Writing Humor - Natural Talent or Hard Work?

I have to agree, Allston is my hero when it comes to SW humor!

 

I think a little bit of both (talent and hard work). I come up with occasional funny pieces, but they do take an awful lot of hard work to put together and make them flow *sigh*.

Kithera

 

Allston rocks my world! I've also been described as a gifted writer, but there are things that I just can't do naturally, like rhymed couplets and humor.

 

"One thing that always amazed me about writing with the Gonks (that reference is probably lost on many of you) was how a group of people could be so consistently funny. It didn't matter who was writing, they could always make me laugh."

I really wish the Gonks still existed. They were after my time.

I don't honestly know which it is, it might be all talent, or talent and hard work. I think you hafta be born with a talent for it, though, either way, because I sure as heck can;t do it. I fumble to just try and stick a little tongue-in-cheek in my writing, just so it won't grow dull.

 

So far the voting favors both natural talent and hard work, which I completely agree with.

I can be funny on the spur of the moment, but when it comes to writing, my quips seem to fall flat.

 

I voted both. It helps to have a talent for it, but keeping peopel in character while the humour going on takes a lot of hard work.

Allston is my SW writing HERO.

 

I haven't read through the topic, but just looking at the poll there isn't an option for me to place my vote. This would be:

Varies.

Meaning: Some people have natural talent, some learn how, and many are a combination of the two.

 

Unlocking and upping for discussion of humor.

 

I actually find humor easier to do than some other types of stuff like action (ugh). The trick for me is to relax with it and not try too hard. I pretend I'm the character I'm writing about and I'm making snappy comebacks here at TFN or being sarcastic with my friends. The trick, IMO, is to use irony and subtlety, and even out-of-character elements sometimes. Or you can exaggerate a characters flaws/attributes. Like cdmcc's hair salon story.... that had me in tears.

 

I agree, humor is easier for me than action.

 

I think writing humor is more like writing a performance piece--something meant to be acted out or presented aloud. While I've never found myself all that funny, others tend to and subsequentially I was encouraged to be the class clown. I think it's the by-product of growing up in a gi-normous family. I voted for both hard work and natural talent. I think I might have misinterpreted "hard work"--humor can't be forced, but writers should be diligent and attentive to detail and structure even when being silly.

 

I say both. My friends think I'm funny, but for me it takes work to transfer that into writing. But once the story starts it flows.

 

I have huge problems with dialogue when it comes to humor. Everytime I try to be funny, nobody has a clue as to what I'm writing, but when I try to write some serious stuff, there's a reader laughing at some line that I didn't even pay attention to!

I'm mostly very serious angst and action, and my specialty's probably narration of really bad events. So, anyone have any ideas for good lines that keep people in character?

 

Thanks rhonderoo, I had forgotten about that!

It is a lot easier if you place the characters outwith their usual environment. Trying to write humour into a normal story is a lot harder than just a random subject and then blowing it out of all proportion a la me.

I find humour relatively easy to write but give me techie stuff or mush and you may as well be reading a dozen monkey's collected output.

 

I'm terrible at writing action scenes. I think action is much harder, since it's very descriptive, and I truly admire those fanfic writers that can do it so well.

But I like writing humor pieces, even if everyone thinks I'm nuts after reading them!

 

My two pence (in haiku):

source of humor
talent or work
can't force the funny

oqi - While I've never found myself all that funny, others tend to and subsequentially I was encouraged to be the class clown.

You don't think you're funny? That's weird. I think I'm hilarious; though I obviously have an ever-so-slightly biased perspective on the matter.

 

I have great fun writing humor.
But I do find that after a while, you really have to ask your readers what they want and it is hard to find new material.
But I like it.
It's about the same as writing drama, it has its own challenges and its own rewards.

 

No, Scroob, you are funny -- at least you manage to crack me up on a fairly regular basis.

I'm not funny. Well, let me rephrase that -- I'm not a funny writer. Sarcastic and ironic, yes, sometimes, but not funny. I have been told that in person I am funny -- or at least I manage to crack up my friends on a fairly regular basis. Someone once even told me I should do stand-up. (If that's not a scary thought, I don't know what is.) But I just can't write funny stuff. Oh, well.

 

I'm a firm believer in the theory that if you can make yourself laugh then surely someone else will.

Unless you star in a sitcom, in which case you may make people cry at your feeble attempts at humour.

 

I'm so envious of people who can write humor and have it be side-splitting hilarious. I consider myself a rather funny, wacky person, but the moment I go out of my way to try and write the blasted stuff, it just dissolves into nothing. My current fic, for instance, is a purely humorous thing, and I spent forever agonizing over it. Angst flows like you wouldn't imagine, but when I go to be funny my muse dries up. If it weren't for my beta (and a lot of Monty Python) I never would've finished.

So my point? I have no idea if it's hard work or natural talent. I said 'a little of both' because I'm sure when it flows, it's like any other muse, but I have to work my butt of to get to that point. Maybe it's like a muscle, where if you've never bothered to develop it, it just goes away.

Stormqueen

 

I think the problem lies when people try too hard to be funny, maybe it's the trying too hard that takes the first glow of 'laugh out loud' away from a piece.

I say write it like you like it. What you're saying stormqueen874 is that 'the moment I go out of my way'.

If you try to deliberately be funny, it automatically loses it's humour to me. Spontaneous humour is always the funniest. Maybe just write the first thing that comes into your head, then work on it a bit. Leave it for a day or two, then write the first thing that comes into your head again.

I sound like a chef.

 

I sound like a chef.



It's good advice though! My writing teacher in my last class gave me the following advice: write something and let it bake for a few days. Do something else, forget completely about it, and go back to it. If you still like it, good for you. If not, toss it, and start anew.

It's some of the best adivce I've ever been given, and I try to write by it.

 

I think that writing humour is both talent and hard work. It's a good skill that for some take a long time to develop because everyone has a different sense of humour and what you write you may find funny but others may not.

There's been times when people have laughed at my work when I was intending to be funny and other times I have left them completely confused.

 

I think that it's both. Some people (unlike me) are naturally talented in that area, but I think that most people CAN write humor with hard work and dedication.