12-1-2011
If you struggle with finding your voice and your humor in your writing, you?re not alone. Radio people, hired to talk on the radio, are now required to write too. Blogs! Status updates! Tweets! And you thought you were off the hook. Write to Done, a writing blog, posted tips on getting more humor in your writing. Many of the tips are parallel to what makes funny radio, and yet we read social media posts and blogs all the time that lack these basic elements. Here are the tips, with my thoughts on them.
1. Be the joke. Self-deprecation works everywhere.
2. Be specific. Generalizations can be funny, but specificity is better. Sensory details, in particular, take us into the story, into your life. Finish the sentences ?I see?? ?I hear?? ?I smell?? ?I taste?? ?I feel?? to dig for those details and include the juiciest ones.
3. Use comedic timing. ?This can be as simple as applying the funny word, phrase or sentence at the last possible moment. You can force a pause before the punch line by starting a new paragraph. If you?re telling a story, you can use this technique to apply the element of surprise, taking the reader in an entirely unexpected (and funny) direction. This method works 100% of the time.
Unless it doesn?t.?
4. Use a thesaurus. In writing, clever choice of words becomes even more important. One single word can be really, really funny. Monkey. Banjo. Flabbergasted. You get the idea.
5. Use a ?swipe file.? When you read other people?s writing, keep track of words and turns of phrase that you like. The example the article uses is ?not to be outdone?? I wrote a Facebook post on November 15, after reading the article: ?I met a mom of 4 last night who has finished and wrapped all her Christmas presents. Not to be outdone, I am taking down my pumpkin arrangement.?
6. Edit. Use the rules above to make your first draft better. Then do it again. Then read it out loud to someone, to allow you to hear, and correct, the cadence of your writing.
And a final note not included in the writing blog: Use exclamation points and text language like LOL sparingly for more comedic punch. My friend Shay just posted on Facebook: ?turns out it?s not a good idea to drop the phone in the soup.? Compare that to ?Turns out it?s not a good idea to drop the phone in the soup!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!? It?s effective to allow the reader the opportunity to figure out for themselves if something is funny, or how funny it is.
Angela Perelli is a SVP at the The Randy Lane Company (www.randylane.net).
She can be reached at angela@randylane.net
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