What’s Up?

MAY….

One of my favourite things I saw…

One of my favourite things I did…

Right, let’s get into some story stuff…

Comedy Craft / Story Fiending

I continue to be obsessed by characters. Which ones I love. Which ones I believe in, and root for. Which ones I couldn’t care a fig about and why.

I tossed aside a book recently where the author’s consistent way into character was to tell me about their hair and footwear—for the whole ensemble cast. It likely says more about me than the author that this was not the way to my memory or heart!

In real life, I’m unlikely to notice if you’ve had a haircut. (Ask my stepmum or my husband!) You can stand in front of me, twirl, whatever, and I will just look perplexed.

I'm much more likely to be able to catch a feeling, under the surface of things—whether someone’s sad or annoyed or afraid or hopeful.

I learned a ton of helpful approaches to creating characters during my Comedy Masterclass interviews. But above all, it was validating to see that we’re all different, and we truly do get to play with what makes sense to us.

And going back through my Scrivener notes for my YA novel, Beth Raises Hell, I can see that I completely ignored the pro forma character templates they give you. But there is a file where I have played with:

X IS THE KIND OF PERSON WHO…

For example, for Beth’s dad I wrote:

He is the kind of person who will go out to buy milk, and come back with three frozen cheesecakes and a lottery ticket instead.

If you’re interested in character creation too, let me know and I’ll share some more fun approaches from other writers.

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The Catch

Something else that’s been catching my attention: trips and falls in comedy. Again… which work for me, which don’t, and why.

If you read last month’s letter, you might remembers that I was into the series Silicon Valley. It’s now become one of my all time favourite shows for how it handles physical comedy.

For example, this face plant:

I adore that it’s not just an…oops, clumsy me moment. The mechanics are so well set up, and so congruous with the character. 10/10 for me.

Do you have any favourite physical comedy moments? What do you love about them? Do tell!

Stash: things I love

One of my go-tos for finding funny fiction is the Thurber prize for American Humor in writing.

This year the winner was Feh by Shalom Auslander. And the finalists were The Guncle Abroad, by Steven Rowley, and The Wedding People, by Alison Espach. I read and loved The Wedding People, so need to get on it with the other two!

Have you read any of them? What did you think?

Parting words…

I think it’s interesting that humour is sometimes judged as avoidance.

Maybe sometimes. But the opposite is also true.

I think about this quote from George Saunders:

‘Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to.’

And this from Jon Favreau:

‘Don’t go for funny. Go for truth and you’ll hit funny along the way.’

For me truth and humour are interlinked, and always will be. Endlessly fascinating. And entirely woven into me being a human, with all that comes with that!

For example, as I was falling asleep last night I said to my husband, “What will you do if aliens come for me in the night?”

He said, “I’ll hang on like this.” (In demonstrating his grip we banged elbows.)

“You think that’ll be enough to keep me in place?!” I said.

“No, I’ll hang on and come with you,” he said.

By this time we were both laughing. It was utterly ridiculous. And also…He truly loves me enough to make it work on an alien ship? I’ll take it.

Go forth and be human!

Until next time,

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