Knock knock. Who's there? Not my self-confidence, I can tell you that much.
I seem to be having a small crisis in writing. I'm trying to write a Halloween fic, and I'm trying to make it funny.
It's not working. Well, it's sort of working, I think. But I'm not sure, my fingers keep typing words that skew the fic to the darker edges, where theoretical readers are sitting on the edges of their theoretical seats, holding their theoretical breaths. And that's fine, I suppose, except...
I want it to be funny.
I used to be able to write funny. I wrote endless chapters of crack, musical parodies, funny little one-shot fluffy pieces. And all I seem to be writing in Sherlock is doom and gloom and misunderstandings and crossed purposes and lovers being separated and children being kidnapped and so on.
And clearly there's an art to writing doom and gloom, etc., and I know there are people who enjoy reading that kind of thing - and I admit, there are times when I'm one of them - but all in all? I like to make people laugh. I like to set up a really funny joke, and then let it play out, and keep people giggling and guessing until the end. I like leaving them with a smile on their faces.
And yeah, there are stories where I want to twist their hearts and leave them with a tear in their eye, and maybe send them scurrying to hug their kids or husbands or wives or whoever. Or the stories where I want them to be laughing right up until the end when pow, there's that punch to the gut I've set up from the start.
I just want to write something funny again. I used to think I was a pretty good all-around writer, that you couldn't really pigeon-hole me into any one slot - and to be honest, I liked that, but I feel like that's perhaps not entirely true any longer.
Maybe it's me? I had been thinking that I wasn't feeling the reverse culture shock on this return nearly as badly as I did coming back from Kyrgyzstan seven years ago - maybe this is just another manifestation of it?
No idea. I don't suppose anyone has any suggestions for writing funny, do they?
It's not working. Well, it's sort of working, I think. But I'm not sure, my fingers keep typing words that skew the fic to the darker edges, where theoretical readers are sitting on the edges of their theoretical seats, holding their theoretical breaths. And that's fine, I suppose, except...
I want it to be funny.
I used to be able to write funny. I wrote endless chapters of crack, musical parodies, funny little one-shot fluffy pieces. And all I seem to be writing in Sherlock is doom and gloom and misunderstandings and crossed purposes and lovers being separated and children being kidnapped and so on.
And clearly there's an art to writing doom and gloom, etc., and I know there are people who enjoy reading that kind of thing - and I admit, there are times when I'm one of them - but all in all? I like to make people laugh. I like to set up a really funny joke, and then let it play out, and keep people giggling and guessing until the end. I like leaving them with a smile on their faces.
And yeah, there are stories where I want to twist their hearts and leave them with a tear in their eye, and maybe send them scurrying to hug their kids or husbands or wives or whoever. Or the stories where I want them to be laughing right up until the end when pow, there's that punch to the gut I've set up from the start.
I just want to write something funny again. I used to think I was a pretty good all-around writer, that you couldn't really pigeon-hole me into any one slot - and to be honest, I liked that, but I feel like that's perhaps not entirely true any longer.
Maybe it's me? I had been thinking that I wasn't feeling the reverse culture shock on this return nearly as badly as I did coming back from Kyrgyzstan seven years ago - maybe this is just another manifestation of it?
No idea. I don't suppose anyone has any suggestions for writing funny, do they?