WritersRoad Recap 6/24: Humor In Fiction

Here is an abbreviated recap of last Monday's live Writer's Road chat on the topic of Humor in Fiction:

TS Tate (Tee) @teetate
You have to let the narrative voice do much of the heavy lifting #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) @teetate
In five measly lines, Adams does such a masterful job of establishing the irrelevance of humanity, #writersroad

J B Mills @jbeemills
I took a webinar about this from Robin Mellom, author of Ditched. It was great!#writersroad

Charmaine Clancy @charmaineclancy
@teetate My MG novels contain humour 'cause kids like that. And dogs, dogs are funny. #writersroad

@teetate: humor is a lot harder to do than you'd think. Being funny on command? Man, that's tough! #writersroad

B Mills One thing Robin mentioned was "the rule of 3s." 2 ordinary things, followed by an unexpected thing. #writersroad

Charmaine Clancy #writersroad - I draw on real life for humour. Life can be laughed at... or maybe that's just mine.

Krissi Dallas My humorous moments almost always come in the form of awkward, embarrassing teen moments-& the reactions that ensue! :) #writersroad

Heather McCorkle Humor needs to come naturally, it should never be forced. #WritersRoad

Heather McCorkle If the humor isn't coming naturally I find that I need to dig into my character more, find out why they're funny. #WritersRoad

Heather McCorkle If the humor isn't coming naturally I find that I need to dig into my character more, find out why they're funny. #WritersRoad

TS Tate (Tee) Steal from Yourself Many claim that they can’t write funny, yet they are incredibly witty when you talk to them #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) If you say something that’s an instant hit with your friends, why not write it down and save it for later? #writersroad

Matthew Wilbur Don't forget about using humor to undercut the tension in a scene. Joss Whedon and crew did this on Buffy and Angel. #WritersRoad

TS Tate (Tee) The Secret to Humor is Surprise Most humor relies on surprise, one way or another. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) if you can make the readers complete the sentence in their head before they finish reading it... #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) , and then pull the carpet from under them, you’ve got a good joke.#writersroad

Miss Fiffy @Fida_Islaih Practice with funnies you like then make your own. #writersroad

J B Mills I also think it's funny when you get insight into the character's mind, but what comes out of their mouth doesn't agree. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Humor is Subjective No matter how hard you try, you can’t make everyone laugh. Humor is extremely subjective. #writersroad

Charmaine Clancy #writersroad - it's a risky line between being funny about a character and being mean. Laugh 'with' not 'at' -- or make them deserving.

J B Mills So much of humor is rhythm and cadence. If a line isn't working, you might just need a different element or stronger lead line. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Humor likes danger. If you are cautious by nature, writing humor probably isn't for you. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Humor works best when you sense that the writer is putting himself in jeopardy.#writersroad

Tina Moss Sitcom writers can reach us so much too. Big Bang, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, etc. #writersroad

Heather McCorkle Think of your favorite funny characters in books and movies, then explore why they were funny to you. #WritersRoad

TS Tate (Tee) Humor is about people. It's impossible to write humor abt a concept or an object. All humor involves how people think and act. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Remember that your jokes will be dependent upon your audience. No innuendo if ur writing for eight yr olds #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) Exaggerate wisely. If you anchor your story in the familiar, your readers will follow you on a humorous exaggeration. #writersroad

TS Tate (Tee) With humor, you never say "pull" when you can say "yank." Some words are simply funnier than others #writersroad

Heather McCorkle @teetate Very true. Part of humor is in the language we choose. #writersroad

Doug Solter  Know ur audience and what they would find funny. YA audience humor diff than MG or Adult humor. Even that can be divided more #writersroad

Heather McCorkle There is a fine line between bullying and humor. Make sure your characters know it. #WritersRoad

TS Tate (Tee) Final thoughts: don't try so hard, let the humor flow naturally & looks to ur favs & RL for inspiration.

Heather McCorkle  And, inspired by the fabulous @teetate, take notes when people laugh in real life, and takes notes on what makes you laugh. #WritersRoad

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