 Comedy: May 13, 2009 Issue [#3039] |
  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Just an Ordinary Boo!  
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A jester had a recognizable costume and paraphernalia to induce the expectation of humour. Written humour has its own devices. It is an art, but art can be imitated. |
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“The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”, a fantasy trio with immense power. There is another such trio of which I know - “The Absurdity, the Metaphor/Simile and the Pun"
I was asked by someone, (OK, let’s name names, it was francie), if I thought comedy could be added to writing. If one could learn to put comedy into writing without any personal experience. I presumed that she meant any comedic experience from which to draw inspiration, but it could have been experience of writing comedy. I was at first disappointed, because I thought I had just finished telling people that there were two types of comedy writers, the naturally gifted and the ones who learned it, and what the common elements of comedic writing were. I then realized she was asking for specifics and 'How-to-step-by-step', so this NL is dedicated to her question.
It is obvious the answer is yes, so the answer actually has to deal with the ‘how’.
Well, the first thing is to just write what you want to say, not just the bare bones of the story, but the flesh and skin tones too. Get it written first, in your style, comedic or not.
Now examine it for points that can be altered to add comedy. I will take as an example, a bit from a story that I posted a long time back and which I deemed ‘finished’; we will try our experiments on that.
 Susan held her ‘brown bag lunch’ in one hand and her knitting bag in the other as she crossed the road to the park. She was looking forward to a quick bite and then getting on with the bonnet she was knitting to complete the baby set. She loved the feeling of needle slipping on needle, the deft finger movement as the wool was carried forward or back, the satisfaction of seeing a shape emerge from the seemingly mindless knits and purls. She made the items for sale at the annual Charity Fair.
It was a beautiful autumn day, clear air with the faintest ‘bite’ to the wind caressing her cheeks to an attractive flush. Her hair escaped at the persuasions of the truant breeze from the psyche knot she always wore to work; and kissed the back of a slender neck.
Exaggeration or absurdity: Instead of making Susan out to be expert knitter make her an amateur who is struggling at it:
 She was looking forward to a quick bite, but the thought of continuing her knitting project made her squeamish. Why did I ever join those classes, the grandmas outclass me even with arthritic fingers!. She struggled to produce the woven items, and the simple two-tone scarf she was attempting at present was zig-zag and had become about a foot too long with one ounce of wool still remaining. Only a camel with a sore throat might appreciate it was her wry admission.
The beautiful autumn day had brought leaves spiraling down; they seemed to whisper derision as they swirled around her feet. Her hair was coming down from her topknot; rebellious as always, it whipped into her eyes to make her misery complete.
Is the picture a little amusing, can we delight in her discomfiture? Of course we can.
The picture can be further enhanced by -
The use of ridiculous simile or metaphor - the ‘camel with a sore throat’ was a case in point, but let us see what else we can do.
We could describe the scarf: The scarf she was attempting to knit:
‘looked less like a sedate length of neck apparel than a river in spate that attempted to change its course and cleave a furious path through undulating hills.
Or maybe
‘like a mountain road that wound its way up a steep rock face, now narrow, now widening, changing direction in hairpin bends.’
Anybody laughing out there? No? OK, let’s move in for the kill. 
Paronomasia: Another device would be to add a deft pun. A pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.
English is a language with infinite promise for absurdity through puns.
To digress a little, Ogden Nash made a living from it.
This is his ode to the llama:
The one-L lama, he's a priest
The two-L llama, he's a beast
And I would bet a silk pyjama
There isn't any three-L lllama
Nash appended a footnote to this poem: "The author's attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer.
(Do you get the drift - or shall I continue snowing? *ducks to avoid thrown rotten tomato and zips back to the NL*)
What choices do we have, specifically, in this example? Pick a couple of words and play with homophones (words with different meaning that sound the same, like sun-son, or fare-fair) and homographs (words that are spelled the same but have a different meaning and sound, also called heteronyms: like bass - the musical sound, or bass - the fish).
Hair-hare, leaf-leave-left, wool-would-wood, Knit-knot-not-naught. There are any number of possibilities, you just have to open the mind and look for them.
I would go for the last possibility, it has the most potential. I could have:
Susan mused, Inept I am not, but to knit comes to naught if I knit knots. The little word play lightened her mood and she was ready to try once more.
See, it is not difficult, just requires practice. As most forms of writing do. So dig out a piece of your own and work that magic. Of course, one has to use a light hand, the icing cannot be heavier than the cake; the Maraschino cherries cannot obscure the icing! A light hand and the use of balance works everywhere, from the pineapple soufflé that balances tangy tartness with feathery-light sweetness to the fantasy-cum-comedy story that makes you chuckle in reminiscence hours after the read. (As you can tell - writing/thinking makes me hungry!)
Have a fun-filled time! I have to go and add all these bits to my story; I think I will keep ‘em all! 
*Logs off, large false smile fades, ignores computer and makes a beeline for the refrigerator and yesterday's carrot cake. Draws curtain across to cover further depredations.*
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I recommend one from the Newsletter archives that describes the use of metaphor and simile far better than my own feeble attempts. There are picks in there too, so my picks will only be for stories that use puns.
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The first round of the Tourn-a-round threw up some delightful ones, I just closed my eyes and jabbed with a forefinger, this is the item to which it pointed.
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I cannot resist a deft title, the use of this device is made in an unusual way too.
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My finger might not have alighted upon this one, but my heart sure did. Another one from the Tourn-a-rounds.
A pun is often the pun-chline of a joke, but it can fall quite flat if not well presented and appreciable by the reader. (This won is a booty! )
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Great title, and a punch in the ending!
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Can I end this with one of my own? I know punnier is not necessarily funnier - I could not resist this one though. Feel free to groan after the read! |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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I am happy that my first NL was not only appreciated, it threw up points of debate that gave me a kick-off point for the second one! Thanks to those that wrote in and here's hoping the others will soon join in the feedback.
Submitted By: Acme 
Hey Jyo  Smashing guest editor job. Thanks for the item links too; I found some entertaining reading
Thanks for the thumbs up, Acme. I am glad you found the picks entertaining.
Submitted By: pooja_sr
Welcome, Jyo! You sure gave us some food for thought. Keep writing, and keep entertaining!
Thanks, Pooja; appreciation, pats on the back, all are welcome to a newbie editor.
Submitted By: francie
HI joy_an. I appreciated this newsletter because,
you not only explained, you demonstrated the fine art of humor.
Question ~ Do you think an author can "make-up" a comedic piece with no personal experience behind the words?
I know this genre comes naturally to some authors, but what of the rest of us?
Thanks for the comprehensive and enlightening newsletter. Nice work.
francie.
Well, if you noticed, this entire NL is a reply to your query. I am still not done, but I hope I have made it clear that all writing is an art; it can come by inspiration or imitation.
Submitted By: NanoWriMo2018 Into the Earth
Submitted Comment:
I so need to bookmark this issue! Excellent points. Thank you for sharing.
I am flattered, I am happy to share - this is a genre that seems underused as leit motif, I wish more people would use it for the effective contrast it can create.
Submitted By: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class! 
Hey Jyo,
Great first Newsletter. Thanks for the analysis and the hilarious examples.
As for me -- I don't much like to analyse humour either. I'm vegetarian and wouldn't advise killing frogs!
I’m vegetarian too and PETA-supporter enough to abhor animal killing of any kind!
But, as this NL will show, some ‘virtual’ dissection is necessary to teach one the anatomy of the creature!
Can I leave you all with something to ponder - who is your favourite comedy author, and why? No prizes for guessing my answer to that, my choice would be for Plum Pie! (Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was 'Plum' to his intimates. ) But I think Richard Gordon, James Herriot and even Gerald Durrell did a fine job of making their writes entertaining as well as informative.
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