Friday Filler: Dear Mr Shakespeare

Dear William,

Thanks so much for submitting your play "Romeo and Juliet" for consideration. I think that you did an excellent job of establishing the time and place of historical Verona, and some of the dialogue (especially the opening sequence of ribald jokes between the two gentlemen) is very funny indeed. I also liked the 'forbidden romance' plot, which you introduced right away. However, as the story progressed I felt that the characters were spending a lot of time running from set to set, location to location, and the mood of the play became increasingly depressing rather than entertaining. As a result, I'm afraid that we will have to pass on "Romeo and Juliet." Best of luck placing this with another publisher.

Yours sincerely,
John Danter
London, 1597

Now I want a cheeseburger

My husband and I have recently been watching Star Trek: the Next Generation series, starting with season one and moving on through. I think my favorite character of Star Trek is Data. He's an android, and he's pretty much clueless to human behavior at the beginning of the seasons, and then slowly begins to learn what it is to be human. He's a great device for building emotion and sympathy from the audience.

One of the best questions Data asks: What is funny?

And even when Data attempt to figure out a joke, what ends up being funny is his attempt - not the joke.



Davin did a post yesterday about putting humor in our work. That got me thinking about whether or not it's possible to learn how to be funny. Like Data, I often feel like an android who has no clue how to go about telling a joke or understanding why something is funny. It's timing. It's intuition. It's skill.

Roni over at Fiction Groupie totally stole my idea yesterday to ask if it's possible to learn how to be funny. (I still love you, Roni) Go check out her post if you would like some greater insight there.

Today, I guess, I just wanted to say that I think it's possible to learn how to be funny - there are tricks of the trade, I suppose, but perhaps a deeper question might be should you learn how to be funny? It is certainly tempting - everyone loves the funny man.

Do you think we are better off sticking to what we naturally do best? Or do you think venturing into the unknown and trying on new hats is a good idea? I'm currently trying to write fantasy, and it keeps delving back into major drama/literary/suspense writing - just like everything I write. Go figure. Of course, there is no humor in it that I can see. Yet.

An ice skater walks into a bar...

I started listening to classical music at a very young age. Like, 10. Not because I liked classical music, but because I liked the idea that I was the type of person who liked classical music. I was serious. A serious artist. Deep and dramatic and full of meaning.

Enter Tonya Harding. Remember her? Just before the 1994 Olympics, she conspired to injure her fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan so that she could win the gold. Suddenly, the nation actually cared about figure skating, and I found myself sitting with my family in front of the television as people performed these ultra-smooth routines on the ice.

Me, being the serious artist, focused on the serious skaters, the ones who had their heartbreaks choreographed. I was baffled when the rest of my family preferred the likes of Scott Hamilton. Scott Hamilton? The funny one? Really?

It would take me years to finally realize that the reason Scott Hamilton (aka, the other Scott) was so special was because he actually brought joy to people's lives. I was so focused on being serious that I didn't realize how wonderful it felt to actually laugh once in awhile. I learned my lesson, though. I now appreciate the value of humor and joy. But, after ignoring it for the majority of my life, I still feel pretty scared to actually write anything funny.

So, I ask you. Do you write funny moments in your stories? And, if so, how do you do it?