Writing For Shits and Giggles. Minus the Giggles.

How does one write comedy? It's something I've wondered for a while now. I've read some amazing books that made me almost pee myself in laughter (Catch-22, John Dies At the End, or, going back to my younger years, the Wayside School books), and almost inevitably when I'm finished I think, "Oh, man, I could write something like that! Everybody says I'm funny, how hard could it be?" The answer, you naive little aspiring writer in my mirror? Pretty goddamn hard.

It seems kind of unfair at first. Look at what's on TV or at the movie theater. Comedy. There's comedy everywhere. Situational comedies, physical comedies, romantic comedies, stoner comedies, etc., etc., there's a million different subgenres when it comes to comedy on the big or little screen because everyone who sits down at the end of the day to watch TV wants to laugh, and it's easy to make people laugh when they can see what you mean. Comedic timing and delivery goes a long way in movies, even if there's a mediocre plot or script. How do you convey comedic timing? I might have Zach Galifianakis and Tina Fey in mind when I'm writing this hilarious duo in my story, but the reader probably won't. How do you describe the specifics of an awkward conversation without bogging the conversation down in details? How do you show the reader that, without missing a beat (and without saying, "without missing a beat"), Character X let loose a quip that should leave you crying with laughter? And how do you find a voice that's funny to more than a handful of people? Hell, what DO most people find funny, aside from pratfalls and parodies? Plus, there's the whole communal aspect of TVs and movies that lets you share the fun and make additional jokes with your friends and blah blah blah, basically it's hard out here for one who deals exclusively in text.

I know, I know, I shouldn't worry about what the audience is going to think. That's the stumbling block for about 95% of aspiring authors (not a real statistic). If I'm funny, then that will come through and reach someone, but that's a problem. I know I'm funny, because I make people laugh all the time. I know I'm funny because everyone says so. Well, all my friends do. And when I word it like that, it sounds about the same as me saying my mother thinks I'm beautiful or my dog thinks I'm really good at scratching his butt. No, no, I'm pretty sure I'm actually fairly amusing, but the kind that works best when I'm playing off other people who are also amusing (and, possibly, more so than me, and allow me to bask in their reflected glory). My biggest problem comes from making jokes and creating humor from nothing. Not to mention the fact that it's pretty damn near impossible to objectively judge your own writing. You see your writing all the time, you read it a million times before letting other people look it over, and you know what it says. Part of humor is not expecting the joke at the end, so when you've gone through your fourth edit and you're pretty sure the writing itself is nearly polished, it's going to be hard to look at these jokes or humorous situations that you've created and see them as funny.

Nnnnngh. It's so much easier to write tragedy. There's a fairly general consensus on what's tragic. Loss is pretty much universally sad, so throw that in your novel and you've got the pain part covered. But comedy? Ugh.

Which is why I've decided to attempt a comedy for Camp NaNoWriMo. Because personal growth waits on no man!