Tag: write

Six Hilarious Tips to Create Comedy in Your Story

Six Hilarious Tips to Create Comedy in Your Story

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Have you ever wanted to write something that will make a person laugh? Then have I got some good tips for you. If you don’t like to make people laugh, you will have to wait your turn. I’ll get to you.

Laughter comes along with instant benefits to a person. It can improve the immune system, cure male pattern baldness, helps them relax, and lowers blood pressure. Now, before I jump into the tips to add laughter to your writing, I want to address those that don’t want to make people laugh. Why? Are you afraid of one of the following:

  • “I’m not funny.” – Have you ever laughed? If you have, then you have a sense of humor.
  • “My stuff is serious writing.” – It’s not going to hurt your readers to get a little surprise chuckle.
  • “Nobody understands my humor.” – You are probably trying too hard.

Humor can be tricky because everybody finds different things funny. But there are different things you can do that will almost guarantee that you can get a smile from just about anybody.

  1. Edit it like crazy.

In reality, being funny is actually quite hard. Your first draft is going to have some goods stuff, so use the other tips in this list and make it better. The rewrite it. Once you think you have it, ask a friend to read it quietly as you watch them. Look at the corners of their eyes. Once you see their eyes crinkle a bit, you breathe a sigh of relief.

2. Find a swipe file.

Swipe files have a collection of comedy gold that you might not have thought up yourself. You don’t have to worry about plagiarism because it is there to help people.

3. Grab a thesaurus.

Finding that really good word can help to change and “eh” into hysterical laughs. It could be the spelling of the words or how it sounds with the other words that send your joke over the top.

4. Comedic timing is everything.

This could just mean that you add a word in at the last second to grab a laugh. You can also force a pause in your writing, and then hit them with the funny part. This can be used to surprise your reader with a funnier direction than they had expected.

5. Specificity is key.

Specifics tend to be funnier. People like specifics because they can visualize it better than generalities.

6. Be the joke.

The only way you can make fun of something without offending other people is to be that something. Readers will love to laugh at you and your life. That means you can use not only yourself, but your kids, pets, parents, spouse, your job, and so on.

I do believe you guys are ready to go write something hilariously funny. Now get to it. Share a bit of gold with me if you would like. Trust me, I’m an easy laugh.

FYI:

Grab your copy of Loved by Death on Amazon. I will be making Loved by Death: Book One of The Wolfsbane Chronicles available for free on Kindle in the coming weeks, so make sure you keep an eye out so that you don’t miss your chance.

Get Creatively Conscious – Week 5

Get Creatively Conscious – Week 5

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Welcome to week five of my creative writing lessons. There are only four more lessons left, and I hope you have enjoyed the past four. You are right smack dab in the middle of them now.

This week your not going to write based on a prompt or anything specific like questions.

Your job this week is to write down a stream of your own consciousness.

This is a relaxed, fun, and easy exercise. For this exercise, you should write everything longhand instead of typing it out on your computer. Handwriting will slow down the writing which will give your brain more creative time.

Grab yourself a pen and paper and simply write down what comes to mind. Jot down everything that pops into your mind. It can be nonsensical and jumbled. Julia Cameron, an author, has a book where she talks about writing three pages of consciousness every morning. This doesn’t even feel like writing because it’s not. It just gets a bunch of ideas out that you might feel like using later.

That’s it for day five. Remember to come back next week for the sixth lesson.

 

Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it. – Lloyd Alexander

 

The Killer of all Great Writers

The Killer of all Great Writers

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Today we are going to talk about the biggest killer of all writers.

 

Writer’s Block

 

Calm the screaming. I know, it’s scary, but it doesn’t have to end your career. There are ways around it, and I’m sure I will write many more posts on the subject. There’s no need to feel bad. Every writer gets it. Even the best most famous writers have to deal with writer’s block. I’ve got 14 ways to help you work through writer’s block.

Before we get into how to combat writer’s block, let’s look at what could be causing the block.

  1. Timing – Maybe it’s not the right time for you to write. Maybe you need to let your ideas stew a little bit more before they can be written down.
  2. Fear – A lot of writers will struggle with fear when it comes to actually putting their ideas down on paper. They are afraid of sharing a part of themselves. They are afraid of being criticized and judged. They are afraid that it will be the only thing they write. I know fear has been what has slowed me down on getting my first book out.
  3. Perfectionism – For a writer, the book is never done. Even once its gone to press, you’ll still be thinking about how you could have changed something. At some point, you have to be finished with it. Perfect doesn’t exist. It’s only an excuse.

While dealing with writer’s block is tough, here are some things you can try to break through the wall.

  • Find some inspiring quotes and read them for inspiration.
  • Make bullet point lists of ideas.
  • Call somebody you haven’t spoken to in a while.
  • Spend some time with a person that lifts you up.
  • Come up with a regular schedule.
  • Make some coffee.
  • Listen to music.
  • Freewrite.
  • Read a book.
  • Switch up your environment.
  • Play.
  • Exercise or do something that keeps your blood pumping.
  • Get rid of your distractions.
  • Take a walk.

The important thing is to create some momentum to get over that wall.

If your still not sure what to do, here are some things that you should not do to try to overcome the block.

  • Refusing to write until you are inspired.
  • Wallowing in self-pity.
  • Making excuses or procrastinating.
  • Watching TV.

If you’re looking for that magical fail-proof way to overcome writer’s block, here it is:

WRITE

Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you. – H. Jackson Brown Jr.