comedy competition and then I was offered the chance to go and work in television comedy in Malaysia. I think there’s definitely room for a great cli-fi related sitcom or comedy drama. Denise Baden’s Habitat Man would make a perfect TV series – I hear it nearly made it as a BBC radio adaptation but TV would be even better. Steve and I also love the idea of a Green Mirror type series similar to Black Mirror for the stories we wrote in No More Fairy Tales. I’d love to write something along those lines one day.
Who are your writing influences?
Anyone who made me laugh. I grew up reading the novels of David Nobbs, Sue Townsend, Tom Sharpe, Grant Naylor. And then I discovered PG Wodehouse, who – and I don’t think it’s controversial to say this – is the funniest writer in the history of the English language. Over the years, I’ve diversified my reading habits, although comic writing is still my preference. I’m drawn to quality fiction, written by authors who create compelling worlds and characters, immerse you in the story and work on all of your emotions. It has to be the real world for me, though; I’ve never warmed to fantasy.
What are you working on at the moment?
My current project is a memoir, which I’m about three-quarters of the way through. It’s a book about grief, but it’s lots of other things as well. It’s an aspirational tale about taking your chances when they come along, a travelogue, a diary of the pandemic, a glimpse behind the curtains at stand-up comedy and television entertainment. But above all, it’s a love story, and I can’t wait for people to read it.
