Monday 21 January 2008

Writing Romantic Comedy (or just comedy in general)

I'm looking for good online articles (or books) on writing romantic comedy (or just writing comedy/humour in general). Not routines or stand up (oh god no!) but more...well....tips on writing amusing prose? How do you make a novel funny?

I found this link:

http://www.romanceaustralia.com/articles/gracie%20romantic%20comedy.htm

which is very good but she doesn't really give you examples (so it's not as helpful as it could be).

Can anyone help?

p.s. I know there's probably an argument here that you can't force comedy and if you're not a naturally funny/witty person don't try. I'd like to think I'm half funny and in need of a few points to be properly funny. Or something like that.

8 comments:

B.E. Sanderson said...

A blog I used to visit on a regular basis is Living the Romantic Comedy. It might help you.

CL Taylor said...

Thanks B.E. I'll check that out!

KeVin K. said...

My rule of thumb is: If it looks like a joke, throw it out.
But don't go by me.
Few scribes more dour.

Jen said...

half the trouble is seeing 'funny' in your own work... There was a good article in Writing Magazine but you probably saw that.

I'm wondering about maybe reading through the books of scripts for, say, The Office? Not quite what you'd call 'Romantic' but could be good for seeing how dialogue works without the clutter of much else?

Kate Harrison said...

The guy who has the site on Living the Rom Com has also written a fabulous book called Writing the Romantic Comedy. On amazon etc.

It's fabulous for thinking about character based comedy, plus has some great movie examples. It focuses on writing film scripts, but is great on setting up scenarios/character conflict which is the essence of great comedy, I think.

Rowan Coleman said...

These sources sound good, but don't get to hung up on whether or not what your writing is funny. My best test is to read aloud to people, you get a spontaneous reaction that you know is genuine. Don't forget humour is subjective!

CL Taylor said...

Thanks every - advice much appreciated.

Kevin - then I'd have to throw away 10% of my book!

Spiral - Doh! I've got that. Must re-read it. Hmmm...good idea about reading a script but The Office is the wrong kind of humour. Will investigate further.

Kate, I'd already added that book to my Amazon wishlist when I read your comment. It does does good. Hope it helps!

Rowan, Read it aloud to people and see if they laugh? Are you kidding me?! :oO

Anonymous said...

Good post.