SCBWI Humor Writing Break Out Session
I am soooooo sorry I have been delinquent in posting notes from the conference! I have been busy rewriting my book based on Julie's revision class, and literally I can't even sleep at night I think of it so much! I woke up at 2:30 last night & jumped on my computer until four--which is so unusual for me. But I promise I will post all notes as soon as I find spare moments.
So without further ado, here are some from the amazing humor writing session. I really loved last year's session. And I learned so much. See last year's post here. And I figured, heck I can always stand to be funnier--who couldn't, right? And if it's a repeat from last year at least I'll laugh because some insanely funny people like Lin Oliver are on the panel. Lin makes me giggle like I'm five-years-old and in church trying to be serious. Man did I get thrown out of church a lot as a kid. And that brings me to the first point about being funny...you can't TRY to be funny. That's maybe why church is so hysterical...it's not trying.
Here are some other points from Sid Fleischman, humor genius extraordinaire--all 3.5 of them.
1. Surprise : Spring load moments with surprise. Mr. Fleischman gave an example: Instead of saying, "Congressmen are idiots." Say, "Suppose you are an idiot. Suppose you are a member of congress. Ah, but I repeat myself."
2. Fantasy: Observe rules of grounding the reader in reality. He calls it the "umbilical cord" to reality--and you have to have one. For example, "It's so cold even the snowmen went south for the winter." This joke makes some sense since birds go south so the reality cord is there. "It's so cold even the barns turned yellow." Makes no sense. "It's so cold even the barns turned blue." Ah, ha! The cord is there.
3. Choose your scene situations so they have comic possibilities. In one of Fleischman's books the miners get gold bits stuck in their hair from mining so much gold, so there's a sign on the door of the barber shop that reads: Free haircuts: Miners Only
3.5 Look to your props. In Lin's book a miniature kid falls into a toilet instead of a bucket, this is an example of choosing a good prop.
David LeRochelle says to make yourself laugh, and recognize yourself in the situation. He says to watch out for embarrassment--there is a fine line between humiliation and funny embarrassing moments. You have to be caring toward your character and not be cruel. Cruelty is not funny.
Exaggeration is funny! If a boy's fly is down...make him be wearing pink boxers. Keep taking it further & further & see what you get.
Lin Oliver spoke about humor pacing and how she watches the intensity from scene to scene. Too much funny gets annoying and relentless. The funny has to seem effortless and can't feel like it's working hard. There's nothing sadder than an attempt at humor.
She writes at night from 11pm-4am, less inhibitors, and she can be alone with her own voice, but she doesn't write until it's hatched. She let's it roll around.
The humor is in the details. Use language humor!
To edit, she prints it out and goes to a place that involves food. She says, "There's nothing that didn't get better by being shorter." Cut, cut, cut! She also circles all the funny stuff and spaces it out for pacing.
I asked a burning question (since I think I have a funny YA).
Edith: "Most often you find funny in the categories of picture book or middle grade. What do you think about funny in YA? Do teens like funny?"
Lin: "If you look at movie sales, teens like to be scared or to laugh." She thinks there is definitely a market there, but it's a hard thing to do because you risk going from funny to uncool.
No problemo! I'm cool enough, right?
So without further ado, here are some from the amazing humor writing session. I really loved last year's session. And I learned so much. See last year's post here. And I figured, heck I can always stand to be funnier--who couldn't, right? And if it's a repeat from last year at least I'll laugh because some insanely funny people like Lin Oliver are on the panel. Lin makes me giggle like I'm five-years-old and in church trying to be serious. Man did I get thrown out of church a lot as a kid. And that brings me to the first point about being funny...you can't TRY to be funny. That's maybe why church is so hysterical...it's not trying.
Here are some other points from Sid Fleischman, humor genius extraordinaire--all 3.5 of them.
1. Surprise : Spring load moments with surprise. Mr. Fleischman gave an example: Instead of saying, "Congressmen are idiots." Say, "Suppose you are an idiot. Suppose you are a member of congress. Ah, but I repeat myself."
2. Fantasy: Observe rules of grounding the reader in reality. He calls it the "umbilical cord" to reality--and you have to have one. For example, "It's so cold even the snowmen went south for the winter." This joke makes some sense since birds go south so the reality cord is there. "It's so cold even the barns turned yellow." Makes no sense. "It's so cold even the barns turned blue." Ah, ha! The cord is there.
3. Choose your scene situations so they have comic possibilities. In one of Fleischman's books the miners get gold bits stuck in their hair from mining so much gold, so there's a sign on the door of the barber shop that reads: Free haircuts: Miners Only
3.5 Look to your props. In Lin's book a miniature kid falls into a toilet instead of a bucket, this is an example of choosing a good prop.
David LeRochelle says to make yourself laugh, and recognize yourself in the situation. He says to watch out for embarrassment--there is a fine line between humiliation and funny embarrassing moments. You have to be caring toward your character and not be cruel. Cruelty is not funny.
Exaggeration is funny! If a boy's fly is down...make him be wearing pink boxers. Keep taking it further & further & see what you get.
Lin Oliver spoke about humor pacing and how she watches the intensity from scene to scene. Too much funny gets annoying and relentless. The funny has to seem effortless and can't feel like it's working hard. There's nothing sadder than an attempt at humor.
She writes at night from 11pm-4am, less inhibitors, and she can be alone with her own voice, but she doesn't write until it's hatched. She let's it roll around.
The humor is in the details. Use language humor!
To edit, she prints it out and goes to a place that involves food. She says, "There's nothing that didn't get better by being shorter." Cut, cut, cut! She also circles all the funny stuff and spaces it out for pacing.
I asked a burning question (since I think I have a funny YA).
Edith: "Most often you find funny in the categories of picture book or middle grade. What do you think about funny in YA? Do teens like funny?"
Lin: "If you look at movie sales, teens like to be scared or to laugh." She thinks there is definitely a market there, but it's a hard thing to do because you risk going from funny to uncool.
No problemo! I'm cool enough, right?