Writing Funny: Foundational Tools & Principles for Using Humor in Story

S2_E27. Writing Funny 

For the past few weeks, we've been talking about how to use visual cues to enhance the meaning of your story. Today we launch a new series that explores the tools and principles associated with writing comedy, which is another avenue available for us in order to convey  deeper levels of meaning to our audience. But to explore this topic, we need to get beyond our own preconceptions. Christians tend to assume either A.) comedy is less than, or less important than drama, or B.) Comedy is dangerous and should be avoided. But comedy is not the opposite of serious; it's the opposite of despair.

In the opening session of this series on comedy, Zena explores the importance of humor in God's creative design, and ponders why He gave us this gift in the first place. She also lays a foundation for some of the key principles we need to keep in mind as we dive deep into this subject matter.

And here's the good news. You don't have to be funny to write funny.  Humor can be taught since it has a structure. It follows certain patterns, rules, and formulas that we can emulate to construct funny stuff.  So, join Zena as she unpacks the tools and principles of comedy, and explores the philosophical principles that can guide us into creating the kinds of comedic material that doesn't cause harm. , there are principles that we can learn to help us construct humor consistently. We can get really good at it if we learn what these rules are. And that's what we're going to be talking about. That's what this series is about. Zena will be teaching you some tools and principles that you can adopt and apply in order to write funny. 

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WHAT'S NEXT? Join us next Thursday for another exciting episode, whatever that may be! 

NEED HELP? The Storyteller’s Mission online platform is your go-to place for help with all your writing needs. Sign up for one-on-one COACHING, get a SCRIPT CRITIQUE, or register for one of our  ADVANCED CLASSES ON WRITING today!

TOPIC REQUESTS?  If you have a question or a specific writing related topic that you would like Zena to consider addressing in a future podcast, SEND AN EMAIL to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

SPECIAL THANKS to CARLA PATULLO for the original music used in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com