The Art Of Writing Comedy

It’s only been recently I’ve realized that comedy is sort of an art form. Being funny isn’t something everyone is born with. Some people actually study it, while others have a natural knack for cracking jokes and coming up with witty phrases with no effort. This ability can work its way into writing as a writer’s gift- You know how you might have that one friend who can plot amazingly and have fun doing it? Or the one who creates fantastic characters and creatures working together in an imaginative world. Maybe you have a writing acquaintance whose talent lies in world lore, or dialogue, or in a unique, unheard-of writing style. The bottom line is that we all have gifts we are born with and some we work for. And comedy in writing may or may not be one of them.

Not every book is funny; there are some serious stories with fear and angst that don’t have room for lightheartedness. But if you struggle with putting natural funniness into your story, here are some tips that might help! Personally, I love comedy in my stories. Even in a serious situation I always have that one character who pulls out a chicken or a sarcastic joke to make the readers smile. While there’s a LOT of skills I don’t have, and in fact desperately need the help of friends such as the wonderful women who also post on this blog, funny scenes are something I love to do and don’t always struggle with. Plotting and internal conflict on the other hand… Well, writing weaknesses can be a topic for another post!

So here are my observations on how to funnify a scene (slipping unusual words such as “funnify” into a quirky character’s thoughts or dialogue is one of them!)

Exaggerate

Exaggeration is a HUGE part in turning an ordinary scene into one that gets people chuckling. Simple situations that would be minor inconveniences turning into hilarious scenarios. Instead of simply Character A having a conversation with Character B in the kitchen, Character A is also trying to carry more dishes to the side of the room than her arms can possibly handle. Character B, passionately declaring his love for Miss A, is distracted and keeps piling more dishes on the pile as he spills his heart to her. Character A is very flustered and also trying to not break her mother’s fine china as she’s smacked in the face by the declarations of love flung toward her. What if a dish falls and she catches it on her foot, and is now hopping on one foot while Character B explains the bitterness of his life without her?

“You’re my light! My life! My everything! Darling, say you’ll be mine,” he pleaded, turning towards her and inadvertently smacking a dish off her pile.

She lurched for the dish and caught it on her foot. Oh dear, now she really did feel the heat of her face. She hoped the redness wasn’t reflecting off her mother’s white china. “Steven-” The top dish teetered dangerously. She struggled to hold it upright; Steven could do a much better job of showing his love if he would stop knocking things over. “Steven, this might not be the best time-”

He fell to his knees and clasped his hands together in a perfect picture of tragic romance. Well, a perfect picture if she had the ability to look at him through the mountain of dishes wobbling before her eyes.

“Darling, I can wait no longer. Tell me of your love or else consider me broken and destitute forever!”

As much as she loved the idea of being Madam Steven DeWittingburg, she would have loved more to drop a dish on his head and be done with this infernally awkward situation. Unfortunately, breaking a stack of china over someone’s head would usually end such romance forever. Not to mention land a girl like her in jail.

What was exaggerated for comedic effect in this scenario? Steven’s ridiculously poetic love declarations for one, contrasted with the awkward reality of the girl trying not to brain him with the dishes. And her towering stack of plates added to it by putting humorous tension in the scene. As well as making people laugh, it adds to the plot by putting tension on whatever this girl wants- to be Steven’s wife; to avoid angering her temperamental mother by breaking the fine china; to escape kitchen duty and therefore her swooning lover altogether. With a longer scene, including a buildup to this section, there could have been more room to set the stage for our exaggeration, such as having her start out with two dishes she grabbed simply to look busy when Steven poked his head through the door. Then the more he stacked on during his distracted speech, the more trouble our girl was put through. And, of course, more laughs for us.

Other scenarios could include Character A being attacked by a giant carnivorous plant that keeps coming back to life each time Sir A thinks he’s killed it once and for all. Character C arguing with high strung Character D, but for some reason they’re trying to survive a river at the same time, and C keeps getting hauled underwater by the tide each time he opens his mouth to shoot back a logical reply. Character E is in a situation where she needs to be a calm, steady leader, but her hands keep shaking and she keeps dropping glasses and making horrible excuses for it that would make any sane person cringe in sympathy for her bad lying skills. There’s millions of scenarios, and so many you could write to exaggerate a situation for comedic effect, as well as moving the plot and character development forward.

Irony

Irony is a splendid tool, and it ties well into an exaggerated scenario. Irony comes in a variety of forms and possibilities. Character A makes a comment about what an intelligent leader General L is (not to mention any rumors of insanity are completely false!) in order to sway the skeptical Character B over to the rebellion. The General’s assistant rushes into the tent just then to declare that “the General is declaring war on sheep, sir!” To which Character A rolls his eyes heavenward and B snorts in cynical amusement. Or maybe a scene where Character K thinks he’s finally safe from the dragon and mentions such to Character J. And of course the dragon’s body immediately falls from the sky inches away from where K is standing. Bonus points if K is freaked out and emotionless J calmly sips tea.

He almost collapsed from sheer exhaustion and relief, but he forced himself to turn and gaze into the smoke-choked sky. Crackling sparks from the dragon’s last breath drifted in the breeze, finalizing the last of the fires- fires that would no longer terrorize the town.

“I can’t believe you actually did it.”

He spun around to see the girl standing in front of him, looking calm and fresh compared to his bloodied and sweat-drenched skin.

She sipped a cup of steaming tea and eyed the sky. “In fact, I’m still not sure.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. He waved his sword in the air. “The dragon’s dead! I killed it- no thanks to you, by the way. And now the entire town is safe and I can go home without having to worry about being killed by a giant winged lizard.”

“Mmm, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Dragons have a way of coming back when you least expect it.”

His blood pressure rose. “Oh yeah? Well-”

Suddenly the sunlight was blotted out by an enormous shadow. He whipped his head up and saw nothing but darkness gaining on him. Fear rooted his feet to the ground; his sword fell from his hands and he realized the last thing he would ever think would be wondering if that obnoxious girl was controlling time or something.

THUMP! The dragon’s dead body slammed into the ground only a few feet away from them. The boy’s world shuddered and his teeth slammed together with a painful clacking. He choked out a wordless exclamation.

The dragon’s head lolled back, tongue hanging out and eyes glazed. The wound in its neck steamed noxious black smoke.

Slowly, the boy turned back to the girl in numb silence.

She sipped her tea. “See? Back when you least expect it.”

This probably could have been funnier, but there was a bit of frightening comedy at the prospect of our hero saying he was safe then having the dragon almost squash him. It was really the girl’s calm reaction that made the humor more noticeable, which slides us smoothly into our next section…

Character Traits

Character traits provide some of the best comedy. You don’t have to plan a scene with painstakingly funny parts; it doesn’t force unnatural humor into a tense scene; it’s literally humor following the story around because it’s attached to the characters. Character traits for humor can be a character who’s always saying something wacky or who has a deep-rooted sarcastic streak. Maybe a character who drops stuff at all the wrong moments, or one who has a habit of picking up stray animals and sneaking them into her house, causing chaos each time a squirrel falls into the butter churner or a dirty puppy jumps on the girl’s bed at five in the morning.

Sometimes character traits aren’t necessarily meant to always be funny. You could have a serious, stoic character whose personality provides gravity to a lighthearted scene, yet this same character also provides comedy simply by being serious when something shocking happens and everyone else is panicking. Characters A and B could be screaming and trying to claw their way out a window as an army of snakes hiss their way into a room while Character C simply stands there sighing, wishing he wasn’t surrounded by children. Then he calmly picks a snake off his head and sets it on the ground. There is a contrast of someone being so calm in a terrifying situation while the other two people are kicking each other in the shins trying to get out first. Or Character L could be extremely cheerful even in a dire situation, which further irritates Mr. C and confuses A and B (who are now trapped in the window because they couldn’t fit through at the same time)

Darla backed up slowly, shaking all over. “Th-Th-This is fine. Just a bunch of- a bunch of sn-snakes. In our house. Creeping all over the floors and doors and blocking every exit. No-No-Nothing to worry about, r-right, Karl?”

Karl wordlessly nodded. He gave her a thumbs up while his eyes were wide with fear.

Berek poked his head out of the kitchen. “Anybody want some coffee?” He dangled a snake between his fingers and pulled it out of his coffee mug. “And what’s with all the snakes?”

A snake plopped from the chandelier and landed on Karl’s head, which set off the poor man’s internal alarm. He screeched, jumping and caterwauling as he flung the snake across the room and dived to reach the back window. Darla’s resolve to save face crumbled and she scrambled after him, pulling up her skirt to high step over the writhing masses of pythons.

Karl reached the window first; he popped it open and flung his torso through. Darla grabbed the back of his shirt and tried to wrangle him back; “No, me first!”

“Every man for himself!” Karl screeched. He kicked Darla’s ankles.

“Well what about chivalry? Ladies first, right?” She wriggled over him and gripped the edge of the windowsill to pull herself out.

Berek sighed, shaking his head and turning back to the kitchen. He took a sip of coffee. No doubt the two would get stuck or something and he’d end up being the only one able to pull them out. But for now his mug was empty, so while they were still brawling he figured he might as well grab some more coffee and keep himself caffeinated as well as entertained.

He ran into Jess as she burst through the back door. “Woah, slow down there cowgirl.” He pulled her back by the strings of her lopsided cowboy hat.

Jess surveyed the scene of snakes then groaned, smacking herself in the forehead. “Aw, rats! They were supposed to go to the barn, not the house! I thought the enchantment would be smart enough to lead them there.”

Berek sighed again. Hopefully Darla and Karl were too busy fighting to listen.

“WHAT?” Darla’s shriek pierced the hissing of the snakes. “THIS IS YOUR FAULT?”

Jess winced. “Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”

“Maybe not.” Berek brushed a pair of tiny snakes off the coffee kettle. But when he opened it up there was one coiled up inside hissing at him. He scowled at it before shutting the lid and letting the snake stake its claim. No way he was going to duke it out with a copperhead, even if it was keeping him from his coffee.

“You are so, so dead, Jessica Hubert!” Darla’s voice was muffled. Berek and Jess peeked out to see her and Karl’s legs kicking wildly inside the window. “As soon as I get out of here, you’re paying for this tomfoolery.”

Berek patted Jess’s back. “It was nice knowing you.”

She rubbed her temples, then stooped to pick up a friendly green snake. She draped it around her neck like a scarf and absently stroked it. “I think I’ll be moving to Antarctica now.”

He nodded. “Sounds safe enough. But first..”

“First I’ll help them outta the window.”

“Well that’s a nice thought; dangerous but nice. But that wasn’t what I was going to say.” He jerked his chin toward the back of the kitchen. “Snake in my coffee kettle?”

Jess smirked. “I’ll take care of that first.”

Exaggeration was part of this scene, thanks to whatever enchantment Jess was talking about, but the character traits amped it up. Barek’s patient calmness was contrasted by Karl and Darla’s panic. The latter two got stuck in a window as Darla issued threats against Jess’s wellbeing, while Jess and Berek exchanged some witty comments as she planned on moving to Antarctica as soon as possible. Character traits extend to billions of possibilities, such as a character mispronouncing words, having a strange admiration of scarves or lemons, enjoying throwing pinecones as dangerous beasts which will of course try to eat them, or even simpler, non-quirky traits that could liven up a serious scene.

Dialogue/Body Language

Dialogue and body language were used a lot in the last scene (and all of them, in fact), and every story writer knows these are important. Dialogue and body language could take up a post of their own, but in the context of comedy we’ll keep it simple.

What a character says can change according to how they say it. Character A could say “We’re going to die” in the context of her sitting wide-eyed and shaking in a dark closet while the killer comes closer, but if she just broke a Very Old and Important Magic Artifact then her “We’re going to die” could be funny because she’s panicking over the owner’s reaction. Maybe she’s banging her head against the wall saying, “We’re going to die” over and over while Character B is trying to be logical and reassure herself out loud that of course no one will be that angry at them.. Right? Maybe when B snaps at A with a “Of course we’re not going to die! Your parents will just scold us,” A pauses with the head-banging long enough to retort, “So they’ll scold us. And then we’re going to die.”

Character M at a party trying to tell Undercover Detective N where the criminal is could be a good scene, but it could be a tension-filled, plot driving, funny scene because Lady M can’t reveal that she’s working with N or that she knows him. So in the middle of a conversation with the Duchess of Ensbury, Lady M has to resort to code words and wiggling her eyebrows most meaningfully at the very stressed N, who is dressed as a waiter and trying to not spill the drinks while sliding towards the bad guy.

Cornelia coughed delicately, nodding in response to whatever the Duchess had said, and raised her eyebrows at the detective. Wait a minute, she thought with a pang of horror at the Duchess’s bemused expression, what did I just agree to? Oh no, are we back on the topic of bunions again? Did I just tell her that I, too, suffer from them? Ahhhh, no, I have to stay focused. Where is the detective, where is the… Oh, there he is.. Wait, what is he doing??

The detective passed a tray of drinks to a group of well-dressed lords and ladies. He nodded serenely, gliding through them as if he knew what he was doing. But he obviously didn’t because the target was in the other direction.

Cornelia coughed again. She coughed louder, fluttering her fan over her face. Detective! Detective!

“...which is why I always make it a priority to buy Gladys’s bunion cream from down the road; never the one in town,” the Duchess finished.

Cornelia dove in before she could keep talking. Another ten minutes and she would lose her mind. “Ah, what a lovely conversation we have had, madam! Unfortunately I must go, I-” An idea struck her, and she pitched her voice louder. “I detect a slight chill in the room; I must get some hot punch. Which, I can detect by the amount missing, must be…” How was she supposed to slip another word similar to detective in there without blowing her cover? She was practically shouting, and now people had begun to glance at her. “Er, I detect that it must be… Ah! Very DETECTIVEABLE- oh, I meant to say delectable.” She laughed feebly and fluttered her fan at the very confused duchess. “Yes, that’s what I meant to say.”

Cornelia turned and made her escape. The detective had at last noticed the shouting, and he looked at her. His eyebrows shot up meaningfully: Where is the target?

Cornelia eyed the target across the room. Oh no, he was headed to the back! She looked back at the detective and wiggled her eyebrows toward the back doors. Her powder-caked face cracked at the violent movement.

“I say, Miss Cornelia, is something wrong?” Butler Brinkleby gave her a concerned look. He stood at her elbow with a platter of tea cakes.

She sighed. “No, no, just… testing out my reflexes. Eyebrow health is very important, you know.”

His own eyebrows arched slightly. “At a royal party?”

She sniffed haughtily. “One is never too inconvenienced to perfect the art of facial movement. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go practice wiggling my nose. Most delightful, I assure you.”

Cornelia found a quiet corner to slump behind. The detective had at last started heading to the back of the room, but he would have to find his way without Cornelia’s help for at least half an hour. No way she was going back into the thick of the party she had humiliated herself in.

Here, the plot moved forward and poor Cornelia had a difficult time getting her point across to the detective. Through body language and panicked excuses she threw out at random, she said and did some pretty hilarious things while trying to accomplish her goal. There’s a multitude of ways dialogue and body language can be used for humor, and I highly recommend reading some stories and scenes by your favorite authors who make you laugh. Take note of how they set the scene up and used a variety of ways to convey humor.

Writing Exercise

There’s so many ways one could be funny through writing, but the best way to learn it is studying and practicing. Here are some fun exercises you can write in your notebook or documents, stretching your imagination with either new characters you invent for this exercise, or some of your already invented characters you put in them.

Setting: Modern, possibly a city or town

Character A is trying to walk home in peace. Clingy, bubbly Character B is following them and just. Won’t. Shut. Up. Write a short scene or even just the dialogue between them as A’s blood pressure rises and B spurts witty lines that A definitely doesn't find remotely funny.

Setting: A fantasy or medieval world

Characters A, B, and C are on the run from the antagonist. They’ve made their way to a farming village and are now on the verge of being captured. B sees a chicken coop and shoves the other two in, then clambers in on top of C. There’s at least fifty chickens who are not happy about the intruders, and now the antagonist is in the yard. Bonus points if A has a deathly fear of chickens or is allergic to feathers.

Hope y’all had fun reading this! Let me know your thoughts in the comments <3

Until next time, Serena Stellington