Great Questions About Humor Writing
When I’m not writing humor, I’m thinking about the process of writing humor. That’s just the kind of humor nerd I am.
Recently, I co-created a contest for comedy writers called The Better Writer, Better You, Doin’ It With Mike Sacks Supreme Comedy Writing Contest. This contest was dedicated to helping comedy writers hone their craft.
During the contest, I received dozens upon dozens of questions on humor writing, from funny writers of all stripes. The questions were so good — and so finely focused — that I thought they were worth answering in a series of two pieces.
(Mike Sacks will also be providing his own take on some of the questions on his comedy podcast, Doin’ It With Mike Sacks.)
First, I want to address some of the best questions about humor writing techniques: How do humor writers generate funny ideas and turn them into humor pieces?
(In the second piece, we’ll turn to the mindsets and routines of humor writers.)
Now, let’s dive into humor craft!
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If I find it funny, will other people find it funny?
“How often, percentage-wise, would you say, does the old proverb, “If I find it funny, other people will too”, live up to its name when writing humorous pieces? Or perhaps another way of saying this is, Is your bottom line, criteria for writing comedy, always, “If it makes me laugh that’s good enough”? Or is there another bottom line, criteria with which you use to determine how much of funny your writing is?” — J.C.
I think what you personally find funny is the single best heuristic for what to write in a humor article. Anyway, what’s the alternative?
And I would say, “If you laugh, others will too” is true more often than not. And by that, I mean that at least some other people will find your observation funny.
But there’s a caveat: Your ability to express a funny idea in prose will depend on your skill, on your level of writing craft. In working on your craft, you are working to get better and better at expressing your funny insights in a way that others find hilarious. When your observation falls flat, it is often because the level of humor craft required to express it was not there, not that the core observation itself was bad or unfunny.
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When do you write the headline?
“My question pertains to titles and their relationship to premise. Do you typically write titles first and build your article around it? Or dive into the article and hope the title finds you later? Thanks so much!” — E.H.
I write humor headlines (titles) first. I brainstorm headlines nearly every day, and then I select and draft only the funniest or most promising ones. I want my headlines to have a single, clear main joke. I choose headlines based on my own internal sense of what I love, plus a bit of peer feedback from my writing group.
This process is efficient: I want to spend my precious time drafting ideas that are punchy and compelling. I don’t want to waste time on a weak comedy premise.
The only exception to my headline-first approach is when I come up with an idea from a “morning pages” type free-writing exercise. This can generate a premise idea that’s not in headline form, but I don’t do this often.
98% of the time I just start with the headline!
How do you get great humor headline ideas? By listening. Being an attentive listener in conversation, and being attentive to the weird thoughts in your own mind, is the most important skill for finding funny ideas.
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How do you start from scratch?
“What is your writing process like when you are starting from scratch? Just sitting in silence until an idea comes? Thinking in the shower until your creativity or the impending water bill wins out? And once you get that first seed of an idea how do you develop it?” — K.S.
Here’s my process for humor articles:
First, I generate and select premise-headline ideas as per the previous question.
Second, I approach finding the right execution (of an individual headline) by generating a lot of jokes and riffs from the headline. Then, I organize things into beats, and I edit for clarity and structure. Also, I allow for organic discovery as I riff on the headline. I follow my instincts of what’s funniest, weirdest, and most joyful to me.
I know that each humor piece is unique and there’s no one right way to do it. I try to be easygoing about it, and I always have a few headlines in the queue so I’m never stressing too much about any one piece. (For more on humor writing techniques, see my Ultimate Humor Writing Cheat Sheet.)
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What if I struggle to write enough jokes?
“I’ve had ideas where I believe the headline is a solid joke with a clear premise but when I try to write out the idea, I struggle to get past the first couple beats. Do you have any advice or methods to get past this slump?” — J.P.
Here’s an improv technique: Ask yourself, “If this main premise is true, what else is true in this world?” Just list a bunch of things — however wild — that might follow if this humor premise describes reality. Don’t judge these ideas, just get them out there en masse on the page. You are turning your judgmental editor brain off and going “full clown mode.” Let your mind generate as many ideas as possible, however crazy.
But there is a meta-answer here too: Write more premise and headline ideas than you think you need and choose ones with a more natural idea flow. No need to suffer when you have a lot of options. If you struggle with a particular humor premise idea, hibernate the idea for a while. Come back to it later. And don’t be afraid to ditch an article if you can just never seem to crack it.
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How much structure do you start with?
“When you’ve generated a premise do you outline beats before writing or just start putting down as many jokes as you can and sort them out later?” — T.G.
I personally just start writing ideas/jokes/riffs that come from the headline, and I sort out the beats as I figure out what’s what.
Typically, I don’t know the precise order of beats in a humor article aside from a very vague sense of how things might escalate. I’ve also found that some of the funniest pieces come from exploring an idea without preconceived notions and then figuring out the structure later.
In some cases, I will have a vague idea of a beat order. Like this: “Okay, first the narrator will introduce himself as a monocled supervillain who hunts people for sport, then we’ll go through his weird supervillain lair on an island, then toward the end of the piece, I think there will be a surprise moment where the supervillain will sacrifice someone in a volcano.” And I might jot that down. But rarely any more specific than that.
I don’t think there’s an objectively good answer to this question aside from what serves you!
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How do you choose where to focus?
“How do you decide which humor/comedy ideas to focus on? I think we all have more ideas than writing time, so I’m wondering how you go about narrowing the list and prioritizing among your ideas.” — L.S.
I prioritize like so:
The headlines that feel most exciting to me get priority. If an idea feels so exciting that I can’t wait to write it, I trust that feeling, and I write it.
When an idea immediately generates a lot of jokes and feels like it will be easy to write as a full draft, I give it priority. If it feels hard to actually generate jokes from the premise, I don’t necessarily kill the idea, but I rank it lower on my list.
I pitch many headlines to my writing group, and all else being equal, I give the ideas that my peers enjoy higher priority. However, if I truly love a specific idea, I don’t look for permission, I just write it.
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When is the piece ready to go?
“Do you have any tips for figuring out when a piece is ready for submission? I.E., how many drafts is “too many” and what signs do you use to help determine when a piece is “done”? “ — E.K.
Again, my personal approach is three-fold, as I guess I just love the rule of threes:
I try to get peer feedback on most drafts, and I will keep revising until my writing buddy (or buddies) thinks the piece is good to go.
It feels ready when I feel that the piece is fully tight (no wasted words), everything is on-premise, I like every single joke and every sentence, and it feels like the comedic escalation has hit 100%. Further tinkering feels boring, and I know I’m looking at severely diminishing returns at that point. Also, I make sure the piece is free of common mistakes (and see also part II.)
I have noticed a pattern that all of my best, most successful humor pieces have taken around three drafts on average (and pretty much always two to five drafts).
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Can rewriting ruin the piece?
“Do you feel your rewrites often make your pieces worse? I find I can write something funny in a first-pass but when I try to add more structure, common thread, etc… in my rewrites, I kind of kill the humor.” — P.K.
I find rewriting necessary to get a humor piece to click. The trick is that I want my rewrites to fully honor the original humor, zaniness, and insanity of my original ideas while also honing the overall piece into a punchier, more precise form.
When you rewrite, keep an eye on making sure your original best jokes are preserved (as long as they fit the premise), and be sure you are not overcomplicating your ideas or overwriting.
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Is humor craft not actually learnable?
“Do you believe that there are aspects of the craft of humor writing that can’t be developed or honed? Which aspects should beginning writers prioritize?” — T.L.
No, I do not believe this.
I know that humor writing, and all writing, is a skill. Every human skill is improved by deliberate practice. Every funny writer, and every comedian, worked their ass off to perform well. So, I focus on this question: “What can I do this week, this month, or this year to get 10% better at my craft?”
In the beginning, I believe humor writers should focus on the following practices:
Writing habits. Develop a funny writing practice. Show up every day and create something. You can at least write a couple of jokes every day.
Reading habits. Read a lot of funny stuff and always ask, “Why is this funny? What specifically is driving the funny?” Understand what works and why. Remember, your job is not just to write and write, it is also to hone a killer sense of taste.
Get a good peer feedback group — some writing buddies who can give you honest, direct feedback. Don’t go it alone.
Form a strategic plan for your own growth over the next year and stick with it. Be a student from day one, and be the College Dean of your own “writing funny shit” education program.
Finish pieces and get them out in the world in some form, even if they’re not yet as good as you like. Key word: Yet. Do the reps. Keep going!
Ready to improve your humor craft? Get The Ultimate Humor Writing Cheat Sheet, my tips and tricks for writing and publishing humor in places like The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and Slackjaw.