Status and Support

[Aquarius]

My bad, WG. Didn't realize you were only looking for cheerleading.

Speaking for myself, when I have trouble with something, I know I appreciate pointers from those experienced with doing it.

[WarpGirl]

And I do appreciate pointers. But it's just that I had thought of it before, I just thought I'd let you know in case you might think of something else. It's good to have cheerleaders in this hobby, just as it is as wonderful to have teachers in this hobby. Both are invaluable.

[honeybee]

I just judged my department's humor award yesterday - and it was easy. Only one of the entries was at all funny.

As they say, dying is easy, comedy is hard.

But, I do find myself writing humor sometimes to break the tension - the more serious and long a fic, the more there needs to be tension broken.

[WarpGirl]

hahahaha

[panyasan]

I agree with Dinah, if you try to be funny, it falls flat (I learn this the hard way ).
I mostly like Vulcan humour: some dry remark that takes the tension away and just twist the sentence a little bit to make it funny.
My advice would be: clear your mind, don't try to be funny, just write it and use you own bland of humour.
BTW, I had the feeling your ex was the mystery man. I am happy for you that things are going well and what I can tell, you have a lot of fun.

[Alelou]

May I ask why you're even trying to write funny?

I generally find, unless I'm purposely setting out to write a broad parody or satire -- and those by their very nature have a target you're aiming your wit at all the way through -- that any comedy just arises naturally while I'm writing from the situation and the characters' personalities. I never plan for it; it just happens. Once it pops up in a draft I may decide to expand on it -- repetition can build a joke, for example -- but that's about it.

Not everyone is going to find it amusing, anyway, so it's not necessarily something to pin too many hopes on.

[WarpGirl]

Oh I guess I'm just trying to do something different then just drama drama drama. I'm not hoping to succeed just do something different. Turns out I'm not good at not writing drama.

[honeybee]

I generally find, unless I'm purposely setting out to write a broad parody or satire -- and those by their very nature have a target you're aiming your wit at all the way through -- that any comedy just arises naturally while I'm writing from the situation and the characters' personalities. I never plan for it; it just happens. Once it pops up in a draft I may decide to expand on it -- repetition can build a joke, for example -- but that's about it.

This is kind of how it happens for me as well. In a serious long dramatic story, sometimes the writing just evolves into funny to break the tension. Or something funny just happens and you run with it - like sex, anger, violence, cultural misunderstandings. . .funny is part of life so it just happens if you are trying to create a three dimensional world. I don't think I've ever set out to be funny. When I have, well, it just doesn't work.

Another thing to consider is the "Shakespearean Triad" - I kind of played with this idea in Family Secrets. You've got the Royals, The Lovers and the Clowns - And while comedy and drama can happen for all three of them - I had Archer as the Royal dealing with the big starfleet stuff, TnT as The Lovers and for awhile Malcolm & Hoshi were the clowns. . .of course, R/S evolved far away from being clowns in the story - and there was light hearted TnT stuff when that was going on - but in a big, in-depth story - it's helpful to have different tones running at once. Not that I'm comparing myself to Shakespeare, but if you're going to crib structural ideas from someone, might as well be the greatest writer who ever lived.

I really admire a writer like Eudora Welty who can do very serious stuff - but then write a wholly humorous short story like "Why I Live at The PO" that has depth.

[WarpGirl]

You know what the crazy thing is it's a one-shot I'm working on. They're much harder than multi-chaps. Oh well I will never give up.

[honeybee]

Speaking of complex, multi-arc stories - how's B+K coming Aquarius? You teased us all with a great beginning. . .

More stick poking.

[Lady Rainbow]

The Muse finally came back (I think. It was the Easter Chocolate. ). Working on "Darker than a Shadow"...Some interesting developments here. Both TnT and R/S, and Phlox, Archer and Travis get involved too. but it's still mostly focused on TnT.

[Asso]

:poke:

The Muse finally came back (I think. It was the Easter Chocolate. ). Working on "Darker than a Shadow"...Some interesting developments here. Both TnT and R/S, and Phlox, Archer and Travis get involved too. but it's still mostly focused on TnT.

[Aquarius]

Speaking of complex, multi-arc stories - how's B+K coming Aquarius? You teased us all with a great beginning. . .

More stick poking.

Thanks for asking!

The laptop incident has set me back a little--but not in a big way. I was working on Chapter 2...but I hated most of it except for the beginning so it was no big loss even though that wasn't backed up yet. The part I DO want to keep is still on an older version on my thumb drive...I just have to find that now.

I have one regular week of classes left, then it's finals, so for now the books get priority. After that, I'll be writing up a storm.

[Aquarius]

:poke:

The Muse finally came back (I think. It was the Easter Chocolate. ). Working on "Darker than a Shadow"...Some interesting developments here. Both TnT and R/S, and Phlox, Archer and Travis get involved too. but it's still mostly focused on TnT.

Fantastic news!!

[honeybee]

I have one regular week of classes left, then it's finals, so for now the books get priority. After that, I'll be writing up a storm.

Awesome - our classes don't end until april 30. But after the last round I've grading, I want to write, write write.