How to Write Funny: Your Serious, Step-By-Step Blueprint For Creating Incredibly, Irresistibly, Successfully Hilarious Writing

by Scott Dikkers

rewriting, editing or proofing. The best comedy writers write dozens and dozens—sometimes hundreds—of jokes, and then carefully select only the best ones to present to readers. They make it seem easy because they never show us all the bad jokes they throw away.

readers are a rare thing. Most people don’t like to read. They’d rather do just about anything else. In our culture of easy entertainment and instant gratification, reading is akin to homework in most people’s minds.

Don’t ever steal anyone’s jokes, and don’t ever plagiarize anyone’s writing.

Funny-Writing Tip #4: Make It Short Anything worth saying is worth saying briefly. It may take more time (Mark Twain famously apologized for a letter’s lengthiness by explaining that he didn’t have time to make it short), but this is time well spent. Sometimes cutting a word or two can make a line twice as funny, or turn an unfunny line into a funny one. Experiment with your work by cutting words. See if anything’s lost. And use simpler, shorter words when possible. By trimming your writing, you force yourself to get at the heart of what you have to say, and you’ll say it in a way that readers can more easily digest.