Status and Support

[WarpGirl]

Well me and my ex are back together he teases me because he thinks I'm funny but I can't write funny!

[Aquarius]

Well, you're BOTH obviously dealing with it in a very civilized way.

I had a good relationship with my last ex before until I realized how nuts it made my husband.

He doesn't always handle it well. I got some "tasty" text messages when I went to the bar the other week to drink with Trekkies...obviously it was an absolute impossibility that my ass could be parked on a bar stool for several hours, drinking beer and making new friends. I mean, that's obviously CRAZY--who DOES that???

But normally we try to be pretty functional about our dysfunctions.

[honeybee]

Boy - between you're computer problems and your tracking ex, you've got your hands full Aquarius. Plus, you've got more than one story going.

There's still the challenge I gave you.

[Alelou]

Well me and my ex are back together he teases me because he thinks I'm funny but I can't write funny!

Ah, so THIS is the mystery man! Well, we know you like him.

[Aquarius]

Honeybee--Yeah, I know. Next week is the last regular week of classes, then it's finals. I only have two actual tests to take--chem and psych. Once those are off my back, I'm gonna write up a storm--including your challenge!!

[WarpGirl]

Alelou I'm Very much in love. He'll be here in a few hours, I'm nervous. I just wish I know how to write something funny. How do people here get into a comic mood.

[Alelou]

Watch comedy?

[crystalswolf]

Alelou How do people here get into a comic mood.

I just watch my 16 year old. The material writes itself

(no offense meant to any 16 year old people out there)

[WarpGirl]

The problem is my own sense of humor doesn't translate well in written word. I am funny just not in written form. I can write character's like Trip being funny, but not funny situations.

[Dinah]

Don't try to write funny. It's the situation people find themselves in, the things that happen to them and the way they respond that's funny. The classic comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Red Skelton, etc. just set their characters in everyday events. The way they interacted with the world around was funny because we could empathize with them. We can understand their frustration, humiliation, etc. We laugh at Laurel and Hardy because we understand their chagrin when the piano they're moving takes off down the hill or Oliver Hardy sits on his hat.

[WarpGirl]

I've never laughed at them. I find the three stooges incomprehencible. It's the situations that are giving trouble.

[crystalswolf]

The best advice I was given was close to Alelou's suggestion. Watch scenes from shows and/or movies that have the element of what you want and write them. It may take several tries to translate action to words but when you can capture what made those scenes funny, you may end up with a better sense of why they were funny. Just a suggestion.

[WarpGirl]

Ask anyone here I am painfully literal but I will not give up.

[Aquarius]

Any professional writer or writing instructor will tell you that writing humor is extremely difficult. Even people who are funny in everyday life can't necessarily be funny when writing. It just isn't for everyone. Sad, but true.

That said, I think it's great that you want to try. But you aren't going to learn it by watching comedy--maybe things like pacing/timing, yes, because humor has a definite rhythm to it. But that isn't going to help until you find what is inherently funny about the people/situations you're writing about. And then exaggerate it--I've found that the most effective comedy either exaggerates or understates things from how they really are. But don't force it to be funny; it's got to be funny in the first place--trust me, there's nothing worse than reading/watching something that's trying hard to convince you it's funny when it's really not. The successful communication of it lies in the level of exaggeration in either direction.

Then, as with any fanfic, the trick is also to keep your characters "in character," albeit maybe exaggerations of themselves in order to bring out what's inherently funny about them.

Good luck.

[WarpGirl]

Yeah I kind of knew all that. I'm just bummed because that I haven't figured out how to do what I want to do yet. I'm just looking for inspiration, not a lesson exactly.