1. JunieValkyrie

    JunieValkyrie New Member

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    Writing Dry Humor

    Discussion in 'Comedy and Humour' started by JunieValkyrie, Jan 2, 2009.

    hi =] im junie. im trying to write a funny story that uses dry humor, and its really hard to keep the tone light and joke-y during serious scenes. ive seen some people pull off making jokes during scenes that normally shouldnt be funny. for example, one author wrote a scene about a guy getting knocked out by a soccer ball, and all of his friends thought he died. it was hilarious because it was peppered with jokes. however my writing sense of humor leans toward characters making fun of each other. i have to have them making fun of each other in order to be funny. even if theyre not necassarily that type of person. and as a reader, i dont think stories where everyone is insulting everyone else for laughs are funny.
    maybe my sense of humor sucks? xD i dont know.. how do you keep serious scenes funny?
     
  2. Wild Card

    Wild Card New Member

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    Good reference for dry humor tends to run on the British side of things. For reading materials, I would recommend Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, or "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. For something to watch, check out the original British version of "The Office."

    I would also recommend the brilliant-but-cancelled sitcom "Arrested Development." All 53 episodes are available for free on Hulu.

    You're onto something by making your characters make fun of each other. The essence of comedy isn't happiness; it's pain. Look at "Seinfeld." Every episode was about these four selfish, terrible people doing selfish, terrible things, and watching as the universe punished them for being selfish and terrible. A possible solution would be to make the source of said comedic pain something other than the characters making fun of each other: maybe an inconvenient situation, a bizarre coincidence, or something like that.
     
  3. project69

    project69 New Member

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    Great post, Wild Card :D

    You don't have to be funny ALL of the time. Be serious in the serious scenes and funny in the others.
     
  4. JunieValkyrie

    JunieValkyrie New Member

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    @wildcard: thanks a lot =]! i think you're right. my characters are too nice, and the situations they're in aren't special. they have to rely on putting other characters down, and that's not funny.
    haha, i always told myself that i needed to watch seinfeld one day. i have an excuse to spend an entire day watching youtube now.

    @project69: thats usually true, but not for the type of story i have in mind. but i have a solution! ill make the characters be serious but i'll come up with some absurd type of conflict. in the story that i refrenced to in my post the truth of the central conflict was so bizarre but the characters took it really seriously.
     

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