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This week: Is it really funny? Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Is it really funny?
Have you ever read something funny in a book, turned and read it aloud to someone else, and they didn't think it was as humorous as you thought it was?
Writing humor can often be similar. There you are, in the middle of your story, think up something absolutely hilarious and inject it into your writing. You chuckle to yourself harharhar and go on with your story.
Then the time comes for edit; you reread and wonder, "Is that really funny?" I have gotten to that point in my edit, pondered if it was actually funny. What then? I read it aloud to several people. And even though they hadn't read the rest of the story, they thought it was humorous. I considered it a success.
"There is one attempt in which failure is unforgivable -- the attempt to be funny."
The Youth's Companion for Feb. 1, 1926; "Fact and Comment"
This in turn lead me to the subject of my newsletter, humor. In my research, I found and compiled some important advice:
Do have the frame of mind to write, and use your imagination. Don't try too hard to be funny: That makes your humor feel stilted, if not pained. It should reflect your style.
If you're going to write humor you have to take it just as seriously as if you were going to write about anything else. You have to really work hard to get it to work. It's writing, it's not sitting and talking to your friends. You may be very funny sitting and talking to your friends but there's a definite craft involved in taking strangers and getting them through something that you've written in a way that readers find amusing.
Don't use humor that mixes up your message. Keep your story plot online and moving. Don't let your characters laugh at their own jokes: This is the prose equivalent of a sitcom's laugh track. Let the reader decide what's funny.
Words that portray movement are yet another way the writer can paint a funny picture for the reader. A character that is moving, like an actor on a stage, has more potential for hilarity than one that is not moving.
Don't tell the reader that something is funny. Let the reader discover this for himself. Do this by painting a picture with words that the reader can relate to with all five of his senses. Describe the smells, textures, tastes, sights, and sounds.
Colorful adjectives help the writer paint the exact image he wants the reader to experience. Keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy to look up adjectives that will spice up your writing. Just keep it real.
"She was not just a cow
but a sauntering bovine beauty
with chocolate-bar swirls of milky browns
and milk-shake white on a suede background --
the most delicious contented cud-chewer I'd ever seen."
Be surprising. Humor should defy our expectations; don't let your own expectations limit you.
Satire and irony adds humor to the written story. Irony is the use of words to express the opposite of their literal meaning. Satire is the use of irony or wit to attack something. Be careful with satire and irony; a writer can easily miss his mark, leaving the reader confused.
*** Verbal Irony: what is said is opposite of what is meant ("Lovely day out" when the weather is the opposite).
***Situational Irony: an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected.
***Dramatic Irony: the audience realizes implications of words or acts that the characters do not perceive.
Blending description, metaphors, and similes with dialogue is another way for the writer to expand his medium. Humor diva Erma Bombeck had that one down to a fine science. She never drowned her readers in 'like or as'. She let one slide in and take its toll on your mental images and merrily went on her way with the story. In many cases, analogies can kill the reader's attention 'be cautious.
Dialog and mannerisms in themselves can make a character funny.
"Mission Implausible" Even humor has to be believable. Don't sacrifice truth for a funny effect: Good humor always contains a grain of truth; without truth, it's just playing with words.
Death may not become you. Be careful when using humor and death, no one likes to disrespect the dead. Unless that's your intention with your character.
I located this list and saved it for future reference. What a great tool!
Different Types of Verbal & Written Humor
Adviser: the comic adviser gives uncalled for advice in a Punch prototype. Ex: Advice to people who want to buy a puppy: Don't.
Anecdotes: any interesting event, either having to do with a celebrity or something smaller, that helps the humorist make a point. Anecdotes are great for the speaker and writer.
Aside: a thought added as if something the speaker was saying reminded him of it.
Banter: good-natured teasing back and forth; exchange of witty remarks.
Blendword: blending two or three words to make a new word. Ex: smog for smoke and fog.
Blue Humor: not appropriate for the public speaker. Humor based on easily offensive subjects like making love, body parts, and bodily functions.
Blunder: wit based on a person who makes a mistake, which makes them appear foolish.
Bull: a humorous statement that is based on an outrageous contradiction. Ex: "The best people have never had kids."
Burlesque: a form of satire. Burlesque ridicules any basic style of speech or writing. (Parody makes fun of specific writings.)
Caricature: exaggeration of a person's mental, physical, or personality traits, in wisecrack form.
The Catch Tale: a funny story that messes up the reader or listener by implying an awful ending but then stopping with a small declaration.
Conundrum: a word puzzle that can't be solved because the answer is a pun. Ex: why do cows wear bells? Their horns don't work.
Epigram: clever, short saying about a general group. Mostly satire about mankind. Two types, wordplay and thought play.
Exaggerism: an exaggerated witticism that overstates the features, defects, or the strangeness of someone or something.
Freudian Slip: a funny statement which seems to just pop out, but which actually comes from the person's subconscious thoughts.
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration.
Irony: a leading part of humor. Irony is using words to express something completely different from the literal meaning. Usually, someone says the opposite of what they mean and the listener believes the opposite of what they said.
Joke: short story ending with a funny climactic twist.
Nonsensism: inclusive of the epigram and the wisecrack, it is any kind of funny nonsense in speaking form. Nonsensism includes all kinds of absurdity without realistic logic and makes a general observation of absurd reference.
Parody: humorous version of any well-known writing. Ex: Weird Al Yankovic's "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi".
Practical Joke: a joke put into action. You hear an oral joke, see a printed joke, and feel the practical joke. The trick is played on another person and the humor comes from what happens.
Recovery: a combination of blunder and wit, where a person makes an error, and then saves himself with a fast correction.
Repartee: includes clever replies and retorts. The most common form is the insult.
Satire: wit that is critical humor. Satire is sarcasm that makes fun of something.
Situational Humor: this is comedy that comes from your own life. No one in your audience will have heard it and it can get a group used to you. This type of humor is based on a humorous situation that you have experienced.
Switching: a common form of switching is changing the main parts of the story, such as the setup or the punch line, and creating a new joke.
Understatement: making something that is regular or large seem extremely smaller or less. Intentionally down-sizing a large object.
Wisecrack: any clever remark about a particular person or thing. Wisecracks are quick wordplays about a person.
Wit: humor, irony, sarcasm, satire, repartee. Wit is funny because of the sudden sharpness and quick perception. Wit can bite. Verbal wit is a type of humor known as Wordplay.
Overall, think about enriching your stories with humor. It can be an effective and useful tool to lighten and tighten your work.
As always, Write On!
This month's question: Do you think an author must be a funny person to be able to write humor?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: Buzzzzz ..."
What's that sound?
It was louder and closer than the last time I heard it. I lay back down and tried to ignore it, but that didn't work. Within a few minutes, I was wide awake. I sat up and racked my brain. Where is it coming from?
Excerpt: Haroon locked the bathroom door, silenced the electronic muezzin blasting the call to prayer from his phone and hoped Asiyah hadn’t heard. He didn’t have the energy for the discussion that would follow if she had. Besides, he’d just installed Price Tag.
The terms and conditions blurred into digital hieroglyphics rocketing past the phone’s screen as he scrolled through to select ‘Accept’. Black lines spiralled across the grey background and transformed it into a camera shutter which dilated to reveal the bathroom.
Haroon nodded, pointing the phone at the sink. “Nice animation.” Took a photo. “Let’s check this thing out.”
Excerpt: Under the twilight sky, in the vast, coastal port city of Myalune, five pairs of boots pounded the cobblestone street in unison like the beat of war drums. The city guard had been notified that a notorious pirate had been spotted at one of the city's nastiest pubs, and Guard Captain Valerie Griffon wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through her grasp.
Excerpt: Mojito sat on the bed and flattened his chihuahua-like ears against his head. Is that supposed to be singing? He watched as his people moved around the bedroom and the adjoining bathroom. Clothing was taken out of closets and dressers and placed on the bed. Grooming was done at an alarming rate. Showers taken, hair dried and styled, smelly stuff was sprinkled, smeared and sprayed on. It made Mojito sneeze mightily.
Excerpt: “And what is your name, good sir?”
“Friday. I am Friday, the 13th!”
Lord Story gave the awkward looking man another glance. A sidelong, exhausting glance. “You’re to say that there were twelve other men in your family? All named Friday?”
Friday grimaced, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be absurd. There were only eight other men in my lineage. Four women make up the difference. Concluding with me mum.”
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Excerpt: "Are you for real going to start another book at ten o'clock at night? You know what happens when you do that!"
"Oh posh!" I waved my hand at Austin in a dismissive gesture. "I was only going to start the first chapter. Those things tend to be boring anyway, so I figured I'd get it out of the way tonight. Besides, I've been dying to read this one!"
Austin laughed humorlessly. "That's what you said about the last five books. Seriously Caroline, you haven't come to bed with me in a month. I'm starting to feel really neglected over here."
Excerpt: There was one important rule, however, that if you lived on one island, you could never travel to the other. Whether you were a human on dragonback, or a sphinx traveling alone, no one was to visit the other island of the other race. This was due to a disagreement between the dragons and the sphinxes that had kept them apart for countless years. So they all obeyed the rule; no would ever see the other race.
Except one special young girl.
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Excerpt: From the first day on the job at the post office, Ernie Earnest displayed an eagerness to perform his duties. He arrived a half hour early for his shift, much to the annoyance of his shift leader who was getting his morning coffee.
“Sir,” Ernie started to salute the man but quickly dropped his hand when Roger McIntosh frowned at him. Not knowing what to do with his hand he allowed it to linger in mid-air much like a broken puppet’s arm. “Reporting for duty.”
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This month's question: Do you think an author must be a funny person to be able to write humor?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: What have you learned from reading other authors?
benjwriter14 wrote: Besides totally inadequate? A while back I read a book by Lawrence Block called Getting Off... the book is probably not for a lot of readers but, his writing was so amazing an effortless that once I finished the book, I just sat back and said 'wow.' I don't think I've ever read an author that had that effect on me. I try to always pay attention to moments that catch my attention while reading... I like the way he did that, and I try to make note of it so that I can try to emulate it in my own writing. Especially when I read authors in my chosen genre I try to notice how they build tension or use some of the common tropes for the genre. Even though Stephen King has a tendency of rambling on, he also taught me not to rush an ending or be in a hurry to get through a moment. Sometimes things take as long as they need to take.
Quick-Quill  sent: "Don't Repeat its irritating." I think this tells you what I think of one author. I know there are authors I would like to emulate. All authors whose books I like to read are ones I'd like to write like. I'd love to write a book like Deception Point by Dan Brown or the Mind Games series by Christine Feehan. M.Knight Shyamalan is another author I'd love to sit with and learn how he plots his stories.
billikus said: I read a lot, and so saying, I think the main thing I have learned from good authors is foreshadowing without giving the ending away; so that when it comes, it's like, "oh yeah, that is the perfect ending."
Thanks so much for the feedback, it's rewarding to know someone reads my articles. 
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Action/Adventure: April 29, 2015 Issue [#6955]
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