SFNW Lecturesby Space Jazz
Chapters
- [Lecture] Comedy: How to Make a Funny
- [Lecture] Humor Part 2: Comedy Tools From a Comedy Tool
- Lecture: How to Steal Like a Champ (Where to Find Story Inspiration and Concepts)
- Pro Tip: The Power of But and Therefore
[Lecture] Comedy: How to Make a Funny
Table of Contents
I. An Introduction to Comedy
A. Joke Structure
II. Elements of Humor
A. Rule of Threes
B. Similies and Metaphors
C. HYPERBOOOOOWWWL
D. Misdirection
E. Realism
III. Irony
A. Verbal
B. Situational
C. Dramatic
IV. Earn that Comedy Tag!
A. Everybody's a Snark
B. MMmmmM TAC0S XD
C. I'm a Fence
V. How to Make a Funny
A. Write From Real Life
B. Get in, Tell the Joke, Get Out
C. Have a Premise, Tell a Story
VI. Conclusion
VII. Works Cited
I. An Introduction to Comedy
We all like to laugh. It's a natural, joyful emotion met when someone trips and falls face first into a mud puddle. A person falling is probably the only thing that I could describe as universal comedy.
Bear with me because writing about and genuinely discussing comedy is the very definition of pretentious, but someone has to do it. Humor is meant to be silly and joyful, but there's a painstaking process behind it. Standup comics take a long time to develop a show's worth of material. It was generally unheard of when Louis CK changed his material every year. In fact, other comedians seemed to resent that fact because they thought it was too fast of a window to change an entire set.
Now, I'm going to put a disclaimer out there. Comedy is subjective. What you find funny might not be what I find funny. I'm surprised I haven't seen any lectures about writing comedy, but then I realized it's because writing a good comedy is hard. Bad comedies become cringeworthy, offensive, or just plain boring.
I consider writing drama to be easier because all you have to do is tell a good story. You don't have to make the audience cry to do a good drama. But with comedy, if you don't make them laugh, you've failed.
Some of you might be thinking, "I make my friends laugh all the time. I can be funny and write comedy." Wrong. You're on your way with this mindset, but it's not the whole thing. By making funny comments with your friends, you're essentially playing half the game.
If being consistently funny was easy, everyone would be doing comedy for a living. There's a reason why most funny actors can do drama, but most dramatic actors can't be funny. See Bryan Cranston for the former. Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad are two opposite ends of the spectrum. The same man who did THIS (spoilers for Breaking Bad S4 Ep 6) also did THIS, one of which is comparable to Shakespeare.
Who am I kidding? Both are Shakespearian.
Overall, what people find funny is subjective, but there's still a common thread behind all jokes. Jokes are structured and relatable. As long as you keep those two concepts in mind, you're well on your way to writing comedy.
The first rule of writing a comedy: Tell some jokes.
A. Joke Structure
All jokes can be boiled down to set up--punchline. There may be tangents along the way, smaller jokes layered inside, witty dialogue, but there is always a payoff to a joke. You can't have a setup without the punchline, and you can't have a punchline without the setup. Context is everything.
This is why something like "MmmMM TACOS XD!!!!" isn't funny at all. What's the context? Where's the setup?
Here's a short gag I just made up right now as I'm writing: A beaver wakes up for a midnight snack. On his way down the steps, he takes a bite from the railing, decides he's full and turns back upstairs.
Some of you may have may have thought it was funny, some may have thought it was cheesy, some may have thought it was just plain stupid. If any one of these is true, I have done my job right.
Let's deconstruct the joke: The setup is that it's a beaver and beavers like wood. The beaver also owns a house. This immediately humanizes the beaver and relates it to us on a subconscious level.
NOTE: The home-owning beaver also raises questions such as: "How can a beaver afford a two-story house in this economy?" Easy, the beaver double majored in Economics and Statistics, and was able to negotiate a great mortgage rate and calculated that the rate of return is worth investing in the property. His wife, Sheila, also agreed to forgo children for at least five years until the two have a reliable and steady income. (Now if I got you to do any of the three mentioned earlier, I'm still doing my job.)
The punchline is that instead of going to the fridge, the beaver takes a bite from the railing. We can relate to this since most of, us at one point, had to make an inconvenient trip to the fridge. If we were the beaver, we'd take the cheap and easy way out too.
A simple joke like that can be incorporated into a story as a short gag, maybe even expanded upon in a later scene where Sheila reprimands her husband during a breakfast of cereal... made of pencil shavings.
When referring to stand-up, comedian Rajiv Satyal states that jokes are "about creating tension in a room and then breaking it. Jokes that work are the ones that sufficiently diffuse the tension. Ones that miss create a net positive tension in the room."
Now, while stand-up is different than writing a story, they essentially follow the same rules. Tension is used to imply that the audience is waiting for the payoff, going through the set up to get to the punch and move on.
Follow this mindset of tension and ask yourself, "Does this line make sense? Is there a setup? Does it pay off?"
In short, less TACOS more beavers.
II.Elements of Humor
These are little comedic quirks that anyone could use in any sort of story. It could be for comedic relief in a drama or make the backbone of your comedy story.
A. The Rule of Threes
One of the first basic ways we learn how to splice comedic elements into our stories is the rule of threes. Most of us have heard about it at least once. We make a list of two mundane things, and then add something ridiculous or unrelated to get an unexpected laugh as we take a left turn. I don't know exactly why, but it works.
Why the number three? Easy, the number three is concise, easy to remember, and according to former Hannah Montana child actor Mitchel Musso, three is the magic number.
Example: Didn't you just read the paragraph above?
B. Similies and Metaphors
Hey, remember these things from freshman year English? No? Well, they're your best friend as a comedy writer because all you have to do is compare one thing to something ridiculously dumb but fitting. The key to a good, humorous comparison is that they have to be exaggerated but similar.
Examples: Twilight Sparkle danced with the grace of a drunken gazelle.
Pinkie Pie began to bounce around the room like a balloon caught in a ceiling fan.
C. HYPERBOOOOOWWWL
Exaggerate everything. I mean it. If a character has a flaw or weakness, exploit that sucker and milk it for everything you got. Hyperbole makes things ridiculous. Exaggerate a normal situation. Make a minor inconvenience a major inconvenience.
One of the funniest FiM episodes (in my opinion) is "Lesson Zero." Why? Because the writer of that episode exploited Twilight's fear of not turning in an assignment on time. This concept is expanded upon until it reaches ridiculous heights where Twilight forces conflicts just to get a friendship report to turn in.
This is literally one of the first lines in the episode. And from then on, I knew it was going to be great:
Twilight Sparkle: Great. Now that we've completed the checklist of things we need to create a checklist, we can make my checklist of the things I have to get done by the end of the day.
The obvious exaggeration in this line comes from Twilight's excessive obsession with checklists.While some of us (including me) use things like checklists to create a structure in life, Twilight takes it to a whole new level.
D. Misdirection
Another tool comedians use is misdirection. Make people assume, and then do something else. It's similar to the rule of threes because they both rely on the unexpected. In fact, they sometimes can go hand in hand. Lead the audience one way, then immediately take a left turn.
Here's a short excerpt from Tietam Brown a novel by Mick Foley (yes, the professional wrestler). The narrator is describing an old movie theater he decided to take his date:
"The Lincoln's price policy, you see, was derived directly from whatever year happened to be taking place. In 1984, the price was 84 cents; in '85, it was 85. Guess what it was in '83? If you guessed 83 cents you'd be wrong. Back in '83 when the Lincoln was still the only game in town, a flick cost four bucks" (Foley 7).
The Rule of Assumptions is: when you make an assume, you make an Ass out of U and 'Mption.
E. Reality
A lot of the best comedies are grounded in reality. As long as one thing remains relatable we can laugh at it. The easiest way to create a relatability is the use of what comedians refer to as "The Straight Man"
The Straight Man is exactly what the tin describes. The part of the Straight Man is to ground the world and its characters in reality. If everyone in you story acts weird and eccentric, how do we find out it's weird? Have someone just go around and try to comprehend what is going on.
The show Arrested Development tackles it perfectly. Jason Bateman character runs a family owned company and everyone else in his family is either ridiculous, eccentric, or insane. Bateman played his role as the Straight Man so well that he was typecast as the do-good Straight Man in everything for years until he produced and directed his own movie with him as the fool.
On a general level think of this: Weird characters in a normal environment OR normal characters in a weird environment. Only one of the two can be weird. Weird character, weird setting doesn't work because it has nothing to base itself on, and normal characters normal setting is just plain boring and doesn't lend itself well to humor.
The contrast is key.
III. Irony
A subject so deep and confusing that it needs its own category. You don't need to understand irony to find it funny, but understanding irony can make your writing a lot funnier. There are three types of irony: verbal, situational and dramatic.
A. Verbal Irony
According to the website Types of Irony, "verbal irony is the use of words to mean something different from what a person actually says."
Note how this is not the same as sarcasm. Sarcasm is used to berate while verbal irony is used to complain. Sarcasm is verbal irony but verbal irony isn't sarcasm.
An inebriated alcoholic claiming they aren't drunk is verbal irony.
B. Situational Irony
"Situation irony occurs when the exact opposite of what is meant to happen, happens."
A firetruck on fire sums it up perfectly. A character earnestly proclaiming "What could possibly go wrong?" and then something goes wrong. A sign advertising a place where you can learn to read. A food truck on cinderblocks because its wheels are missing. All these are examples of irony. Just think of the opposite of what is intended.
C. Dramatic Irony
Contrary to what the name suggests, dramatic irony is not exclusive to dramas.
Again, the Types of Irony website defines dramatic irony as "When the audience is aware of something that the characters in the story are not aware of."
If the audience knows, play with what the characters don't know. The easiest example I can think of in FiM is something along the lines of the first Equestria Girls movie. The audience knows that Twilight is a magic pony princess but the characters in the movie think she's just some weird girl.
This makes Flash Sentry's borderline bestiality crush on Twilight absolutely hilarious. He's in love with a horse but doesn't know it.
IV. Earn that Comedy Tag!
I've seen a lot (and I really mean a lot) of stories on Fimfiction that don't count as a comedy but uses the tag. Nearly every story should have humorous elements to it. The best dramas have comedic relief to break the serious pace and give people a much needed tonal breather. Breaking Bad has some really funny moments and lines in it, but it balances well with its plot.
The point of this section is to display what some people think defines a comedy fanfic, and how to make it actually a comedy fanfic.
A. Everyone's a Snark
Everyone's a snark and everyone has the sarcastic comeback to the point where the dialogue resembles a tennis match. A really, boring tennis match. What's even worse is the OC who always has the perfect thing to say. The danger of this is that the character quickly becomes tired and just plain boring. Remember that sarcasm and snarky dialogue are one step away from blatant insults.
How to fix this:
Use sardonic dialogue sparingly: When it's overused, we get tired of it. We want to feel like the person with the rude comment earned it and the receiver of said comment deserved it. If the person is constantly spewing one-liners and snide remarks, it gets boring.
The Totem Peg System: Not one person/pony should be at the top the whole time. Ponies who dish it have to take it later in the story. Everyone is subject to teasing or mocking and everyone can tease and mock. Knock the ponies down a peg or two. Get them off that high horse.
Shows like Rick and Morty and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia get away with it because it's a constant power struggle in the dialogue or the characters getting lampshaded genuinely deserve the mocking for their actions.
B.MMmmmM TAC0S XD
As I've mentioned before, comedy needs context. Random for the sake of randomness isn't funny. Of course, there is a thing known as Random Humor, but it takes skill and, believe it or not, planning. Uninformed writers writing characters like Pinkie Pie and Discord are the biggest offenders in this category.
How to fix: While random isn't necessarily bad, there needs to be a logical reasoning behind it. I like to think of Random Humor as half a joke.
Example: Twilight Sparkle walked out into town and saw Pinkie Pie wearing a chicken suit.
That sounds random enough, but where's the joke in it? Pinkie's wearing a chicken suit? That's it? If you end it there, we get nothing. But let's say we write some more to it. Twilight approaches Pinkie and asks why she's wearing the suit. Turns out, Pinkie's on her way to help Fluttershy's chickens breed.
Let the audience's imaginations do the rest.
C. I'm A Fence
Hey, you know what'll be funny? Fluttershy screaming the N-word. That would be hilarious, better write a three thousand word fic about it.
No just stop. I'm not here to make a political statement, but that example above is just lazy.
Comedians tend to push the boundaries of what is acceptable all the time. All the greats do it: Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, Louis CK, Chris Rock, the list goes on and on, but what they do is smart and clever. They make a statement about controversial issues and make it light and funny. Make a point in your controversial humor, but don't contribute to the problem.
When handling controversial issues ask yourself, "Am I making a good point or am I just a bigot?"
Then, ask yourself, "Why the hell am I including racism in a My Little Pony fanfic?"
V. How to Make a Funny
Now that we know what comedy is, what tools we can use to achieve it, and what to avoid. We can finally get the final story writing aspect.
A. Write From Real Life
I've mentioned before that comedy is based on realism, but I also stressed hyperbole. The balance between both is key. We find somebody slipping and falling funny because at one point we've been through that before. We can laugh at it.
If we find a situation funny in real life, you bet your sweet butt that you have to include it in your stories. Why?Because it's the closest form of plagiarism we can get away with. Because if it happened in real life, you can write its context into a story and develop the idea further.
This is why a lot of standup comedians' bits start with "Did you ever notice?" or some variation of that question.
If you have a bad day, write a slice of life comedy where Twilight Sparkle has a bad day and it only gets increasingly worse. Have it start off with something minor like accidentally spilling ink on a library book and have it escalate to a very ticked off Twilight saving Equestria for the forty-seventh and a half time.
B. Get in, Tell the Joke, Get Out
The last thing you want to do is overstay your welcome. The end of a joke or a scene should end with a punch, hence the term "punch line." This is why a lot of true comedy fanfics are one chapter and generally less the 3.5k words. We want it to feel abrupt, but satisfying.
If you're writing a comedy with multiple chapters... Godspeed, my friend. You're taking on a heavy task because not only do you have to be funny in one chapter, but pretty much every chapter afterward. The protip is to end most scenes with a humorous remark. It doesn't have to be a gut-busting joke like the one-shots, but it has to be a the very least nose exhale funny. You know the kind I'm talking about.
C. Have a Premise, Tell a Story
The premise is the vehicle to deliver jokes, the author is the driver, and the goal is to take as many left turns as possible to get to the destination. When on the street, the first thing you notice is the car. Is it a beat up white van that you've seen before, or is it a sports car with a funky color?
Your premise is the pitch. You want to come up with a one or two sentence long premise that is attention grabbing. It has to have the theme or the general plot present but be vague enough to warrant a read. The best comedies can be described in one sentence.
The Hangover: Three men lose their friend after a drunken rampage in Las Vegas. They try to find him by retracing the events of said rampage. Ghostbusters: Disgraced paranormal scientists start a ghost hunting business. Groundhog Day: Bill Murray has to live out the same day over and over again.
Going back to my hypothetical Twilight's Bad Day story, the premise would be: Having a very bad day, all Twilight Sparkle wants to do is go home and take a nap. Unfortunately, the fate of Equestria relies on the fact that she can't.
Now the excruciating fun part is to actually write a story. The one-shot comedies tend to write the story to the joke. While the multi-chapter ones tend to write the jokes to the story. Both are perfectly acceptable, but you have to have a story, no exceptions.
This is where a lot of comedies fall flat. Serial comedies tend to stay stuck at the premise with no real plot or forward motion in pacing. They put out chapters that seem cute and funny, but eventually they hit the wall and wander around aimlessly until they reach what can only technically be defined as an ending. Trust me, I know this because my first fanfic did exactly that.
The only fix is to have a beginning, middle, and end planned before you even write the first joke.
VI. Conclusion
Overall, writing a good comedy takes an immense amount of attention to detail. You have to squeeze out every ounce of humor and stick to the rules mentioned above. But guess what? A lot of the ideas written above is only a fraction of what can be done with comedy. I haven't even begun to discuss the styles of humor, or even once mentioned how to write good, funny dialogue.
The last bit of parting advice I'll give on the subject (for now) is to study comedy. And by study, I mean actually analyze. Look at the last thing you laughed hard at and ask yourself why is it funny. What makes it work? Is it the delivery? Is it the content? Ask yourself why it's funny and try to incorporate the ideas (not the joke itself) into your next story.
Hopefully this helped in any way, or at least opened your eyes to how much work it takes to write a genuine comedy. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
I'll be here all week, Space Jazz
Works or People Cited or Mentioned (In order of appearance) [Further comedic study recommendations in bold]
Louis CK
Bryan Cranston
Malcolm in the Middle: Season 1 Episode 13, "Rollerskates"
Breaking Bad: Season 4 Episode 6, "Cornered"
Shakespeare
Rajiv Satyal "The 8 Humor Styles"
Mitchel Musso "The Three Rs"
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Season 2 Episode 3 "Lesson Zero"
Mick Foley, Tietam Brown
The Long Kiss Goodnight (Assumption joke)
Arrested Development
Equestria Girls
Rick and Morty
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Eddie Murphy
George Carlin
Chris Rock
The Hangover
Ghostbusters
Groundhog Day
[Lecture] Humor Part 2: Comedy Tools From a Comedy Tool
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Just the Tips
A. Humor to the Power of Ten
B. The K Sound: The Not-So-Silent Killer
C. The Anticlimax
D. Idioms and Cliches
III. References
IV. Dialogue
A. Get Distracted
B. Write the Dialogue, then Figure Out Who Says It
C. Keep Things Short
V. Conclusion
I. Introduction
This is a followup lecture to Comedy: How to Make a Funny If you haven't read that one, I recommend you at the very least skim through it. This will cover advanced, in-depth ideas to developing humor in your story.
The last lecture about comedy I wrote focused on the basics and rules of comedy. I essentially gave little tips and tricks to write jokes, gags, funnies, japes, cracks, quips, and the occasional witticism. Now, It's time to put them into practice.
Once again, comedy is subjective. I'm only giving tips and techniques, not dictating what is funny.
We, as humorists, need to find a way to incorporate humor into a story and have it still be, you know, a story. A lot of modern comedy movies feel like an assortment of skits and set pieces than an actual narrative. You want to tell a good story first, then add in the jokes. Bonus points if the humor comes from your story.
Think of comedy, not as a genre but as a supplement to a story. You want your humor to be the syrup on an otherwise plain pancake (or waffle, if you're a terrible person). Kidding, of course.
Those who prefer waffles aren't considered people.
II. Just the Tips
A. Humor to the Power of Ten
This isn't an exaggeration: Write out your joke ten times. Do whatever you need to get the funniest line out. Change the phrasing, change the wording, or even change the setup of the joke itself. The first time may or may not be the best possible version, but you need to at the very least weigh it with alternatives. Who knows, maybe by the sixth rewrite you stumble upon gold.
Let's say we're writing a comedic origin story for a superhero. Ask yourself, "How does he get his powers?" To make things focused, let's also assume it's lighting powers. Here's a short list of ideas I came up with.
1. Too stubborn to stop golfing in a thunderstorm.
2. Tries to fix satellite dish in a thunderstorm.
3. Got a bit too touchy-feely with electric eels.
4. Stuck a fork in an electrical socket.
5. Stuck his pecker in an electrical socket.
6. Bad burrito at Kev's Taco Explosion Hut.
7. A car battery jump gone horribly wrong.
8. A car battery jump gone horribly right.
9. Jump roping with a loose electrical wire.
10. Puddle hopping in a thunderstorm.
The idea is to brainstorm alternatives and to develop the idea further. The first time doesn't always equal gold.
Also, notice how some ideas lead to the development of others. The more you do these kinds of things, the easier it becomes to do it while your writing.
B. The K Sound: The Not-So-Silent Killer
According to Writer's Digest, modern western humor has roots in Yiddish. A lot of the common syllables in Yiddish have a hard "Kuh" (Kick, Kit, Cat) sound. Writer's Digest calls it "guttural." Sounds with a hard "G" sound (gut, gallop, and guacamole) also work. If you can mix the two into a word or phrase, you're golden.
One of the reasons why this is one of my favorite comedy tools is because it's subtle. Not everyone knows that these sounds are funny, so you're subconsciously making them grin and giggle at the mere use of the word "quiche."
C. The Anti Climax
Last time, I mentioned that hyperbole is a key to comedy. Now, I'm going to tell you that it's antithesis, anti-climaxes, can get laughs as well. The difficult part about anticlimaxes is that they have to be satisfying in their disappointment. No, that's not a joke. You want the reader to feel disappointed but not cheated.
One of the best examples in literature comes from this line from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
It's common in science fiction to have a lengthy, awe-inspiring paragraph that describes the alien ships in beautiful prose. All we get from Adams is the fact that bricks don't fly. It's abrupt and absurd, but, most of all, it's anti-climactic. It's cathartic in the fact that it's not cathartic. Douglas does this kind of thing all the time.
Science fiction (especially more recent entries in the genre) tends to take on current issues and dress them up with bleeps and bloops and lasers in a way where we come to expect something profound in that genre. Adams often plays with that notion by making things noticeably flat.
Another example of an anticlimax in Hitchhiker's Guide is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, as told by a super computer created by a race of ancient race of intellectuals. Obviously, most of us expect a profound, mind shattering truth, but all we get is the number 42.
Why? Well, Douglas just thought it would be funny for it to be an "ordinary, smallish number."
A lot of anti-jokes revolve around anti-climaxes.
What's red and smells like blue paint? Red paint.
A priest, a rabbi, and a Muslim cleric walk into a bar. The cleric abstains from alcohol, and the two other men respect his decision and have a good time nonetheless.
D. Idioms and Cliches
Normally, most genres tell you to avoid cliches. Comedy is the exception. Any cliche instantly becomes set up to a joke because it's well-known due to its overuse. This means that people are more likely to get the joke.
For example, it's a cliche that cats and dogs are mortal enemies. Ghostbusters uses this cliche for one of the best lines in the movie.
After the ghosts are released back into New York, Bill Murry delivers this line:
"Human sacrifice! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!"
It's silly, cheesy, and almost everyone would get the joke.
Or, there's the 1940's Foo Bird joke:
On an island every summer, the Foo Birds come in, named after the sound they make. One day, a Foo Bird poops on a villager's head. Panicking, the villager runs to the river to clean it off and later dies. The next day, a Foo Bird poops on another villager's head. Afraid of dying, the second villager runs to the river and cleans it off only to die later on.
On the third day, a Foo Bird poops on a teacher (or any educated person). and instead of running to the river, they leave it on. This prompts the teacher to say:
"As they say, if the Foo Shits, wear it!"
It's a pun on the cliche, "if the shoe fits" for those who didn't know the phrase to begin with. Not that I doubt that, anyway.
Also fun fact: there's a classic jazz standard named after that joke. Who said jazz was sophisticated?
All you have to do is take a cliche or an idiom (sometimes both are the same phrase) and wrap a set up around it.
Here's one I wrote. The set up was that the character is researching first date outfit ideas.
Apparently, from what the online dating blogs dictated, what one wore to the date was only the first of the many make-or-break variables. According to those same blogs, she needed an outfit that was confidently humble, uniquely relatable and a handful of other conflicting phrases.
She was going nowhere fast.
The cliche/idiom I used was "going nowhere fast."
Try it yourself. It gets easier the more you do it. Here's a list of 50 common idioms to play with. If you have any free time or want to practice, try making up a joke using an idiom from the list. Or don't. It's not like I'm a real professor and this is a real assignment, anyway.
III. References
Now, I like me some good references every now and again, but you shouldn't rely on them. Every reference should be a little surprise that the reader understands if they're both eagle-eyed and know the thing you're referencing. If not, then the reader shouldn't even notice it.
For example, you don't want to derail a fic with some character from an anime you watch suddenly showing up for a surprise cameo that takes too much time and adds nothing. The fans of Obscure Anime Battle Hour might like it, but those who don't watch it feel alienated and will most likely be taken out of your story.
If I want to reference something, I impose strict rules.
Rule 1: It should not take longer than a sentence, two at the absolute most. This is probably the rule to stick to the most because it will limit you in the best way possible and removes the chance of derailing the story. One well-placed sentence is all you need despite the fact that you can go on for as long as you want to with it.
Rule 2: It should be virtually undetectable for people who don't understand the reference. It's better to have someone not notice it, than for someone to notice it, and not know what's going on. In other words, make sure whatever you write still makes sense without any knowledge of whatever you're referencing.
Rule 3: You may break Rule 2 if, and only if, the reference comes from anything that stood the test of time and people are just expected to know certain things about. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future are examples of movies that qualify.
Rule 4: The more esoteric the reference, the more satisfying it is for the reader to find understand.
Here's a little scene between the EqG!Mane Six and Sci-Twi I wrote where I hid a reference:
"Hey, did anyone else wonder why Four-Eyed Twilight has glasses, but Princess Twilight doesn't?"
"Beats me," Applejack shrugged. "Maybe she was blinded with science."
"It could be for fashion," Rarity suggested, "A nice pair of glasses adds a certain sort of symmetry that others can find attractive."
"Maybe Princess Twilight just has magic eyes." Pinkie Pie answered, bobbing excitedly in her chair.
"Or," Twilight cut in. "I spent a lot of time as a kid close up in front of a computer."
"No that can't possibly be it." Rainbow Dash dismissed. "It's gotta be something cooler than that."
Did you find it?
The reference was one-hit wonder Thomas Dolby's 1982 song "She Blinded Me with Science." For those who didn't understand the reference, the sentence can be taken as a throwaway gag where AJ assumes Twilight lost her vision in a science related accident. It makes sense both with and without an understanding of the referenced material.
IV. Dialogue
Dialogue is the easiest way to convey humor. A lot of comedy writers on this site completely rely on their dialogue to be funny. I personally think it's not enough to label a fic as a comedy. I've seen dramas on this site that had funnier comedic relief moments than most comedies achieved through their story. How? It's because the drama writer was better at dialogue.
I consider myself pretty good at writing dialogue, but I don't really have any real "secrets" that will transform you as a writer. But here's what I generally stick to when I write dialogue.
A. Get Distracted
Some of the best dialogue I've written hardly serves the plot. I have a character get distracted on something that another character says, and then play off of that. What Person A says, feeds into what Person B says. This makes conversations feel more natural.
One common mistake new writers do is have the plot drive the dialogue at all times. This leads to a lot of conversations that go like this:
Twilight Sparkle: We have to stop Discord!
Rainbow Dash: But how?
Applejack: The Elements of Harmony of course!
While this was a slight exaggeration for demonstration sake, but I've still seen a lot of uninteresting speech based solely on progressing the story.
Here's something I would have written:
Twilight Sparkle: Grab the Elements, Girls. Discord has gone too far this time!
Rainbow Dash: What'd he do?
Twilight: He used my entire stamp collection to send a letter to himself!
Pinkie Pie: That scourge! We have to stop him!
Rainbow: Wait, hold up! Let's go back a second. Do you seriously have a stamp collection, Egg-Head?
Twilight: That's not important right now.
Rainbow: It totally is!
The plot is progressed by announcing that Discord's reign of minor inconveniences must be put to an end, but the rest of the dialogue plays on Twilight's stamp collection. While a little OOC, it's still more interesting than the first example.
B. Write the Dialogue then Figure Out Who Says It
I'm not sure how many people do this, but I write the dialogue first, not really caring who says what. I write the scene like a script and then assign the speech to the character who is most likely to say the line. Then, after I've mapped out the conversation, I tweak the dialogue to fit the character's voice. It's a longer process, but that's how I usually do it when I write scenes with more than two characters.
The reason I do this is to ensure that the conversation does something other than just exist, and everything a character says matters. This method also lets me write the funniest lines possible without caring about things like sticking to characterization. The tweaked version of the dialogue is to make sure they do act within characterization.
Assigning speech based on how well it fits the characters also makes sure characters just don't talk because they haven't talked in a while, which is another mistake I see in inexperienced writers.
C. Keep Things Short
The goal is to keep things short.
C II. Keep Things Short, but Seriously this Time
If you read any of my newer stories, you'll see that the characters don't talk too long. It might be a long scene with a long conversation, but no one character says too much. At max, they speak three sentences.
Also, conversations in stories never really end like normal ones do. It's not interesting to see conversations start with "Hello," and end with "Goodbye." Pretend it's like a loaf of bread and discard the two end pieces. Every scene you write should start at the middle of a conversation and end as soon as the point of the scene is made or as soon as possible. This will also clear up a lot of pacing issues.
V. Conclusion
As we're concluding, I want to make some final points. One is that being funny is a skill and it's a developing process. You have to suck at it to get any good. The problem is, you have to be told you suck at it. No one becomes funny in a vacuum. They slowly develop their humor based on how well their jokes land... or more effectively, how the fail. If you look at my first fics from 2011, they're very inconsistent in its humor, but my fics now are consistently funnier. I learned what works, and what didn't and used that to make my future fics better.
And the final point I want to make is something I generally want to see in more humorous works. Be funny in your prose. Dialogue is great and all, but a lot of people can write funny dialogue. If you want to differentiate yourself, write prose that's laced with humor. What makes Douglas Adams great is that his prose has a sense of humor.
Anyways, if you have any questions, want any more clarification, or help, feel free to comment below, PM me, or ask me in my classroom (Now no longer classified as a safety hazard!).
Also, since these lectures are usually general information, and I've already made most of the points I wanted to make with this topic, I'm willing to take a look at your developing fics. Of course, I'm gonna make the stipulation that it's gotta be a comedy. If you send me a sadfic, I'm just gonna tell you to make it funny.
Although, I do have another lecture idea based on the styles of comedy, which is a whole complex can of snakes disguised as peanut brittle.
Don't forget to tip your waitress,
Space Jazz
Lecture: How to Steal Like a Champ (Where to Find Story Inspiration and Concepts)
I. Introduction
I'm not a creative guy. And odds are, neither are you. This, plus the generally accepted belief that nothing is original anymore, means that we're out of luck as writers.
Except we're not.
There's already a lecture on plagiarism, but this isn't what this lecture is about. I'm here to tell you how to steal like a champion and make mad amounts of cash money, earn neverending praise, and write harmless fanfiction. Well, at least the last one.
II. Where to Steal
The three most commonly accepted places to blatantly steal stories are history, the bible, and mythology. Why? Because no one pays attention to them. But seriously, a lot of stories are taken or inspired from these places mostly because they're insane.
A. History
I'm a bit of a history buff, and I personally like to believe that the only reason human history was being recorded was to document the insane events people can't make up. Seriously, the world is absolutely massive and has been around long enough for it to have at least have one cool thing that may inspire you.
Some of you may be thinking, "But history is boring and there's so much of it. I don't see the benefit of researching history just to write a story." Let me tell you that a little underground author by the name of George R.R. Martin based his virtually unknown Game of Thrones series on the real-life Wars of the Roses. No seriously, there are some obvious parallels.
If you need another reminder of how cool history can be, here's a picture of astronaut Ham the Chimpanzee as he poses with a newspaper article about his trip to space.
While some of us in the States had to learn the story of American independence in at least three different grades before graduating, some of us may not know that after drafting the Constitution, the founding fathers celebrated by getting wasted all to hell and racked up the mother of all bar tabs. In 2016, their tab would be about 16,000 U.S. dollars.
How does this apply to horsewords? Easy just take a historical event (no matter how small or pointless) and adapt it to fit our lovable ponies.
After Pope Boniface VIII died in 1303, three successors claimed the title of the Pope and eventually excommunicated each other. [X]
When Celestia decides to take a vacation, Princess Luna, Cadance, and Twilight assume the role as the main Princess.
The story practically writes itself.
Edgar Allan Poe sent in a fake article in 1844 that detailed an airship that crossed the Atlantic ocean from the UK to the US. It was accepted before being revealed as a hoax and retracted two days later. [X]
On April Foals day, Twilight publishes a hoax, which eventually goes too far once the citizens of Equestria believe it.
You don't even have to research things 100% Just skim it, get some ideas, and work it into a fic.
B. The Bible
When most of us think of the Bible, we think of the New Testament and Jesus and that's pretty much it. I don't want to start a debate on religion or anything, but I do want to point out the stories told in the bible are pretty damn interesting.
Like there's this one where Jesus picked a fight with a fig tree (Matthew 21:18).
One Where Jacob picked a fight and wrestled an angel for a blessing (Genesis 32:22-31).
There's another one where WWE chairman Vince McMahon picked a fight and wrestled God (Backlash 20:06).
Jokes aside, there are some interesting stories like the Tower of Babel, where God forces man to speak different languages to prevent them from cooperating on building a tower to heaven.
The story of Celestia willfully preventing deserving ponies from ascending into alicornhood sounds like some hardcore drama, doesn't it?
Also, feel free to call me a sacrilegious wretch for bringing up the Bible with My Little Pony.
C. Mythology
Myths were all created to explain to people why things occur. The story of Prometheus explains why man has fire. Pandora's Box explains why there is chaos in the world etc. These stories are often short tales but they're in a connected universe that makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe look small.
I probably shouldn't have to say this, but not all mythologies are the same. Greek mythology varies from Egyptian myths as much as a McDonald's differs from a three Michelin star restaurant.
You're going to have to work a bit harder to distinguish your fics from mythology (especially Greek) because a lot of those stories like The Odyssey or The Illiad are at the very least recognized by many.
Of course, there are some relatively obscure myths like Pygmalion: After losing interest in the local women of Cyprus, sculptor Pygmalion begins to work on a statue so realistic and beautiful that he falls in love with it. After giving an offering to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, Pygmalion returns home to see that his hard work and dedication has been rewarded as the statue has come to life.
I don't know about you, but a character falling deeply in love with their art screams Rarity.
If Rick Riordan can write ten books based off Greek Mythology, three on Egyptian, and one about Norse (with another scheduled to release this year), I think there's enough material in at least one of those three to base your fic off of.
II. What not to Do
A. Don't Retell
Yes, I told you to purposefully borrow from the above sources, but I want to emphasize that you only want to borrow the ideas. Reimagine the story from the premise. Like I've mentioned before, George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series is inspired by the Wars of the Roses, but the key word is inspired. He took the general ideas and events and reimagined them to include dragons and zombies and Joffrey's (oh my!). Martin even said himself that it's more than just a retelling and that the characters aren't one-to-one based off the Roses.
In fact, Martin said that the infamous Red Wedding is based off two separate historical events: The Black Dinner and the Glencoe Massacre.
When adapting a story think of it like this:
Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is a badass movie about samurais protecting a village. John Sturge's The Magnificent Seven is a badass movie about cowboys protecting a village. Magnificent is a remake of Samurai, but it does it's own thing and both are considered classics and masterpieces.
Sure enough, the 2016 remake of Magnificent Seven looks like it has it's own identity. Namely, the diverse cast, new characters, and the lighter tone set it apart from either the original or Samurai.
Hitchcock's Psycho is a masterpiece, but the 1998 remake with Vince Vaughn is basically shot for shot. Nothing new was added, and people panned it because it was a rehash with no original ideas.
B. Where not to Steal
Do not steal from anything that can be credited to a real person, especially if they're still alive. Movies, TV, and books all have great ideas, but those ideas are what got them put into the zeitgeist. Of course, it goes without saying that anything from My Little Pony is fair game here on this site. Crossovers are another exception, but the audience has to know it's a crossover.
Claiming Darth Vader is your OC, while an absolutely ridiculous example, shows what I mean about lifting elements from other things and labeling it as your own ideas.
No one owns the copyright on history, the bible, or mythology, so all of that is also fair game.
III. Forcefully Finding Inspiration
I personally keep a word document for cool things to use in a story. Whether it's from history or my every-day life, I make sure to keep track of it because you never know when it will come in handy. When I write, I have that document open in the background and refer to it for something.
Another one of my writing tools is a document of links to stuff on the internet to be inspired by. I'm now going to share that with you because knowing a lot about trivial things can actually be really useful when writing.
A. Podcasts
I like to listen to podcasts when I work. I understand that not many people can focus on someone talking and write/do work at the same time, but in your down time, check out some of these resources to learn about very specific topics.
1. Stuff You Missed in History Class: Every few days the hosts talk about a specific moment in world history not covered in schools. the content ranges from the history of pizza, the treasure ships of Zhang He, and the guy who hit Wilbur Wright (one of the modern plane inventors) with a club and later turned out to be a drug-fueled serial killer. Any one of these episodes could actually inspire a solid fanfic.
2. Stuff to Blow Your Mind: Exactly what it says on the tin. Each episode focuses on a specific topic designed to teach you something cool you never heard about. Ranges from biology to science and psychology. Sometimes you learn about things that could prove useful.
B. YouTube Channels
1. This Exists: Weekly video essays about strange things that go on in the world. Topics include fictitious holidays, obscure movies and tv shows, CIA mind control experiments.
2. The Nerdwriter: More video essays. Most of them focus on story telling and pop culture. Includes topics like the evolution of Gotham city as a living entiry, analysis of movies and directing, and essays about art, science and sociology.
3. BlameItOnJorge: My personal favorite of the increasingly popular list show format on YouTube. Topics cover bizarre things like early versions of mascots to movies and tv shows lost forever due to no saved recordings.
4. Anything TedTalk related: Live speeches or short videos usually ranging from psychology to science and history. TedEd
5. VSauce: Guess what? Even more video essays about topics. These are mostly constrained to science and often make the viewer think as it asks questions and brings up hard to understand concepts in a concise way.
6. Wisecrack: A gangster analyzing classic literature and an alien from the future analyzing film and TV. These entertaining videos cover the stories and surprising deeper meanings in out culture. Notable videos are the Philosophy of Rick and Morty and analysis of all five seasons of Breaking Bad.
IV. Conclusion
The thing I want you to take from this is to force inspiration by learning many things. Borrowing ideas is okay as long as you develop it as it's own separate idea. That's essentially the spirit of fanfiction. We take this already established property and build off it. We borrow its lore and characters and make them our own.
In other words, imitate, assimilate, and innovate. [x]
Cash Money,
Space Jazz
Pro Tip: The Power of But and Therefore
Here's a little protip from actual professional writers, like Emmy and Tony winning writers.
If you can't watch the video, I'll explain it below.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the guys behind South Park, have a writing rule that will make your stories much more coherent. Say what you will about their show, it's often hit and miss for me, but they have some of the most focused storytelling on their better episodes.
The key problem they diagnose with a lot of new writers (and even movies in theaters) is that their stories don't flow naturally. It feels like an "And Then" story.
And Then stories can be barely classified as stories. They have a beginning and an end, but what happens in the middle is a complete incoherent mess.
Here's a mock outline of an And Then story:
Pinkie Pie walks outside, and then Chrysalis attacks, and then Pinkie bakes cupcakes.
Basically, Beat A happens, and then Beat B happens, and then Beat C happens.
The problem about this is that Beat A does not tie into Beats B or C, making this story consist of largely incoherent and unrelated story events.
So there's the problem. Now the way to fix it is to make sure there's a causality to the events, and they lead into things. The only time something comes out of "nowhere" is when it's a complication.
Quoting directly from Trey, "If the words 'And Then' belong between these beats, you're f**ked." To fix this, Matt and Trey suggest that every story beat should have either "But" if it's a complication to the story or a "Therefore" if it's any other event.
Let's go back to the mock outline and make it fit their rules of causality.
Pinkie walks outside BUT Chrysalis attacks, BUT Chrysalis is also weak and starving, THEREFORE, Pinkie bakes her cupcakes made with love.
I took three unrelated events and added some things using the rule to make it a pretty decent concept for a shipfic.
If you're working on an outline, take a critical look and see if every event is tied to each other. Make sure every story beat comes with a "Therefore" or a "But," and if there's an "And Then" anywhere in that...
You're f**ked,
Space Jazz
Kidding, just go and fix it until it relates to a previous story beat.