THE MORE AND LESS OF WRITING HUMOROUS FICTION

This article is printed here in its original form, as it was first published in 1996. —Ed.

If you shy away from writing humorous stories, it’s no wonder. They’re tough to write. They’re full of witty lines, sight gags, and wordplay, as well as plots, characters, setting, and everything else you’re already struggling with.

And to top it off, no one will tell you how to write funny. “Humor is unanalyzable,” the experts intone, and “To dissect humor is to destroy it.” Even Robert Benchley, a famous humorist who should have known better declared, “Defining and analyzing humor is the pastime of humorless people.”

The effect of all this is to surround humorous writing with a daunting air of mystery, to make you think it just comes naturally. (Trust me. No writing comes naturally.) And because it doesn’t come naturally to you, and because Benchley said you’re devoid of humor for even asking about it, you obviously have no business trying.

Balderdash! Humorous fiction has analyzable and learnable techniques. More