‘You should write a post on being funny,’ fellow minion Yvonne suggested. She was trimming my hair for the wasping season, entirely as though a special haircut for killing wasps wasn’t a bizarre thing to ask for. But then Yvonne, hairdresser extraordinaire as well as much-loved local Indie, has got used to my oddities. I wanted something long enough to push through the back of a baseball cap (because otherwise the wasps get caught in it) but layered enough to poodle-up a bit for parties. Yes, ridiculous, so we giggled.
There is something very unfunny about analysing humour though, and something even less amusing about claiming the right to pontificate about it. However, the idea took hold and here we are looking at getting laughs. The topic fascinates and repels me because people who tell me they are funny are a pet hate. It’s not for them to decide! I may laugh, I may not, that’s up to me.
I’m therefore not going to dare to try and tell you what’s funny, I’m going to look at ways to use humour to corner your reader into the reaction you want for them at that moment in your writing. I hoped to have three points, the best gags work in threes, but actually I thought of four. So this article is officially not funny at all. Continue reading “Funny Ha Ha”
Today we have a sneak peek from Be Popular Now, the self-help book by Jonathan and David Bennett.
Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls, friends & neighbors, cherished colleagues & valued frienemies, it is time once again for the Indie News Beat.
“Well, how do, ma’am. You must be new in town. I’m wonderin’ iffin I could help you up on that thar sidesaddle of yourn. Just put your left foot here in mah hands and I’ll boost you up…”