 Comedy: October 27, 2010 Issue [#4045] |
  Comedy
This week: My humor is beyond you. Edited by: Melissa is fashionably late!  
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To be funny or not to be funny, that is the question. When is the right time for humor and what do we do when our punch lines lack that right hook we intended?
My name is Melissa is fashionably late! and I am your guest newsletter editor for this week!wr |
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You are probably the funniest person you know. You secretly come up with jokes and laugh at them out loud, even if those jokes only exist in your head. Every one of your friends probably come to you to be cheered up or when they need a good giggle. You can always come up with a punch line for any joke and expect everyone to get your sense of humor.
Sometimes, though, you may find that after the punch line is delivered, the only sound you hear is chirping crickets and uncomfortable coughs as people try to determine whether to laugh at you (but not your joke) or to roll their eyes at you. The same thing probably happens with some of the stories you write.
I mean, it seems like a good idea in your head. And you think it's hilarious. But when the feedback comes in, nobody is "getting" the punch line. That's the worst feedback one can receive, especially if you know you're funny. Here's a few tips on how to cope:
 Not everyone has a sense of humor that aligns with yours.
I wouldn't use this excuse all of the time, but if you have multiple people leaving you feedback that says your item is hilarious, and then one lonely reviewer decides they don't "get it," that probably means it's that person, and not you. (You know, that whole, "it's not you, it's me," line that's fed to us in our love lives so often. You can apply this here, too, and it seems to help soothe the sense of rejection even better than when you're being dumped!) If the person gives you no specific reason as to why they don't find it funny, then you can always ask, just to be sure there's nothing you can tweak, but otherwise it's best to thank your reviewer and let it go.
Sometimes, it really isn't that funny.
If you don't believe your reviewer (because how on earth could they possibly know what they're talking about, anyway), then ask a good friend to look at it. You might find out that you weren't as funny as you thought you were. It's no big deal! Just reevaluate and maybe rewrite.
Maybe it's a good time to wait and see.
The first person who read your story hated it. They didn't rip your writing to shreds, they just didn't like it. This might be a good time to wait and see what other readers offer in the realm of advice before you take it to heart.
It might be time to give it up!
No, not writing! Maybe the joke is beyond tweaking. If you have tried and tried to bring a laugh out with a comedy item that you've tweaked and tweaked, but you still get the chirping cricket effect, it may be time to walk away from it for a bit. Sometimes getting a breath of fresh air between pieces gives you a chance to look at it from a new perspective later.
In the end, you need to follow the advice of that old Kenny Rogers song... "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run." You know, except where your writing is involved, not to mean that you should go gamble your life savings away. |
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It's hard to believe that it's been such a long time since I last wrote a newsletter for the Comedy genre on Writing.Com! It feels great to exercise my funny bone and provide you some insight and perhaps some inspiration! Thanks for letting me be your editor this week. Perhaps you'll see me again soon!  |
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