COMEDY WRITING
That funny FEELING
Writing ‘digestives’ for when things are a bit quiet on the witty, creative, or connecting depar tment from comedy star
Helen Lederer
We’ve
all been there… That moment when you sit at your computer (or even, dare I say it, with that nice new lined notebook with perhaps, an inspiring quote from Maya Angelou on the cover) and nothing pops into your creative hemisphere…
You sit there, with the ‘nothing’ for a while, waiting for the airwaves to clear. You tell yourself that soon, a detail of a funny conversation or an inciting incident will take you, dancing into some meaningful creative waters…? Still nothing?
Do not despair. This ‘ennui’ could be a sign that you are trying too hard.
In my case, ‘having to be funny’ on the page, is usually the kiss of death and the more I try to force it, the less natural my material. Laughter usually happens at a moment of recognition. If I give myself permission to visit those darker feelings of embarrassment and shame, I stand a better chance of producing meaningful content.
When I wrote my memoir Not That I’m Bitter, I had to make myself re-live the awkward, the awful and the downright toe-curling events in my past – so I could feel it again. Then I’d re-tell each element, and refine it, until the final edit offered a punchier version of what really happened. Without the underlying truth, I knew there would be no engagement.