WRITING STYLES
FUNNY: Make your writing funny. Comedy is one of the major literary (or writing) genres.
Who? What? Where? Why? and How?
Archetypes–
A know-it-all
The loveable loser
The bad boss
The neurotic
The airhead
These are all stock characters found in Artes Comedia.
Find the flaw, like greed, and play it up. Or play opposites against each other, where the smartest guy in the room does the stupidest thing or the dufus outwits the brainiac we tend to laugh because we didn’t see that coming. Secret to humor is surprise. The surprise or the incongruity of humor says we laugh at things that seem out of place or that run up against our expectations. A frog dating a pig. A lizard selling pianos, a nun disco dancing, a cat disco dancing, actually a baby, a nun, or a cat doing pretty much anything is funny.
Draw connections with a mind-map. Start small. Pick a word: say, pickle. And draw your known connections to them: eating first pickle, sandwiches, lunch, going to the store, baking with grandma. Shift from observation to imagination. Try going from “What is” to “What if?”
Comedy revolves around things that irritate us, frustrate, or humiliate us. “Everything is funny as long as it happens to somebody else.” –Will Rogers
Rule of 3 or Zig, Zig, Zag.” Expected pattern is “Zig, zig.” Then flip it, “Zag!”
A rabbi, a priest, and a coconut walk into a bar, called the last rites.
A rabbi, a priest, and a coconut walk into a disco tech. Words with a “k” sounds are considered comical, like “comedy” and “considered” “crickets” and “coconut.” Humor is subjective. Comedy is trial and error. Find the flaw, discover the details, insert incongruities, incorporate “k” sounding words, and remember the most important rule–
This was recommended as funny.
Stephen King Writing Tips
San Gabriel Tutor 