How to Be Funny

I am finally able to share with you that I'll be part of the faculty at a four-day writing intensive, The Funny Women of Kidlit, at The Writing Barn this October. If you're a woman (or non-binary) picture book writer who wants to learn all about how to actually make picture books funny, this is for you. It'll be a lot of discussion, feedback, hands-on activities, and inspiration. The art and science of how humor works is something I think about a lot, especially given that something that's funny to one person might not be to another. I honestly think it's fascinating and can't wait to intensely talk about this with you for four days.

Here's a recent example. I love Fran Drescher. She has a new sitcom out, which unfortunately isn't getting the best reviews. Ben Travers on Indiewire outlined why exactly he thought it wasn't funny -- basically that the writing is lazy (and should be better, given the stellar cast). A lot of jokes hinge on the fact that the "old people" (the parents, played by Steven Weber and Drescher) have sex. Travers talks about one particular example, where their adult daughter is rejecting dating advice from her dad:

You've probably heard before that specificity is funnier (and more relatable) than generality, and that's a perfect example right there. "47 years" is much funnier than "40-plus years."

If you're as intrigued as I am by this type of thing, come spend four days in Texas with me! Apply here.

In another writing and craft vein, I just listened to all ten episodes of the first season of Creative Processing with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In each episode, someone asks a question about creativity and the process of making art, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his guest have a conversation to answer it. The conversations are thought-provoking and inspiring, and there was something in every episode that made me think about creativity and art in a new way.

In episode 9 with casting director Mary Vernieu, the question is "how important are contacts in a creative career?" The discussion that follows is illuminating (I didn't know what a casting director does) and ultimately resonated as far as how to have a writing career too. In short: yes, contacts can be important, but the most important thing is to do the work and work on your craft. Or, put another way: contacts ARE important, yes, but the way to get the contacts who will open doors for you is to become better at your creative field. They talked about how many people have a goal "to become famous" and how that's a goal that's doomed to fail, because fame is fickle and the fame torch will inevitably get passed on to someone new. If you're thinking about this, thinking about "do I need to know someone?" then a better goal is to be successful.

(It's my same old song: do the work, get better at the work, work on your craft first and before anything else.)

In the first episode, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Rian Johnson talk about how to balance being influenced by other people's work and being original, and Johnson said that original creative work is something you make because you're angry about something, and that anger is something that is coming from you, deep inside. It's not something that you're vaguely miffed about but you know OTHER people are angry about. (I don't know how deeply to interpret "anger" here. I'm not a very angry person, but I like how anger, a very strong emotion, can be shorthand here for "make art that makes you very strongly emotional.")

Make art that moves you personally, keep working, very hard, at getting better, and success will come.

Gordon-Levitt also talked about the guilt he feels at being successful when he sees people around him who are also working hard but aren't getting that same success. There are certainly lots of reasons other people aren't getting success (he does bring up that he may have been afforded some success that other people didn't get, since he's a white man), but I would argue that a lot of people give up too soon. In yet ANOTHER episode of this podcast (I told you it's inspiring), actor Omid Memar says that any time he feels dejected and rejected, like he's no good at acting and he'll never get ahead, that's when he's actually getting better. And if you can push through that period of discomfort and failure, you'll come out stronger and better.

Periods of creative discomfort make you a better writer.

I'm working on a revision right now of a middle grade novel. I wrote the first draft of this book four years ago, revised it twice, completely rewrote it last summer, and now am trying to make it better and make it flow nicely and, you know, be a great book. And I have these moments every day when I'm walking my dogs where I think, "Oh, wow, this book might actually be terrible. I think it's boring? What if it's boring." And usually ten minutes after that I get a flash of insight for what one line or one element the scene I'm working on needs. So then I go home and fix that scene, and keep working. I keep sitting at my desk and working through the book even if the despair is sometimes physically uncomfortable. Because I know that my job is to push through, and by doing that, the book will get better. 

It's not easy, but that's how to make your creative thing.

Which I hope you will do! Know that I'm with you in sometimes flailing and sometimes flying and being glad that I get to do this at all. Let's write stories!