MoHypothetical scenario, let’s say you witness something hilarious, or even just mildly funny, or even not funny at all, but a quirky thought comes to you at that moment, which relates to the context and that tickles you for some reason or other.
Truth is, this happens to me rather often. I suspect that it isn’t so much me, though I know I have a knack of observing things, but over time I’ve got better at turning what is a tiny and insignificant moment in the day into post-able content.
So let’s say I witness something slightly comical, and my quirky mind runs away with it and I sense a post brewing. How do I take it from start to finish?
1) If possible I photograph the scene. This is for two reasons.
Firstly, it aids in remembering the moment. I.e. when I’m viewing the photo later I can remember details that I would have otherwise forgotten. This triggers memory of the thoughts, emotions, and appreciation of he incident.
Secondly, it provides ammunition for setting the scene. Typically humorous content relies on scene setting, whether in the context of columns, short tales, blog posts or even pub stories. By taking a quick snapshot of a scene I can then later on convert that into the scene-setting prose that my content usually builds on.
2) I lay out the start, middle and end, as I covered in last Tuesday’s post. For example I decide that I’m going to set the scene from the photo, then succinctly reveal the humorous incident and finally end with a bang and a quirky thought.
I also list any threads that I plan to run through the content. This is crucial, as the post or article’s success will not depend on the story alone – as I said last week, it is the telling of it that really counts and threading themes through the content is a large part of this.
3) I draft the post. This is by far the longest part of the process, the grunt work, which is pretty obvious really, but with the outline in place it becomes much easier. I try to write it “off the cuff” so to speak, because this tends to result in freer and more natural content.
4) I usually allow a day or two to pass – which is not always possible – and throughout this period take note of ideas, metaphors, words or gags that I’d like to work in to the content. For me this is the most transient period in the posting process – by which I mean that I often decide on numerous tweaks and changes that sometimes dramatically change the flow of the post. I find doing this, rather than posting immediately, results in a post that reads and feels better, more natural and best of all, does not give off a sense of being rushed.
5) I do one final edit and review, working in the above notes, trying to read it as if I haven’t read it before, which is pretty much impossible! But trying to read it from another’s perspective is always worthwhile.
For me the most valuable part of the process is the taking of the photo. This not only encapsulates the moment in more detail than a few notes would, but it also ‘archives’ the content in a rudimentary but fantastically complete manner, meaning that I don’t have to get to work on the piece immediately, but can return to it much later and know that the majority of the moment, along with any of my thoughts, are preserved.
That, in a nutshell, is how I go from witnessing a minor incident, and turning it into a post that I’m pleased with.
Mo is a software developer, late twenties. Lives in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with his wife and young daughter. Writer of the blog Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin, a wacky take on the world with a focus on observational humour, people-watching and literary quality. He loves nothing more than to sit in a pub with a pen and paper, sipping a strong dark beer and capturing life’s humour, richness and colour.
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Mo, I’m not necessarily knocking your own process in developing comedic material (as we all have our unique workflow) – but the blueprint that you’re conveying really isn’t one conducive to the fundamental psychological and structural elements of humor.
While “scene setting” may in fact be highly crucial when it comes to dramatic prose or essays… it’s actually the lack of such information that forms the basis of the typical humorous construct. This is the predominant reason why most people fail in their comedic attempts – the story should *not* be the focal point, but the relative experience of the reader (whatever it may be) in the context of your own observation.
Whether your witty point or theme is influenced by an actual experience of yours – the reader will always view it from their own perspective and judge your observation based on their *own* context, not yours. Setting up a complete picture of the “scene” nullifies this element of the “setup” – which in turn, causes the reader to have no personal connection to the material and therefore ends up not even caring much about what you have to say at all. (the instance I usually address when people tell their friends about something funny that happened to them – with the reaction typically being not of laughter, but of you stating “I guess you had to have been there”)
Humor boils down to only two elements at its core – surprise & context. The “joke” comes from setting up an assumption in the reader’s head that ends up being turned upside down swiftly at the end. (the most notable structure being the “reversal” – which can be seen over & over again in most stand-up comedy acts) Scene-setting, as you call it, defies the purpose of these two fundamental concepts – as you’re both adding extraneous information to cloud the focus of the assumption you’re setting up – while completely ignoring the reader’s own relative viewpoint which forms the due context needed to flip this assumption and elicit a laugh.
While the concepts & process may indeed be sound within the scope of dramatic essays… I would have to heavily disagree with basing this same structure when it comes to effective comedy writing.
Jordan Cooper´s last [type] ..Like A Pundit: Traction For The Very First Time
Well I have never written humorous content/depiction, so I cannot judge or give my opinion on this.
Jordan,
Cheers for the feedback. I know that what I’ve outlined above is a personal approach – I tried to make that clear. One thing I would say though is that I’m not suggesting exhaustive scene-setting, self-indulgent prose which alienates the reader from the story. In fact, I’m referring to the kind of scene-setting that prevents the reader from feeling that “I guess I had to have been there”, that exists to facilitate the surprise and also set the context. Like you say, the core elements are surprise and context, and I suppose without context the surprise is not as powerful. Where you mention using information that clouds the focus of “the assumption”, this is something I’ve taken note of and will try to avoid. It is a valuable point, I appreciate it mate, and a good lesson. One thing I do when doing final editing and reviews is to remove anything which I feel does “cloud” or distract.
I have a very dry sense of humor mixed with sarcasm so often my posts that are meant to be funny are similar. I like to do the jabs that don’t hit you right away but once it sinks in, it’s funny.
The best way to convey this, in my opinion, is not to over complicate trying to explain what happened. Leaving a lot of it to your readers imagination will make it much easier and lets the story go off into different tangents for different people.
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Agreed. The best comment threads I’ve seen are where the readers’ imaginations run wild.
Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last [type] ..John Smith and the Blue Mackintosh
Mo, thanks for sharing your process.
Humor in writing usually comes to me unbidden as I’m writing a post or article. I find I can make parts of a post funny, but I haven’t yet tried to make an entire post both funny and educational.
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One of the best examples I’ve seen over the years is Stevey’s [Yegge] Blog Rants – which is still up at http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/ but he no longer posts. He posted some mammoth articles in his time, which combined humour and technical grit in phenomenal style.
Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last [type] ..John Smith and the Blue Mackintosh
I have to hold back on the humour a lot as my readers are serious business folks, and I may or may not have the best sense of humour according to my girlfriend…
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I can imagine with serious business folks you have to be careful…especially on your girlfriend’s advise…
Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last [type] ..John Smith and the Blue Mackintosh
I’d like to add that if you’re not able to take a picture, you can record yourself as you describe the event.
This lets you capture the emotion you are feeling at that time. It’s sort of the next best thing to taking a photograph of something.
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I have just started doing this and it is a really quick way to get notes down without having to tap away on your phone or fumble for a pen. The great thing about this is that speaking (for me at least) is proving to be a quick and easy way to capture the moment in raw, free-flowing quality.
Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last [type] ..John Smith and the Blue Mackintosh
Hey Mo, I’m with you man, I know Jordan is actually a comic so he knows what he is talking about but I too follow a similar process. Granted I’m just totally funny as at the time, but if there is even a slight chance that 48 hours could allow for an increase in funniness, then hells yeah I’m waiting. I think we need to introduce ‘sarcasticon’ the font family already though, some people are just stupid. (not sure if those last two points are linked or not?)
Nice post and good to get some insight into the mind of Mo.
Chat soon mate
Alex
Hah! sarcasticon….I like it.