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Editing Rant: Laugh Here
Image courtesy of farconville at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Humor is tough. Ask any actor – drama may be a challenge, but timing a laugh is a unique talent which has to be honed into a skill. This is why you might see comedic actors do drama, but rarely will drama actors do comedy. Same with writers. The best comedies will make you cry, but dramas with laughs snuck in are fewer. And comedic genres mixes (fantasy, sci-fi, etc) are as rare as unicorns.
Humor comes in many forms: slapstick/physical, snide remarks, comedic characters, comedic situations (sit-coms), straight-up weird (surreal), puns/wordplay, topical/current events, observations/every-day-life, and fart jokes. Some authors writing comedy will attempt every single type joke one sentence after another, never stopping – like the movie Airplane. Exhausting reads, and often side-splitting, except when they are not.
The problem is some writers aren’t funny, and they are trying so hard.
A recent book I read had constant joking between characters, snide and straight-up humor versions. Normally I like this type of thing, but these read like a sitcom with canned laughter. Anytime someone said something snide or “funny”, the people they were talking to laughed and smiled at the jokes. Every.SINGLE.time. It’s like the author did not trust the reader to find things funny and lit up a big sign “laugh here” to make sure the audience knew when a joke was said.
This is not what funny is.
Comedians do not laugh at their own jokes. They tell a joke and wait for the audience to laugh. If it doesn’t work, they strike the joke from their repertoire.
Don’t tell readers when to laugh. Have them discover the funny on their own.
Flash: Thebe is Sultry (Attempt Four)
Rating: Mature
“Excellent pout,” the photographer explained. “Now go for sultry”.
Thebe tilted her head towards the camera, endeavoring to put steam behind her hazel eyes. Feathers from the mask tickled her ears, chin and neck. They also brushed her generous breasts, the sensation tightening her nipples. Thebe’s eyes darted to the Master of Ceremonies, the lead Satyr for the Nymphs and Satyrs club. One of the few men in the world who could make her seem small and dainty. Her eyes drifted down to his most prominent feature.
Some of the women would be intimidated by what lay in his mass of curls. Thebe couldn’t wait to rub against it for the photoshoot.
“Sultry down!”
Thebe eyes darted back to the photographer.
“Now tempting. Come on my nympho. Tempt me. Make me want to be a satyr.”
(words 136 – originally appearing at Breathless Press 6/30/2013 for the 6/3/12 Sunday Fun – See the picture that inspired the story! – As I do not know the copyright permissions, I have not copied it here; republished in new blog format 3/10/2019)
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Blog comment on Flash: The flash did not want to be. After my fourth attempt, I have given up. The other 2,000 or so words give good background – Thebe in competing in a contest hosted by Nymphs and Satyrs à la Big Brother (provided to viewers through an on-line subscription). I kept trying to find the point at which to begin this flash and have it end with Thebe wearing the big feathered mask – each story began later and later in the competition. I know the above is more like a scene than a flash, and actually only part of a scene. I’m giving up wrestling with this picture for now.
I only have 21 more Sunday Flash pictures from the old format for the Breathless Press blog. Sometime in November these will all be done. And end of an era.
Previous Thebe Flashes (dates provided are the republished dates): Thebe at Nymphs and Satyrs (12/18/16), Thebe gets her Nymph Mask (12/25/16), Thebe Fired (republished 3/3/19)
Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 2/26/2008
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Shameless self-promotion. Author, artists, and many others use this term, like self-promotion should be shameful. Yet, when you are your brand – you are the marketing department – promoting yourself is required.
Every sale is a job interview, whether at a convention panel or at the signing table. Authors go on book blog tours, with a ton of behind the scenes begging to market the book. Job interviews are about self-promotion; sales are all about marketing.
Should something be shameful when it is an essential part of your job? Does a chef shamelessly wash dishes after cooking? Does the mechanic shamelessly change oil? Does a teacher shamelessly return graded papers back to students? No, they simply wash dishes, change oil, and grade papers. Authors should be able to self-promote without embarrassment.
Catie Murphy covered the topic in more detail at Magical Words under “shameless self-promotion”.
Book Review: More Than Human
Book Cover from Amazon
More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
Individually, they are a seemingly simpleminded young man living in the woods who can read the thoughts of others, a runaway girl with telekinetic powers, twin girls who can barely speak but can teleport across great distances, and an infant with a mind like a supercomputer. Together, they are the Gestalt—a single extraordinary being comprised of remarkable parts—although an essential piece may be missing . . .
But are they the next stage in human development or harbingers of the end of civilization? The answer may come when they are joined by Gerry. Powerfully telepathic, he lacks a moral compass—and his hatred of the world that has rejected him could prove catastrophic.
Winner of the International Fantasy Award and considered Theodore Sturgeon’s masterpiece, More Than Human is a genre-bending wonder that explores themes of responsibility and morality, individuality, and belonging. Moving and suspenseful, lyrical and provocative, the novel was one of the first to elevate science fiction into the realm of literature, and inspired musicians and artists, including the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
MY REVIEW
My fourth or fifth time reading the book (once in comic book format) and Theodore Sturgeon continues to enthrall as a master of science fiction which everyone who loves the genre should read at least once. Unfortunately this particular manuscript is beginning to show its age in 2015, hence the slip in rating from 5 stars which I would have bestowed on it in 1985 (30 years ago) to 4 stars for today. Originally written in 1952, the people and events are beginning to move beyond modern relatability.
The story itself is three separate short stories as would have appeared in the sci-fi magazines at the time and reprinted as a coherent whole. I read it in five hours in my most recent revisit (remember while I read this book before, it had been over a decade so I didn’t skim). Each part can be treated by itself, but the third part “Morality” is what has stuck with me throughout the years and you need to first two parts to get the payoff of the third. The third part not only stuck with me, but it influenced me – helped me to create my own ethos beyond morality. And for that reason alone, it will remain on my bookshelves as long as I have bookshelves.