The Fun Factory
Tip of the day: Use humour
Appropriate humour is good. If you can make readers laugh you are already on a winner!
Amusing anecdotes from your own life can help the writer connect with the reader if they can identify with sharing similar situations in their own life — that is the technique used by many of the best comedians. Take Michael McIntyre, the UK comedian. His whole routine is built around the little incidents of everyday life we all experience, and he carries the audience with him, without resorting to swearing or vulgarity.
However remember that humour is quite individual, so a family in-joke, or something hilarious to you, may not chime with the reader, so be aware of how different people and their preferences are. Also sometimes cultural differences can lead to a joke that gets lost in translation. This is something I find with the UK and the US — we share the same language but have subtle differences in what we find funny, and appreciation of sarcasm on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
A couple of my attempts at humour are on the links below:
I hope you found this article useful, and any tips of your own in the comments.
Previous tips:
Day 29 — Let it shine
Day 28 — Using synonyms for variety
Day 27 — On drafting and revising
Day 26 — On Medium etiquette
Day 25 — On using informal language
Day 24 — Put a Tigger in your prose
Day 23 — Dedication — time, place, space
Day 22 — On spell-checking, Grammarly and proof-reading
Day 21 — The five unspoken commandments of Medium
Day 20 — George Orwell’s six tips on writing style
Day 19 — The importance of interaction
Day 18 — Replying to comments
Day 17: Engagement
Day 16- Attention-seeking behaviour — the importance of your first sentence –
Day 15 — Keep it snappy — headlines
Day 14- Subject selection –
Day 13 — Making time –
Day 12 — Deadlines –
Day 11 — Layout –
Day 10 — Niches for Riches –
Day 9 — Do your own research –
Day 8 — Choosing your subject –
Day 7 — Reverse engineering success –
Day 6 — Planning –
Day 5 — Location –
Day 4 — Dictionary and thesaurus –
Day 3 –Quotations
Day 2 — Mind your language — learning new words
Day 1- The Notebook
As always, thank you for reading.
