We get the odd humorous story submitted to the Global Short Story Competition and, as I am about to teach some classes on humour, I thought a recap would be useful.
Writing humour is very tough: people can listen to your short story without a sound and at the end they can say ‘that was terrific’ - with humour, if they ‘aint laughing or smiling at all you have failed!
Here’s some golden rules.
* Humorous characters needs just as much characterisation as others. Look at your character, work out where the humour lies. Do you have a character who is egotistical, vain, clumsy, stupid? Whatever the strong character trait is, play on it.
* Observe, write down funny things, quips, things people say etc
* Develop humour within situations - maybe take a sideways glance at life and situations
* Dialogue is crucial - keep it sharp
* Whatever you do, a light touch usually needed - sledgehammers not required. If a joke needs explaining, it has not worked
* Use pace - move on from gag to gag
* Try out your jokes - if you laugh, others may not. I always reckon if I laughed first time, it was good.
* Be brutal, if a gag does not work - or is in the wrong story - ditch it!
John Dean
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