Writing humor help

[Alexaknight]

While I believe I have true strengths when it comes to writing and story telling, the one area that makes me nervous and uncertain is writing funny characters... Does anyone have good tips and tricks to learn how to write authentically funny characters without feeling like an imposter or that I'm forcing myself (this is the worst) to write something I don't believe in myself...

 

[Woollybear]

It might be a big thing to bite off, not simple . But I'd love to get a handle on it too, so I take notes from time to time. One note I recently made was that horror writers and humor writers are doing the same thing--leading the reader deep into tension and then resolving it in a snap. For humor, the release leads to laughter, and for horror it leads to increasing doom. But horror and humor writers use some of the same approaches in their writing.

Try this post and see if it makes sense. i kind of think it might?

 

[Silenia]

Consider what makes something funny to you. (There are no right and wrong answers here! Whatever makes humor work for you is what you want to get a better understanding of--because it's really, really hard to write a deliberately and authentically funny character when you the author wouldn't actually consider them funny yourself)

Broad strokes/genre of humor is part of it. Maybe you like dry wit, or biting sarcasm. Maybe you like lighthearted silliness and fun-poking. Maybe you like puns, wordplay and dad jokes. Maybe you like your jokes more formulaic. Maybe deliberate joking around for the sake of joking isn't your thing, but you love a good story with humorous observations and a dash of light-hearted self-deprecation. Maybe you find humor more in situations and visuals than in any verbal form of humor.

Then there's content of the jokes. Do you like them soft and sweet and kind? Do you like a bit of a bite to them? Do you enjoy it when they play with that line between taboo and not taboo, risque and not risque? Where's the line for you between "haha" and "dude not funny", and does it depend on context and/or who is doing the joking? (E.g. for me, I don't appreciate jokes that are built upon autistic stereotyping and the likes--unless they're made by a fellow autistic, because then they're not poking fun at autism, they're poking fun at the rampant stereotyping)

But then look deeper.

Even if a joke or pun or humorous situation should be right up your alley, and subject-wise lands square in what's your sweet spot, that doesn't automatically make it a good joke, right? So consider what else plays into your perception of humor.

Non-verbal communication, like facial expression, body language, and tone of voice.

Say you like puns. Does a pun land better for you when someone tells it with a straight face, and you get that "wait a second..." effect with a couple seconds delay? Or is it when someone's trying to say it with a straight face, but they can't stop their eyes from twinkling and corners of their lips from twitching? When someone's outright giggling at their own silliness? When someone makes a pun on accident?

How about tone of voice? Deadpan delivery to go with that straight face, laughter in their voice to go with their twinkling eyes and twitching lips? Or a tone of voice that contrasts with their expression/body language? Or maybe you actually prefer seeing them written, and tone of voice and body language work best for you when they're both absent.

Setting, timing, other people.

What about setting and timing--do puns land better for you if they're made when everyone's in a relaxed, possibly even silly mood, or when they're used to cut through a tense atmosphere? Are there puns you'd laugh at among friends or family, but would cringe at in the workplace, or vice versa? Are there puns you would laugh at when stressed, but not when relaxed? Are there situations where a bad pun might startle you into laughter even though it's really not that funny? Times where an otherwise good pun would only serve to get on your nerves? How does the presence or absence of other people hearing the same thing play into your perception of a joke?

The person telling the joke.

Ever met someone you didn't want to consider funny, but still found funny anyway? Had any good jokes or puns ruined for you because they were told by an absolute asshole? People you find funny from a distance, but know would get on your nerves in two seconds flat if you actually had to interact with them? But also stuff like...subverting expectations. A teenager dropping an f-bomb isn't particularly funny or serious in and of itself. But a prim old lady doing the same? That's either really funny or really serious, with not much in between.

Not all of these things are easy to convey in writing, and even when they're conveyed, they don't necessarily have the same effect as they would have in real life (reading a description of a facial expression isn't the same as seeing it). But knowing to what degree they play into your perception of humor can help a good bit in making your humor feel anchored rather than forced on top of a story or character, anyway (and in filtering out bits of humor that just really, really don't work in text).

 

[be frank]

I have two questions:

"Funny character" ... how? Amusing? Quirky? Hilarious? As the comic relief?
"Funny character" ... why? To lighten an otherwise too-heavy story? Because you believe every story needs a funny person?

That is, if writing funny/funny people doesn't come naturally to you, why do you feel compelled to include them? (Learning new skills is always worthwhile, I'm just generally curious here!)

 

[Gramps]

Most of us are acquainted with people we think are funny, weird uncle Fred, cousin Mary, Mr. Thompson the neighbor with the dog that humps your leg. What makes them funny? Is it the delivery, the story, the setup for the punchline? Many characters are composites of several people.

While you may not consider yourself inherently funny, you may be able to incorporate attributes of people who are. This approach may not be helpful, but it may be worth a try.

 

[Unimportant]

I reckon there's a reason they say humour is the hardest thing to write and the easiest thing to sell.

 

[katfeete]

A question: are you looking to write witty characters or funny characters? Writing a character who’s deliberately pointing out absurdities is a different business than writing one whose words and actions are unintentionally absurd. (Of course, someone can also be both at different points in the story, but it’s a different execution skill-wise).

If you’re writing an absurd character, exaggeration is your friend, a sense of proportion is your enemy, and commitment to the bit is essential. Humor is personal, of course, but there’s nothing funnier to me than a character who will absolutely, persistently, no matter what else is going on in the story, stay fixated on something petty. Think of Jack Sparrow (“But why is the rum gone?!”) or the Lord of the Rings, with Pippin’s much-memed cry of “But what about second breakfast?”. Or go read pretty much any Terry Pratchett book, where tense confrontations are regularly interrupted by a man trying to sell both sides suspicious sausages.

Writing a witty character is easier in some ways — if the humor falls flat, well, the best of clowns will have some bad jokes — but harder in others; witty characters are great fun for the reader, but there’s an element of cruelty to most humor, so it can become a bit of a tightrope (how much fun do you want to make a witty villain? At what point does your witty hero cross the line and lose reader sympathy?)

Writing humor in general… Woollybear is on the money, I think, talking about tension, but humor is also very much about surprise. We laugh because it’s not the expected comparison, the expected response, because it’s out of place. Because it makes us jump. Because it makes us think.

But mostly, like most things writing, it’s about practice. The more you write funny bits, the easier it’ll be to write more funny bits, and the easier you’ll find it to stick the landing and make the joke work.

 

[Alexaknight]

It might be a big thing to bite off, not simple . But I'd love to get a handle on it too, so I take notes from time to time. One note I recently made was that horror writers and humor writers are doing the same thing--leading the reader deep into tension and then resolving it in a snap. For humor, the release leads to laughter, and for horror it leads to increasing doom. But horror and humor writers use some of the same approaches in their writing.

Thank you!! This is great advice and something I never thought of before but makes so much sense when you think about!

Try this post and see if it makes sense. i kind of think it might?

It absolutely did! Thank you once again!

 

[Alexaknight]

Consider what makes something funny to you. (There are no right and wrong answers here! Whatever makes humor work for you is what you want to get a better understanding of--because it's really, really hard to write a deliberately and authentically funny character when you the author wouldn't actually consider them funny yourself)

Broad strokes/genre of humor is part of it. Maybe you like dry wit, or biting sarcasm. Maybe you like lighthearted silliness and fun-poking. Maybe you like puns, wordplay and dad jokes. Maybe you like your jokes more formulaic. Maybe deliberate joking around for the sake of joking isn't your thing, but you love a good story with humorous observations and a dash of light-hearted self-deprecation. Maybe you find humor more in situations and visuals than in any verbal form of humor.

Then there's content of the jokes. Do you like them soft and sweet and kind? Do you like a bit of a bite to them? Do you enjoy it when they play with that line between taboo and not taboo, risque and not risque? Where's the line for you between "haha" and "dude not funny", and does it depend on context and/or who is doing the joking? (E.g. for me, I don't appreciate jokes that are built upon autistic stereotyping and the likes--unless they're made by a fellow autistic, because then they're not poking fun at autism, they're poking fun at the rampant stereotyping)

But then look deeper.

Even if a joke or pun or humorous situation should be right up your alley, and subject-wise lands square in what's your sweet spot, that doesn't automatically make it a good joke, right? So consider what else plays into your perception of humor.

Non-verbal communication, like facial expression, body language, and tone of voice.

Say you like puns. Does a pun land better for you when someone tells it with a straight face, and you get that "wait a second..." effect with a couple seconds delay? Or is it when someone's trying to say it with a straight face, but they can't stop their eyes from twinkling and corners of their lips from twitching? When someone's outright giggling at their own silliness? When someone makes a pun on accident?

How about tone of voice? Deadpan delivery to go with that straight face, laughter in their voice to go with their twinkling eyes and twitching lips? Or a tone of voice that contrasts with their expression/body language? Or maybe you actually prefer seeing them written, and tone of voice and body language work best for you when they're both absent.

Setting, timing, other people.

What about setting and timing--do puns land better for you if they're made when everyone's in a relaxed, possibly even silly mood, or when they're used to cut through a tense atmosphere? Are there puns you'd laugh at among friends or family, but would cringe at in the workplace, or vice versa? Are there puns you would laugh at when stressed, but not when relaxed? Are there situations where a bad pun might startle you into laughter even though it's really not that funny? Times where an otherwise good pun would only serve to get on your nerves? How does the presence or absence of other people hearing the same thing play into your perception of a joke?

The person telling the joke.

Ever met someone you didn't want to consider funny, but still found funny anyway? Had any good jokes or puns ruined for you because they were told by an absolute asshole? People you find funny from a distance, but know would get on your nerves in two seconds flat if you actually had to interact with them? But also stuff like...subverting expectations. A teenager dropping an f-bomb isn't particularly funny or serious in and of itself. But a prim old lady doing the same? That's either really funny or really serious, with not much in between.

Not all of these things are easy to convey in writing, and even when they're conveyed, they don't necessarily have the same effect as they would have in real life (reading a description of a facial expression isn't the same as seeing it). But knowing to what degree they play into your perception of humor can help a good bit in making your humor feel anchored rather than forced on top of a story or character, anyway (and in filtering out bits of humor that just really, really don't work in text).

Thank you so much! I can't tell you how much this post alone has already helped me when 24 hours ago I felt clueless about what to do. Not only has your post given me a lot more to think about, but it's also giving me multiple avenues to think about and test out the best ways to create a funny character. Once again thank you, I really appreciate the help!!

 

[Alexaknight]

I have two questions:

"Funny character" ... how? Amusing? Quirky? Hilarious? As the comic relief?

TBH all of the above. There have been many characters (some amusing, some quirky, alot hilarious, and almost all of them being the comic relief) I have found myself dying laughing over in alot of the books (not all but the majority of my favorites feature funny characters) I've read and not only did it make the enjoyment of reading the book all that much greater, but it also made me realize I want to myself be able to give readers the same enjoyable experience I get from funny characters.

"Funny character" ... why? To lighten an otherwise too-heavy story? Because you believe every story needs a funny person?

That is, if writing funny/funny people doesn't come naturally to you, why do you feel compelled to include them? (Learning new skills is always worthwhile, I'm just generally curious here!)

The reason why is mostly centered on the positive effect I've experienced as a reader. I have a comfort series that featured a funny character and it only added to the comfort as well as was a great tension reliever when things got heated. There was also another story that was the opposite of comforting and extremely heavy but because of the funny character it seemed much easier to get through reading. I guess I feel compelled to do it because once again I just want to make the stories I write (both of which I plan to span between some being more light hearted and some being heavier stories) as enjoyable as possible. (Btw I actually appreciate you asking that question because while answering it, it became clear to me what my motivation to come up with funny characters was when I never thought of the why before, so thank you!)

 

[Alexaknight]

Most of us are acquainted with people we think are funny, weird uncle Fred, cousin Mary, Mr. Thompson the neighbor with the dog that humps your leg. What makes them funny? Is it the delivery, the story, the setup for the punchline? Many characters are composites of several people.

While you may not consider yourself inherently funny, you may be able to incorporate attributes of people who are. This approach may not be helpful, but it may be worth a try.

It's definitely helpful so thank you! Just thinking about this I realize between specific people on reality tv shows, my brother, my best friend, etc., the are several different people in my life I can use (with their permission of course) and take notes on incorporate authentically funny characters without having to be funny myself, so once again thank you!

 

[Alexaknight]

A question: are you looking to write witty characters or funny characters? Writing a character who’s deliberately pointing out absurdities is a different business than writing one whose words and actions are unintentionally absurd. (Of course, someone can also be both at different points in the story, but it’s a different execution skill-wise).

If you’re writing an absurd character, exaggeration is your friend, a sense of proportion is your enemy, and commitment to the bit is essential. Humor is personal, of course, but there’s nothing funnier to me than a character who will absolutely, persistently, no matter what else is going on in the story, stay fixated on something petty. Think of Jack Sparrow (“But why is the rum gone?!”) or the Lord of the Rings, with Pippin’s much-memed cry of “But what about second breakfast?”. Or go read pretty much any Terry Pratchett book, where tense confrontations are regularly interrupted by a man trying to sell both sides suspicious sausages.

Writing a witty character is easier in some ways — if the humor falls flat, well, the best of clowns will have some bad jokes — but harder in others; witty characters are great fun for the reader, but there’s an element of cruelty to most humor, so it can become a bit of a tightrope (how much fun do you want to make a witty villain? At what point does your witty hero cross the line and lose reader sympathy?)

Writing humor in general… Woollybear is on the money, I think, talking about tension, but humor is also very much about surprise. We laugh because it’s not the expected comparison, the expected response, because it’s out of place. Because it makes us jump. Because it makes us think.

But mostly, like most things writing, it’s about practice. The more you write funny bits, the easier it’ll be to write more funny bits, and the easier you’ll find it to stick the landing and make the joke work.

Thank you so much! I never realized the distinction between writing funny and witty characters until making this post so having more to think about when creating new character is extremlely helpful!! And practice is absolutely something I like doing so thank you for mentioning that too!