Folded Word Fan Club discussion
This topic is about
101 Kinds of Irony
Authors Q&A
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Q&A with Kevin Griffith
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Happy Halloween! What a time for irony!
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So, are we live? I was there for the genesis of this book, but could you describe the process to get it published? How did you learn about Folded Word?
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Thank you. I figured to hit refresh and will do so for the rest of the chat. 8-)
You mentioned in the previous thread that the original draft had 270 types of Irony? Was it hard to select less than half? Which irony do you miss the most?
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While we wait for Kevin's reply, I'd be curious to hear about the genesis of this book. It was a lot of fun & a surprise to receive in the submissions queue.
Hello! Happy Helloween from Germany!
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Hello all,To answer some of your questions, here we go.
First, genesis. Redundant? The book actually started as an assignment I gave in Fiction Writing long long ago. Students were to write a work of flash fiction, so I pulled together eight ironies and left it at that. The rest is history.
And now i just read one of your ironies - so good: "#irony101 philosophical Irony: Somewhere, a tree falls In the forest. / Bob and Jim don't hear it. / Then it explodes."How do you find those ironies? Are you actively working on them, or did you at some point come into a flow that bends normal situations to ironic?
To Ian,Yes, the plan was to write a massive irony tome in sections, maybe 700 pages long, something like Reality Hunger by David Shields, though a lot more funny and less pretentious. Thankfully, Jessi and the good editors at Folded Word put a stop to that idea. When I got to "Jumping the Shark" irony, I knew it was time to stop.
Great questions, all!
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Dorothee,Yes, the flow thing. Once you get rolling, it's easy to apply the irony schtick to almost everything. The problem is that some are just too easy, so you have to be careful. The philosophy one is a good one, though!
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:-D
Halloween IronyBob and Jim waiting in a pumpkin patch, drinking beer and being very sincere.
Just when the Great Pumpkin arises, he explodes.
I was in that class, and agree, the rest is history...Kevin wrote: "Hello all,
To answer some of your questions, here we go.
First, genesis. Redundant? The book actually started as an assignment I gave in Fiction Writing long long ago. Students were to write a..."
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Rose wrote: "Hi, Rose here -- happy to have internet again after Sandy. Haven't yet found irony in the storm, but I'm guessing Keith might . . ."That's one of the great ironies of my life. Everyone calls me Keith.
Even when I am just a virtual presence. Go figure.
Someday I will meet Keith, my alter ego.
massive haiku. Maybe you could go with 101 Kinds of Oxymorons. Let's go for it!
Kevin wrote: "Rose wrote: "Hi, Rose here -- happy to have internet again after Sandy. Haven't yet found irony in the storm, but I'm guessing Keith might . . ."That's one of the great ironies of my life. Ever..."
This and the Peanuts reference are cracking me up. Do we get a 101 Kinds of Irony Rarities release later? A collection of B-sides, if you will?
Someday I will meet Keith, my alter egoDoes the bomb explode before or after you both sit down to drink a beer?
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BTW, the video is now unveiled in the group's videos:
http://www.goodreads.com/videos/32634...
Hope you like it.
Chris,You know you want the prize! Write an obscure irony right now! Here are some prompts:
Ramones Irony? Becca Muntean Irony? Mr. McFeely Irony?
Ian wrote: "Someday I will meet Keith, my alter egoDoes the bomb explode before or after you both sit down to drink a beer?"
And by the way, it's pronounced Ky-eth
and then the bomb explodes.
Hello Rose! Good to see you online. And the storm, for me one irony was the cute name: "Sandy". And the power outages, which left those who needed information most in the dark, while all news channels were on 24 hour breaking news program. now, to put that into an irony-haiku... Kevin?
J.S. wrote: "I always get called Jennifer. Which is now ironic because that is my sister-in-law's name.BTW, the video is now unveiled in the group's videos:
http://www.goodreads.com/videos/32634......"
Isn't the movie awesome! My personal dream, to have a movie made of one of my books, is now fulfilled. I can die happy. After I explode.
This one’s to Kevin and J.S. Do you feel that journals and publishers are more reluctant to seriously consider pieces that are funny in subject and form?
Jessi,That's a good question from Ian, who is a paid humor writer himself. Many of the people who have read 101 or will be reading it are interested in publishing. What is your take on his question?
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Too funny! My daughter will be happy to hear she fulfilled a dream. [I'll have to send you the color version of the hand.]
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Expressive silence . . .
Mr. McFeely Irony:Bob and Jim sit at a table, drinking beer.
There's a knock on the door.
"Speedy deliv--"
The package in Mr. McFeely's hands explodes, taking Bob, Jim, Mr. Rogers, and the Kingdom of Make Believe with him.
Expressive silence . . .But a vague ticking in the background . . .
Just joined the conversation :) Hello!
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Do you feel that journals and publishers are more reluctant to seriously consider pieces that are funny in subject and form?"
It depends on whether you're talking major publishers or little ones like us. I think the industry is in such a financial state right now that most are looking for "safe." Humor is tricky, because readers either get it or don't. And there are the legal clearances depending on the type of humor.
However I do think that ebooks allow all sizes of publishers to take a chance on titles they might think have a smaller audience. Humor really depends on the editorial taste of the house. For instance, we weren't necessarily looking for a humor book. But Kevin's manuscript was so refreshing amidst my stack of gloom that I knew--even before it finished the total in-house review process--that we had to find a way to get it out there. I think if you can find out the names of the editors at smaller houses and see if they're on Goodreads, you could look to see who has humor in their reading lists. That might help the targeting a bit?
I just watched the movie. Awesome! But now I can’t stop wondering who you’ll cast in the live action motion picture.
...trying some pumpkin irony: "it took 3 tries to carve the pumpkin / but it got carried away by Sandy water / and ended stranded on an arctic beach / Then it explodes."
Hi Kevin, I often wonder about the times irony is mis-used in literature, as in an author saying something is ironic but it's absurd or maybe coincidental, not ironic. Do you see this much in your readings / teaching?
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Bob and Jim sit at a table, drinking beer.
There's a knock on the door.
"Speedy deliv--"
The package in Mr. McFeely's hands explodes, taking Bob, Jim, Mr. Rogers, and the Kingdo..."
Wow, what is with guys and Mr. Rogers? I think there were multiple Mr. Rogers references in the original manuscript!
Ian wrote: "I just watched the movie. Awesome! But now I can’t stop wondering who you’ll cast in the live action motion picture."Well, Nicholas Cage is one, of course. What doesn't he turn down?
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Dorothee wrote: "...trying some pumpkin irony: "it took 3 tries to carve the pumpkin / but it got carried away by Sandy water / and ended stranded on an arctic beach / Then it explodes.""Ian wrote: "I just watched the movie. Awesome! But now I can’t stop wondering who you’ll cast in the live action motion picture."
Dennis Hopper's corpse and what's left of Martin Landau.
And what a great Halloween Hurricane Irony!
Love the movie. Taking a moment here to tweet it.
Penguin and Random House sit at a table and share a beer. The major publishing market explodes.
Kevin Griffith, author of 101 KINDS OF IRONY, will be monitoring this thread all week. If you haven't read his book yet, no worries. We'll summarize:
There are two guys, Bob and Jim. They like beer. They repeatedly drink beer near bombs. And what do bombs do? EXPLODE!
In this book, however, bombs don't merely explode, they explode with irony. How? There are some sample ironies in this photograph:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foldedwo...
as well as our Twitter stream:
http://twitter.com/foldedword/status/...
http://twitter.com/foldedword/status/...
If you've ever had difficulty distinguishing between irony and coincidence, now is your chance to have it explained by a master. So go on: pepper Kevin with questions. I'm sure the answers will POP;-) He's also good with questions about humor, poetry, and trans-genre writing.
If you would like to get your questions answered in real time, you might also want to stop by this thread on Wednesday (yes, Halloween) at 1:00 PM Eastern time US. For more details, check out our event posting:
http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/7...
OK, enough with the introduction. It's your turn, lovely reader. Bombs away!