Greetings, citizens and dignitaries of Earth!  It's time, once again, for Hunter Week(tm) here at the RWU Community Blog.  No, no, please put away your fluegelhorns and soosaphones.  I don't need the royal fanfare for this post.

First of all, I may not be the proper person to write this article.  I'm a very serious person - almost professorly - and everything I've ever written is 100% fact.

But, maybe you're a genuinely funny person.   Maybe people crowd around you everywhere you go (you're probably hot or have money), maybe people laugh at everything you say (you're probably their boss or relative), and maybe people tell you you should be a comedian (just another way of saying "because whatever you're doing now isn't working").

If that's the case, then please click on this link because this post is not for you.

There's four kinds of funny people:

1. Those that think they're funny, and are.
2. Those that think they're funny, and aren't.
3. Those that don't think they're funny, but make a good audience.
4. Those that think they're ducks.

Notice how I employ rule #1 here - notice also how I haven't listed any rules? - I didn't use the obvious things that funny people will expect.   In this case that would have been listing pirates, robots, zombies, or midgets.   Yes, yes, those are all funny.   But if you want to be truly funny, you can't just be funny to people that fall into categories 2, 3, and possibly 4, above.

Anyone that is funny will automatically expect you to pull from your sleeve of "everyone knows this stuff is funny" and throw it out.   But then, it's only partially funny.  Not fully funny...  Okay, and I really need to break out the thesaurus because "funny" is starting to look like a word that makes no sense to me.

What I'm saying here, is that while good humorists know how to use the unexpected, there's certain things that become expectedly unexpected.  Like robots, and zombies.   And if you just throw in midgets anytime you want something to be funny, you're being short-sighted.  :)

The Most Dangerous Bunny In The Jungle

People that think they're funny, and aren't.

Even the best author out there - me - can't be funny all the time.  When writing for a broad audience, there's going to be certain humor elements you write that aren't going to appeal to everyone.  Some aren't going to appeal to anyone!

But if you find yourself constantly using the same techniques, re-using old jokes (and trying to change them around), putting huntcole@gmail.com on your mailing list for funny Internet pictures and chain mail, it's a sign that you may have unfunnyitis.

As for crit partners, it's a difficult road.  They generally won't tell you that you're about as funny as a half decayed bologna sandwich.  This could be because they know that humor is subjective, or it could be because they like you - and while it's easy to critique someone's grammar or continuity or fashion, it's not as easy to tell them that their hero having Tourette syndrome just doesn't work.

NOTE:  If I ever used my team of researchers to find examples for these posts, rather than just having them find out how many barrel 'o monkeys it would take to reach the moon, there'd be some brilliant materials for me to present here.  But due to budgetary constraints, we'll just hafta pretend there's good examples here.

Pretend examples or not, here's a few things to watch for in your writing to see if you have the classic signs that it may not be funny:

• Stilted Dialog:   If the great joke you've been trying to interject makes your character sound like they're a comedian or changes their voice, it may not be working.
• Use of Props:  If you find yourself placing objects in your story simply to setup a joke, it might be a good time to rethink it.
• Character choice:  If your hero or heroine is a professional comedian, stand-up comic, clown, or mime... uhh.  I don't know what to tell you here. I love mimes.  But they don't work as well for a novel.  The dialog runs a bit one sided.
• Ongoing Gags:  Sometimes, these can work.  But it depends what it is.  Be careful of using ongoing gags, because a joke is generally only funny the first time you use it.  If someone in your story slips on a banana peel, maybe it's funny.  If multiple people in your story slip on a banana peel, it likely isn't.   However, if everyone in your story, including the pope and grandma Jones slips on the banana peel - you might be onto something.
• Multi-Character Setup:  If you use dialog from more than one character to setup a punchline, it probably isn't working well.  There's a huge different between this and witty banter.  But if you have your characters engage in a scene of witty banter with each other - realize that you can't revert to being unwitty at all other times.  They have to genuinely be witty.
• Overused Elements: Irreverence is fun!  It's my middle name, in fact.  But while you need to be up on pop culture and what's trendy, having your characters refer to the Star Wars Kid in your novel all the time isn't funny.   Neither are dancing babies.  Don't be a slave to the trend!  If you are, you're just a follower.
• Stereotypes:  By far, the number one way to be sure that you're so unfunny that funny people reading your stuff will no longer be funny, is to use stereotypes.  Not only is this a number one rule on good writing, it's the one thing that can literally kill you.  Not just your career.  People will actually kill you.  Not because they're offended - offensive makes for great humor.  But because it sucks.  If you have the geeky teenager that's always fumbling with his pocket protector and pushing his glasses up and saying "Did I do that?" then I will send teams of assassins to your door.  They'll ring first, though - it's gotta be a fair fight.

Okay, long post - I know.  I just have so much knowledge and self-importance that I absolutely *must* push all of the other blog posts way down the page!

But all that said, here's the fun part:  You CAN be funny.  No matter who you are or what you do.  Not only that, but you can completely DISREGARD everything I said above - yes, even using stereotypes and clowns in your story!   If you employ some smart techniques that will set your story apart from all the unfunny ones.  I'll even show you how.

In my next few articles, I'll discuss the techniques and tricks you can use to write humorous characters (unless you're English - I'm not going to teach you how to write humourous characters.  Duh.)  With proper technique, you can make anything funny, become rich, and marry a super model.  Just not mine.

-Hunter