Hi, this is Emilie. I'm going to help you with your comical relief, humor, and basically everything else that makes you laugh. Like when the eleventh Doctor is trying to get used to his tastebuds. I can't really help with that, it's already perfect.
The Doctor: "You're Scottish, fry something!"
**bacon is handed to him**
The Doctor: "Ooh, bacon. I love bacon. **tastes bacon** AGH THIS IS BACON ARE YOU TRYING TO POISON ME?"
Ahem...
Anywho, the name of this post is incredibly long, I know, but I hope you get my point. Humor makes you laugh. Obviously. But when it comes to making OTHER people laugh, well, then, this is where I come in. Here are some simple steps to make your writing funnier.
1. Say something unexpected.
When being unexpected, you:
- Say something very strange and maybe even creepy. "I don't usually panic, but when I do, I run around screaming with my head stuck in a lampshade."
- Say something that plays on a common annoyance or something that everybody knows well. In this excerpt from my friend's book, Finding the Flame, Sativa is answering the phone, but is watching out for any of her enemies. My friend (who's name is Kaylee Bowing) wrote that little part at the end because she finds that all telemarketers that call her ask if she wants whatever she's asking about in plaid. She was playing on that common nuisance to generate humor. Sativa picked up the phone. "Hello? And if you're a soul-sucking telemarketer, I don't want any magical love stones, or anything with plaid."
When saying something no one expects, it generates a funny mental picture and makes almost anyone smile. You can't be too random, however, or people may think the line is cheesy. Balance out the unexpectedness and the context, so that you have a perfectly-crafted punchline that'll really make everyone smile.
2. Use lots of quirky metaphors and similes.
When using metaphors, you:
- Try to create a funny and humorous mental picture. This is a excerpt from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, when Percy says something surprising to Annabeth. She looked like I'd just said, "I need to eat a large, smelly boot." This is not exactly a metaphor, but it creates the mental picture of Percy eating a large smelly boot, which is both disgusting and hilarious. Another example is, for instance, if someone has just seen something disturbing, you could say, "He/She looked as if she'd/he'd just seen the result of a frog and a donkey having a baby." This might make you think of a nasty little brown hairy frog with two gigantic donkey ears making it impossible for it to hop around. Doesn't that make you want to laugh?
- Make it longer than usual, therefore avoiding a cliche. If someone said, "the peanut butter was as sticky as glue," that isn't funny. It's kind of annoying, actually, considering everyone on the planet uses that metaphor. Instead you could think of something ELSE that's sticky, like duct tape, and then think about what could make it even stickier. So, instead you could say, "the peanut butter was as sticky as a piece of duct tape that had just run a marathon." Again, it creates a very strange mental picture of a piece of duct tape with one of those elastic bands around the top of it inching along the track. In a similar way, instead of saying "My friend looked sad," you could say, "my friend looked like she'd just found a dead puppy in her bed." How sad would you be if you saw a dead puppy in your bed?
3. Comical wording.
When wording things comically, you:
- Use funny words. Try to make something that someone says into a funny sentence by switching words around or using different punctuation. Read this little scene:
I looked over at Drew, who was tugging at the bars wildly. "Stop," I said. "It's not going to do anything. We're trapped."
"Well we have to get out!" Drew panted.
"Well, yeah!" I said.
Okay, you get the picture. Apparently you and a guy named Drew are stuck somewhere. If you want comic relief, you could say:
I looked over at Drew, who was tugging at the bars wildly. "Stop," I said. "It's not going to do anything. We're trapped."
"Well we have to get out!" Drew panted.
I snorted. "Well, duh."
Okay, that sounds much funnier. You know why? Because I used the word snorted. That kind of word always makes people laugh. It's just that kind of word. It sounds funny. Another selection of funny words is: Chortled, giggled, snickered, and wailed.
~ ~ ~
Hopefully I have officially enlightened you on how to make your story more funny! I might make a second part to this, so leave a comment below to tell me if you think that's a good idea. But now...
Keep writing!
- Emilie
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