I'm currently chipping away at a funny story (a comedy of sorts). However, I have some questions. First of all, I'm doing one thing differently from other story writing I do, and please tell me what you think. For this story, I write all the dialog first, and then add the descriptions, actions, and, if needed, add more dialog. I think the focus of comedy should be dialog, so that's what I'm hoping to emphasize by working on it first. Secondly, this story involves pretty far-fetched situations. Is the extent to which you suspend your disbelief for a comedy more than say, for a normal fiction story? I personally think it is, for myself personally, but would wnat to know your comments. Thanks!
Comedy is difficult. What is funny to one person leaves another person cold. I don't agree that dialogue is necessarily the focus of comedy. Certainly Shakespeare put much of his humor into dialogue, but he was a playwright, after all. Dialogue was where nearly all of the writing took place. Consider writers like Douglas Adams and Hunter Thompson. Most of their humor is in description, and in the charicatures they inhabit their stories with, Like Thompson's Samoan attorney. To me, te best humor is that which examines everyday human behavior, and subtly magnifies the absurdities already there. Why do drive-up ATMs have Braille keypads, for instance? Please raise your hand if you can't hear me in the back of the room. Exactly what is it you don't understand? The worst thing you can do in humor is try too hard. Over the top is just out the door.
Apparently it's required by federal law for all ATMs to have their instructions in braille for the blind, and they make no distinction between the drive-up kind and the walk-up kind.
^ Here's a great example! Be prepared for people with no sense of humor raining on your parade along your journey.
Comedy isn't only in dialogue. Think of the way your mc sees others. I like YA books the most for comedy because I enjoy the way younger characters describe things and people. A random example of this is in The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan, where Percy Jackson refers to his step dad as "Smelly Gab." That's funny to me, but not to others either, which leads me to my next point which is that I agree with Cogito....again p.s That was a good example !
No two people will laugh at the exact same parts. If it should still seem like a comedy to someone who will only laugh at 5% of the jokes, it means your story would have to be 2000% funny.
Completely agree with this. It always pays to be observational and see the funny side of simple things, that people can relate to. I myself love hearing bizare stories that leave you going " wow, I really didn't expect that,but it was brillant" but that you could somehow believe. Anyways, I wish you the best of luck!
