Humor Writing the Art of Being Funny

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· 9 ratings · 6 reviews

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Dec 23, 2018 S. Daisy rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: all authors of fiction who don't want to be dry.

This is a nonfiction course on how to write and sell humor, all (of course) written in a conversational and entertaining manner. Was the book so funny that it made me laugh out loud? No. Well, only once. But it was funny enough to make me smile in several places, which is more than most people can expect from a nonfiction writing course.

A quote from the book easily sums up a large portion of the work: "The point right now is to learn how to think and see things in a funny way — without the use o

A quote from the book easily sums up a large portion of the work: "The point right now is to learn how to think and see things in a funny way — without the use of hard drugs." It also goes in depth into what you can write, how to write humor well, how to pull it to shreds and glue it all back together again in a way that is hopefully better than what you started with (a.k.a. edit it), what the market looks like, and how to format and submit your work in order to get the best results. Each of the six chapters ends with "homework assignments", different hands-on activities to improve your writing. By the end of the course (six weeks later), if the reader has followed the author's instructions, they should have one or more good pieces of humorous writing sitting in front of them.

This book was well-written and very helpful, even for somebody like myself who just wants to spruce up their stories with a smattering of laughter, but who isn't what can truly be called a "humor writer". Five stars!

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I received a mobi.file for this book from the author through a giveaway she recently had on LibraryThing, and the following is my honest opinion.

Just like we've heard "Rome wasn't built in a day" [actually it was built in a night!!! 😊 😊 😊] the author, Chandra Clarke, in this book, has her readers follow her becoming a sculptor creating a skeleton with the head bone connected to the neck being connected to the backbone as she slowly and systematically first teaches them the components which go into writing humor before going into greater detail in each of the five ensuing chapters. Between each chapter, readers are given a week to practice and hone in on what they'd just read.

Along the way she advises her readers that it will take time and that they'll "break a few eggs" before they'll become relatively proficient in writing humor and for this desire I've given Ms. Clarke 5 STARS.

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I received this book through Librarything.com Members Giveaway for an honest review. I found this book to be helpful and funny. The author quoted so of the shows and movies that I have seen. This book was a quick read. It also had some helpful information on how to write humor in a book.

Dec 24, 2017 Maureen rated it really liked it

This a helpful read for anyone wanting to bring a bit of humour into their writing. It's not a book that you will sit and read cover to cover, but will refer back to it often . It was an Advanced reader copy for a review and I would suggest it to anyone that writes or wants to write.

Fine for an extremely green writer unfamiliar with many concepts of writing and comedy. Not great if you're looking for tips about how to write humor. And you'll need a high tolerance for corn because this is corny af.