How To: Write humorously?

[Dead yet?]

I'm trying to get this account to be a little less...serious...then most of mine. So I made a character that could be very serious and cool storyline, but wanted to make him more of a spoofy non-serious comic-relief type. I'm just not good at anything but dry humor.

Any suggestions?

[Elijah_Morendale]

Wing it. Try not to think about what you're writing.

[Dead yet?]

I think too much for that!

[Saxon]

I recommend looking into the Hellboy graphic novels or even movies. It may not be something you particularly want, but the one liners and attitude are a good spring board if you want a sort of humor added to your writing without having it look like your trying to be funny.

[Dead yet?]

I read Hellboy and love it, it was a third of my inspiration to create such a character. Another third being deathly obvious to some people, and the last third being my dreadfully emo and serious character that I need a counter-balance for.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Empty your mind, Dead Yet-san. I would prescribe two hours of 8 or 16-Bit video games and a healthy supply of caffeine, followed by some rock music playing in the background while you're at the keyboard.

If your overthinking condition persists, then repeat as necessary.

[Seraphima]

Humor is all in the pacing.

Watch some classic cartoons or Laurel and Hardy/Abbot and Costello.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Also, it helps if you have a couple of characters who you can just let bounce off of each other. If you don't mind a little bragging, I believe that the protagonists in a couple of my radio dramas provided quite a few funny lines because their personalities didn't mesh well.

[Saxon]

Yeah, if thats the case and you know what I'm talking about, your already halfway there. Mike Mignola is a genius with wherever he pulls those ideas from. I keep itching to grab my wallet and get the entire Hellboy collection so it'd be at my fingertips. But remember the old saying:

Don't tell the same joke twice.

I think the funniest things a writer can come up with are the situational ironic ones, like if you've seen Click or the new Pirates movie, it kept the humor going without appearing to be trying to get you to laugh. Its a hard skill to come up with, and I still have a hard time with dialogue, but the more practice you put into it, the more rewarding it'll be.

[The Valkyrie]

Douglas Adams, Steven Brust, and David Eddings are great fun and amazing storytellers all at the same time. Also if you get tired of reading, watch the Firefly series (or watch the movie based off it, called Serenity) - it will have you rolling on the floor.

I just aim for lots of sarcasm personally...

[Elijah_Morendale]

Humor is all in the pacing.

Watch some classic cartoons or Laurel and Hardy/Abbot and Costello.

There's also "The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy" or "Amos and Andy"

[googlyeyesultra]

Over at GUA (giveupalready.com), there is a player named Squidi who is good at this kind of thing. You could look at some of his work. In addition, you might want to read the humorously hilarious bit of weirdness Sythe2o0 posted in one of these OOC forums. Good luck.

[Artifex Felicis]

Some of the funniest humor advice I've ever gotten is this.

Be Silly, and Have Fun with it.

That, and also what other people are saying. I think Monty Python is the best example of what I said.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Don't get me started on the Pythons, lol...

The Firesign Theatre is also good research if you're leaning towards "wtf just happened?" humor...

[Dead yet?]

I'm learning towards having all brands of humor in my posts. So that everyone gets a kick out of at LEAST one joke in my threads.

[SnootchyBootchykins]

Well, everyone has their own idea of what's funny. Something that makes someone laugh so hard they pee themselves might just be stupid to someone else. The thing to do is write what makes you laugh. Some people will think it's great, some won't, but humanity shares alot of common characteristics. If you can make yourself laugh, there's someone sympathetic out there that will laugh too.

[Sythe2o0]

The easiest way to make people laugh is to act serious while saying something nonsensical, in my opinion.

[Alberdyne_Cormyr]

Humour also has to do with your own individual outlook on life.

What people sometimes don't get about humour is that there's different types of humour, some people like slapstick, some like situational humour. There's all different kinds.

I suggest (As others have) look at various sitcoms and comedians and see what makes THEM funny. Try to apply some of the basic principles of their routines into your own work. (I.E.) Adding situational elements into your story to make them funny.

Also IMHO funadementally flawed Characters make humor more interesting, because imperfect personalities make a situation much funnier. Gag moments are a subjective experience to the Character and storyline. When you're doing "Serious Writing" just remember that when you catch yourself writing an overly epic scene or whatever you can throw something completely left field to make that same scene funny out of nowhere.

I've read some seriously funny stuff that was just left-field stuff like that you know?

Humour is just about being creative and looking at the same situation from different perspectives. I hope that advice helps somewhat.

[Nymph and Dragon]

Mmmm, humor.
Don't try too hard. A mon avis, funny is best when it's character-based, something that makes people think they're getting an inside joke because they know something other characters/people don't. Or just really random senselessness can be amusing, if you're good at it.