Writing with humour

[Naomasa298]

I agree, though I would say the target is a lot smaller with humour.

It depends on the kind of humour, I think. Jane Austen's Emma is a romantic comedy, so the humour doesn't come from punchlines, but from social and intentional mismatches, which builds up across scenes and arcs. So it's much slower and wider than, let's say Douglas Adams or Pratchett. In my Jack Vance pastiches, the humour often comes from the difference between what is said, how it is said, and what is actually meant. Sometimes the reversal comes the next line, sometimes it comes at the end of the conversation. It's the difference between, let's say, Tim Vine's delivery of one-liners or other comedians who build up a joke.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

It depends on the kind of humour, I think. Jane Austen's Emma is a romantic comedy, so the humour doesn't come from punchlines, but from social and intentional mismatches, which builds up across scenes and arcs. So it's much slower and wider than, let's say Douglas Adams or Pratchett. In my Jack Vance pastiches, the humour often comes from the difference between what is said, how it is said, and what is actually meant. Sometimes the reversal comes the next line, sometimes it comes at the end of the conversation. It's the difference between, let's say, Tim Vine's delivery of one-liners or other comedians who build up a joke.

Yeah, I'd not disagree with any of that. I still think there's less margin for error in writing humour. That's not to say other themes are easy, just maybe a little more forgiving or recoverable than humour.

 

[JLT]

Dark humor can be great, as long as the emphasis is on the humor and not the dark. It can be tricky to do right. As I grow older and hopefully more mature along with it, I find that a lot that's peddled as dark humor is just unfunny and in very poor taste, but there are ways to make it very dark and also very funny. Dark humor is a wide spectrum and it certainly has its place.

True dat. Your comment got me thinking about why Vonnegut's dark humor worked while other writers' work didn't. It occurred to me that when he used it, it was always accompanied by a twinge of sympathy for the character who was beset with trouble. It was that sympathy that made the connection, and Vonnegut was so deft at making that link.