Be a Better Writer--HUMOR WRITING
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:22 am
Humor can be found in any genre, this really won’t be a lesson in “How to Write Humor.” Instead, I’m just going to toss out some thoughts on humor writing, and hope that you’ll find something here that can help you with including humor in your writing.
I’ve listed below a few different types of humor writing. After each one, I’ve included a link to one of my challenge entries that fits the description. As I’ve said before, I don’t include these because they’re wonderful (in fact, several of these are distinctly UNwonderful) but because I can find them easily. I’d love for you to link to yours in the comments thread.
1. You might consider writing about a funny situation. It doesn’t have to be side-splittingly funny; our lives have any number of situations during the day that can cause a smile. A woman drives to the post office in her nightie and slippers, intending to be back home in mere minutes, when a flat tire causes her to have to flag down help while seriously underdressed…humor. Or a series of minor catastrophes escalates such that when a wife comes home from work, her husband is covered in strawberry jam…humor.
Example: A Snapping Turtle, a Catfish, and a Chicken Bone
2. You can write about funny characters. Even if you don’t have a sense of humor, your characters can. Your characters can be funny because of the way they dress, the way they speak, the way they react to the world. A big part of humor is surprise; make a character dress, speak, or react in unexpected ways to make her funny. If the character is ninety years old, have him wearing sagging pants like his great-grandson... humor. Just be careful, if you’re writing funny characters, that you’re clearly not making fun of them, which is never funny.
Example: One Week in Dr. Lipinsky’s Laboratory
3. Turn the inclination to make fun of around and use self-deprecating humor. Write about a time when you embarrassed yourself, or did something exactly the wrong way, or had a disastrous result (in a funny way, not a tragic one) to something you attempted.
Example: Confessions of the Anti-Martha
4. Other forms of humor that you might attempt are satire or parody. Satire uses humor to dig a bit at contemporary culture. Parody takes something that has already been written and re-imagines it, perhaps by changing characters or settings, giving it a different style, or some other variation of the original. In parody, the reader should be able to recognize the original. Both satire and parody typically have a message for the reader.
Example of satire: Flames
Example of parody: After the Kiss
5. People are often amused by absurdity or visual humor. Here’s an opportunity for you to practice using imagery (from a few lessons ago). Put something ridiculous in the story: a giraffe wearing an Easter bonnet or a two-year-old in her mother’s high heels and lipstick smeared everywhere. Or write about something totally absurd: a person with an irrational fear of puppies, or a blind date who appears at the door in clown shoes.
Example (but not a wonderful example—I guess I didn’t do this kind of humor much): Doctor Dabbs Takes a Leave of Absence
6. Word play and puns are funny to many people; our Noel Mitaxa is a master at twisting a phrase and building a humorous story around it (you might want to look him up on the main site and read some of his entries). If you do something like this, the story may not be obviously funny until the very end, when the pun is in the punchline that you’ve been building up to all along.
Example: Say What?
A few things to be careful of when writing humor:
1. As I mentioned above, don’t use your humor at anyone’s expense. Even if the person being ridiculed is fictional, that just feels mean.
2. Similarly, don’t result to sarcasm, unless it’s the very gentlest kind of sarcasm.
3. Remember that you don’t have to try to write something that will produce guffaws or utter hilarity. If the reader smiles, makes a little snort, giggles once or twice—you’ve written humor.
4. Don’t force it by labeling actions or bits of dialog as funny. If they’re funny, it will be evident, and you don’t have to tell us.
5. Devotionals can certainly be funny. Use a humorous personal anecdote to prove your point, or write about times when our gracious God allows us to find humor.
6. Resist the temptation to take a familiar joke or anecdote and expand it to a full story, even if it’s got a great punchline, and even if you flesh it out so that it’s fully your own. Readers will recognize the situation, and will lose interest if they feel that they know how it’s going to end.
HOMEWORK:
1. Link to something humorous that you’ve written. Please don't JUST leave a link--tell us a little bit about your writing process. If it fits into one of the categories I wrote about—which one? If not, what kind of humor would you say you used?
2. Ask a question or make a comment about something in this lesson.
I’ve listed below a few different types of humor writing. After each one, I’ve included a link to one of my challenge entries that fits the description. As I’ve said before, I don’t include these because they’re wonderful (in fact, several of these are distinctly UNwonderful) but because I can find them easily. I’d love for you to link to yours in the comments thread.
1. You might consider writing about a funny situation. It doesn’t have to be side-splittingly funny; our lives have any number of situations during the day that can cause a smile. A woman drives to the post office in her nightie and slippers, intending to be back home in mere minutes, when a flat tire causes her to have to flag down help while seriously underdressed…humor. Or a series of minor catastrophes escalates such that when a wife comes home from work, her husband is covered in strawberry jam…humor.
Example: A Snapping Turtle, a Catfish, and a Chicken Bone
2. You can write about funny characters. Even if you don’t have a sense of humor, your characters can. Your characters can be funny because of the way they dress, the way they speak, the way they react to the world. A big part of humor is surprise; make a character dress, speak, or react in unexpected ways to make her funny. If the character is ninety years old, have him wearing sagging pants like his great-grandson... humor. Just be careful, if you’re writing funny characters, that you’re clearly not making fun of them, which is never funny.
Example: One Week in Dr. Lipinsky’s Laboratory
3. Turn the inclination to make fun of around and use self-deprecating humor. Write about a time when you embarrassed yourself, or did something exactly the wrong way, or had a disastrous result (in a funny way, not a tragic one) to something you attempted.
Example: Confessions of the Anti-Martha
4. Other forms of humor that you might attempt are satire or parody. Satire uses humor to dig a bit at contemporary culture. Parody takes something that has already been written and re-imagines it, perhaps by changing characters or settings, giving it a different style, or some other variation of the original. In parody, the reader should be able to recognize the original. Both satire and parody typically have a message for the reader.
Example of satire: Flames
Example of parody: After the Kiss
5. People are often amused by absurdity or visual humor. Here’s an opportunity for you to practice using imagery (from a few lessons ago). Put something ridiculous in the story: a giraffe wearing an Easter bonnet or a two-year-old in her mother’s high heels and lipstick smeared everywhere. Or write about something totally absurd: a person with an irrational fear of puppies, or a blind date who appears at the door in clown shoes.
Example (but not a wonderful example—I guess I didn’t do this kind of humor much): Doctor Dabbs Takes a Leave of Absence
6. Word play and puns are funny to many people; our Noel Mitaxa is a master at twisting a phrase and building a humorous story around it (you might want to look him up on the main site and read some of his entries). If you do something like this, the story may not be obviously funny until the very end, when the pun is in the punchline that you’ve been building up to all along.
Example: Say What?
A few things to be careful of when writing humor:
1. As I mentioned above, don’t use your humor at anyone’s expense. Even if the person being ridiculed is fictional, that just feels mean.
2. Similarly, don’t result to sarcasm, unless it’s the very gentlest kind of sarcasm.
3. Remember that you don’t have to try to write something that will produce guffaws or utter hilarity. If the reader smiles, makes a little snort, giggles once or twice—you’ve written humor.
4. Don’t force it by labeling actions or bits of dialog as funny. If they’re funny, it will be evident, and you don’t have to tell us.
5. Devotionals can certainly be funny. Use a humorous personal anecdote to prove your point, or write about times when our gracious God allows us to find humor.
6. Resist the temptation to take a familiar joke or anecdote and expand it to a full story, even if it’s got a great punchline, and even if you flesh it out so that it’s fully your own. Readers will recognize the situation, and will lose interest if they feel that they know how it’s going to end.
HOMEWORK:
1. Link to something humorous that you’ve written. Please don't JUST leave a link--tell us a little bit about your writing process. If it fits into one of the categories I wrote about—which one? If not, what kind of humor would you say you used?
2. Ask a question or make a comment about something in this lesson.