Tag: comedy

Reasons to Laugh

What makes you laugh?

I laugh at irony. I laugh at observations on the absurdities of life. I laugh at wordplay and cleverness. I enjoy sardonic jokes, jokes that push themselves up from the common denominator. I like humor that people put effort into, that has a setup and a punchline that makes you think for a moment, scratch your head, and then break out laughing.

I like being a bit of a gadfly. Nothing taken too far, but I get a giggle out of throwing people for a loop. Maybe I’m a Groucho Marx at heart, with a sharp tongue that I need to keep in check. But then, sometimes I’m laughing inside, watching politely and quietly as the world goes insane and carries itself with the utmost seriousness like a toad in a tuxedo being interviewed on the red carpet. Inside, I’m roaring.

The world isn’t getting madder; it’s always been mad. Lewis Carroll knew, and so did Abbott and Costello. Jonathan Swift was dead certain and let everyone know it. The Three Stooges made it abundantly clear. Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse proclaimed it with pomp and ceremony. Life is weird, and all the more so because we pretend it isn’t. The world goes on in utmost seriousness, and that makes me laugh, because if you ignore the layers of respectability, the jokes write themselves. An innocent child laughs at what adults believe is the most important thing in the world.

Most of all, I laugh at myself. We pretend that we can’t laugh at ourselves, that we are serious people on a serious Earth, but often that is who we should laugh at the most. So, laugh a little.

***

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

“Hermes is not having the best time. He walks a fine line, and his duty as messenger of Olympus weighs heavily on him. Being a god in the modern age means living in a world that no longer believes in gods. How much can one deity accomplish when no one respects him anymore? And why do his instincts tell him that he, the son of Zeus, is losing favor with his own family?

Tensions abound. The upstart Young Gods play dangerous games using entire cities as their boards. Formless monsters strike from the nighttime shadows, terrorizing hapless mortals. Agents of rival pantheons scheme to thwart Olympus’ designs. In the thick of it all, Hermes does what he does best: trick, lie, and cheat his way to victory.“

How to Write the Best Novel Ever

Looking for how to be the greatest author who ever lived? Need some quick and easy advice on the quick and easy way to become rich and famous? Just follow these ten tips without question, and you will become an author that nobody will forget! Absolutely not satire!

  1. Plagiarize other writers. Sharing is caring. Besides, they did the really hard part, so why not be efficient? If they didn’t want people using their stuff, they wouldn’t have made it public, now, would they?
  2. Use the most complicated, flowery language you can. Pull words from the dictionary with at least four syllables. Use really big words never used in casual conversation and sprinkle them liberally throughout your story. That way, everybody knows how smart you are.
  3. Don’t use consistent characterization. People aren’t consistent in real life, so why should they be in fiction? Don’t worry if your protagonist acts contradictory to established personality and goals. Just have them do whatever with no real rhyme or reason. It’s not like readers actually care about that sort of thing.
  4. Write maybe once or twice a month. Why stress yourself out? Write whenever you feel like. After all, you can only write well if you’re “in the zone.” Writing every day regardless of how you feel is just plain silly and definitely bad for your skin.
  5. Editing is a waste of time. Reviewing your work for typos, story flow and all that other stuff is dumb. Why compromise your original vision by changing all your hard work? Even worse is submitting your novel to editing by other people. Didn’t your parents teach you to never trust strangers?
  6. Novels are only good if they have lots of symbolism. They taught us that in high school literature class, so it must be true. Symbolism is way more important than storytelling, so make sure everything in your novel is symbolic: the color of people’s clothes, their names, their hairstyle, and especially innocuous, minor details that are otherwise irrelevant to the story. Everything is symbolic and has Deep Meaning™.
  7. Constructive criticism is dumb and bad and should be ignored. If someone doesn’t like something in your book and suggests how to improve it, they’re just jealous and probably want to sabotage you. Surround yourself with people who compliment everything you do and listen to them exclusively. But remember, per tip #5, don’t let them actually touch your book.
  8. Bigger books are better, so write as many words as you can and don’t cut any out. Refer to tip #2. All the hard copy versions of the world’s greatest novels are big enough to be used as doorstoppers. So, obviously, you want to write a huge book with lots of words. NEVER use 3 words when you can use 30.
  9. Draw your own cover art. Why bother letting someone else draw your vision? Save time and money by drawing the art yourself! You know what you want, and it’s guaranteed to be memorable.
  10. Include a gimmick. Everybody writes the same old boring way, so make yourself stick out. Write only in present tense, or make each character’s lines a different color, or write the pages out of order, or write sentences backwards. People like that kind of fun and will definitely appreciate all the extra effort you put in.

Ultimately, it is up to you on whether to make the correct decision and follow this free advice. Remember, this is ABSOLUTELY not satire designed to point out things that can hinder a book’s quality or a humorous article designed to make people laugh. This is absolutely serious stuff and following these steps will make you the best writer in the history of the universe and rich enough to buy a whole nation. Everyone will love and adore you forever as you achieve authorial apotheosis.

I repeat, this is in no way satire, and taking this advice seriously will not lead to you angrily arguing with people over your book’s reviews on Amazon.

And no, I am not crossing my fingers behind my back. My hand is itchy.

***

My new book, The Trickster’s Lament, is currently available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.

“Hermes is not having the best time. He walks a fine line, and his duty as messenger of Olympus weighs heavily on him. Being a god in the modern age means living in a world that no longer believes in gods. How much can one deity accomplish when no one respects him anymore? And why do his instincts tell him that he, the son of Zeus, is losing favor with his own family?

Tensions abound. The upstart Young Gods play dangerous games using entire cities as their boards. Formless monsters strike from the nighttime shadows, terrorizing hapless mortals. Agents of rival pantheons scheme to thwart Olympus’ designs. In the thick of it all, Hermes does what he does best: trick, lie, and cheat his way to victory.

He may be disrespected. He may be kicked about. He may even be falling out with his pantheon. But Hermes is a trickster. He knows how to play dirty in a world that doesn’t play fair. But though he can best man, beast, and god, he isn’t prepared for his wiliest opponent yet: his own conscience.”

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

A Word of Wisdom Regarding Books and Dogs

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

Groucho Marx (probably)

If you’re a cat person, then sorry, I really don’t know what to tell you.

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

You Think This is Funny? Reflecting on Film Writing and Humor

Image: “Comedy and Tragedy Masks” by Booyabazooka; Licensed under CC 3.0

Today I’m going to talk about something specifically related to film writing, and a trend that I’ve seen in movies for a while now.

See the picture above? You’ve seen them around. The twin masks of Comedy and Tragedy. The two always go together. Where there’s laughter, there’s sorrow. Where there’s mourning, there’s merriment. They need each other. Every great work has both working hand-in-hand in the jolly spirit of cooperation.

We need to laugh. But, and this is a big but, we also need to cry. And if you have too much of one and none of the other…

What happens if a story is all jokes and funny business? Well, you might call it a comedy, sure, but do you know what a lot of really good comedies have? Moments of seriousness interspersed with the hilarity. And do you know what the best dramas have? Sprinklings of humor to lift the audience’s spirits.

But writing comedy is tricky. Heck, writing in general is tricky, but writing appealing humor is really tricky because you’re trying to appeal to a broad audience. Why do you think broad humor is synonymous with toilet humor? It’s easy to get a quick laugh out of something dirty. It’s the easy way out and requires little skill. Sorry to all of you out there who enjoy such, but it really is the junk food of comedy. And like junk food, you like it at first, but it leaves you sick in the end.

As a wise man once said: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”

Humor is more than just jokes. Humor humanizes. People crack jokes under pressure. Their sense of humor makes the audience able to empathize with them. And yet, humor can also de-humanize, funnily enough. What do I mean by that?

Okay, let’s talk about the current state of Hollywood. Yes, I’m going there.

Blockbusters nowadays – not all of them, but a whole lot – rely on quips and wisecracks to carry their characters through the action. A dramatic scene is undercut by a sudden swerve into corny jokes. Everyone is a kidder. Too much humor spoils the plot. If nobody is taking this seriously, why should I? What are the stakes? When you joke about everything, everything becomes a joke. The characters are just walking punchlines, waltzing from gag to gag. They’re defined by how much funny they can deliver per minute. And they cease to be characters: They’re walking satires, exaggerated stereotypes of human behavior.

Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger could pull it off. True, but 1980’s action movies rarely pretended to be anything more than fluff. Watch bad guys get beat up by a hero delivering one-liners after each kill. What happens when modern blockbusters try to pose as something much more meaningful – and then undercut that meaning with a one-liner perfectly timed to be delivered at the most poignant and emotional moment?

Humor is a very powerful tool. It tells us what to take seriously and what to devalue. We laugh at things we don’t treat as important or respectable. Which can backfire if you set up a story where a situation or character is meant to be treated with dignity, respect, confidence, and even fear, and then undermine that intent with a barrage of cheap quips. Humor is like a gun: You don’t wave it around carelessly.

What’s worse, the audience very quickly becomes desensitized to it. A couple of movies with this type of writing, the audience is whooping and hollering. But by the tenth film, it becomes old-hat. Yeah, yeah, this is about the right place for – yup, he did it. He made a corny joke right when I expected him to. Hey, here’s a quiet drama scene. I bet they’re gonna – yup, another cheap joke to ruin the mood.

Predictable, formulaic, and worst of all, boring. Same old, same old.

So, what to do about it?

Well, learn from it, for one. Why doesn’t it work anymore? Analysis of others’ writing, both good and bad, can be useful for improving one’s own skills. Learning from the mistakes and missteps of others is invaluable. Comedy is a rich and complex genre in and of itself, with so many branches. It serves many purposes, and can truly bring light into hopeless situations, and alleviate tension right when the audience needs it. Just don’t overdo it. No need to beat someone over the head to make sure they “get the joke.”

And the joke itself isn’t the point. Everything, even a witty quip, should be in service of the story. The story should never serve the joke.

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