15+ Tactics for Writing Humor
A monster-length master list of over 15 tactics for writing humor, with examples from The Office, Trigun, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Emperorâs New Groove, The Fault in Our Stars, Harry Potter, Pink Panther, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Elf, Enchanted, The Amazing Spider-man, and more. Be prepared to laugh.
(Please note that this article is best read on my off-Tumblr blog here so that you can watch the videos that go along with it, embedded into the post. Otherwise, enjoy reading it right here, with links to the videos.)
Iâve been to a few workshops on writing humor, and Iâve read about writing humor, but the funny thing is, none of them really taught me how to actually write humor. But yet they all said the same thing: Writing humor is hard, harder than writing seriously, because if you fail at humor, you fail horribly.
I heard it so much, it made me fear failure rather than strive to develop that writing talent. For years I avoided writing humor, period. But the catch to that is that I also often hear how humor is a huge draw for an audience.
I read recently in Showing & Telling by Laurie Alberts that humor is hard to teach and that some writers believe it canât be taught at all. If you know these writers, send them to this post, send them to this post, or send them to this post about why the concept that writing canât be taught is bullcrap.
People think writing humor canât be taught because they donât know how to teach it. Some people can write humor, but canât teach it. They donât know how they are funny because itâs just intuitive and natural to them. I was at one workshop on humor, and the only âhow-toâ tip they gave was that humor had to just come up naturally in the story. But professional comedians slave away and work their butts off writing their jokes, and then practicing them. Thatâs not natural. Sure, some comedians do improv (Whose Line is it Anyway? was one of my favorite shows), so theyâre more natural, but I believe most comedians have to work to be funny.
Look at shows like The Office. Those writers obviously know how to write that kind of humor. And they use some of the same humor techniques over and overâthatâs not just happening, thatâs planned out. Itâs formulaic. Look at the Marvel movies. They have their own style of humor too. I once read an interview with Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in it he talked about how insanely difficult it is to come up with jokes sometimes.
So yes, writing humor can be hard. But itâs not impossible. After all the (non)advice I got on writing humor. (Sure, some of them did mention one or two humor tactics, but not how to do them) I decided to take it into my own hands. So Iâve studied humor on my own, and Iâve made my own âHow to Write Humorâ article that actually tells you (or rather myself) HOW to write humor.
Itâs not all-encompassing by any means. And Iâm still learning. And note that you might have a different sense of humor than me, but you should be able to revamp most, if not all, of these tactics to suit you. Some of the tactics I will talk about today overlap each other, so one example might actually fit into several of these categories.
Overstatements and Exaggerations
An overstatement or exaggeration is playing up somethingâmaking something seem bigger than it is.
Humor articles I did read said exaggeration or overstatements are a no-no, and then go on by giving examples like âMy room was so messy, it looked like a bomb had gone off.â Well, guess what? Thatâs just a bad example. Itâs cliche. And just⊠blah. (Iâll explain why it doesnât work in a second.) The articles are right, donât write that one! But the articles are wrong in saying that there are no good exaggerations. Thatâs not true. There are loads of good exaggerations and overstatements. Most parodies and spoofs are exaggerations.
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