… timing. Got a few more of these “Writing Funny” tips that stood out: Truly, I think this this is what makes writing funny more difficult than performing funny. In a performance, you can hold for a split-second to be sure the audience is following before hitting them with the punchline. Then, you can stop,Continue reading “Writing Funny: It’s all about the…”
Tag Archives: comedy
Writing Funny: Surprise People
I’m nearly done with my comic thriller, The Worst Thing About Sam, so I wanted to re-post some of these “Writing Funny” tips I pulled together along the way: Twists and Reversals are great ways to get laughs–and to scare the daylights out of folks. For the grin, let the underdog overcome the Goliath orContinue reading “Writing Funny: Surprise People”
Writing Funny: Comfort & Affliction
I’m nearly done with my comic thriller, The Worst Thing About Sam, so I wanted to re-post some of these “Writing Funny” tips I pulled together along the way: No one wants to see the innocent child beaten down, but most of us do like too see the tables turned on the bully, so s/heContinue reading “Writing Funny: Comfort & Affliction”
Lunatics: Two Authors & A Ludicrous Story
Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel tag-teamed in 2012 for this novel, and it was a fun one . . . if you can suspend your disbelief again and again and again. I can. I enjoyed the repeated and unbelievable twists and turns. As I outlined in some previous posts, writing funny involves exaggeration, grotesqueness, shock,Continue reading “Lunatics: Two Authors & A Ludicrous Story”
Comparing Incomparables
The overstatement understatement have been perfected by teenagers. Lifting it out of Comedy into Middle or High Comedy requires some smarts. Here Barry uses incomparable comparisons, drawing a parallel between massive human tragedy and a light-hearted spring dance. That wasn’t enough, though. Nothing good happens in Stephen King novels–which gets us eagerly anticipating “what happensContinue reading “Comparing Incomparables”
“…even though your head is shaped like an anvil…”
This was a fantastic back-handed compliment that uses both exaggeration and incongruity to get the laugh. Initially it’s hopeful. If delivered by an attractive and “ditsy blonde” character–it might actually be intended as a compliment. The dim-witted recipient might also believe it was a compliment. For the reader (of higher intelligence) we see the unintended,Continue reading ““…even though your head is shaped like an anvil…””