Almost everyone who reads has a few favorite pieces of written work that make them laugh. Whether it's the detective novel with the snarky first person narration or the columnist in the local newspaper who always has witty observations about the local school board.

With the exception of a small handful of genres, most writers strive to include some sort of comedy in their works, from prose to essays and articles. Many of us would-be writers also feel the pangs of disappointment when our attempts at biting witticism really only seem to be giving a reluctant nibble.

If you aspire to put some of that old snark, sarcasm, and bite back into your witty written remarks, here are a few tips to help you find that funny in your writing voice

They always say "Write what you know." It's trite, it's cliche, we've all heard it a hundred times or better, but it is still one-hundred-and-ten-percent true. There is a diverse rainbow of comedic styles out there and if you're going to include comedy in your writing and really have it be funny, it's got to come from you. You really can't imitate someone else if their style isn't in any way similar to your own. If you're not sure what style of humor you have, ask people. Ask your friends and other people that you talk to on a daily basis. Ask them why they think you're funny and how you're funny. This should give you a starting place to go looking for your voice.

Ever go to the English version of the website for a foreign company and find yourself utterly baffled by some of the phrasing due to poor translation? Translating a lot of common phrases in foreign languages to English (or any other language for that matter) is really hard because the words have different connotations.

Writing humor is a lot like trying to be a translator in this case. Some brands of humor just don't translate well in written form. If a reader can't tell whether or not you're making a joke, odds are good they're not going to find it very funny (unless they're laughing at your failed attempts at humor and we want to avoid that sort of laughing). Conveying a joke without audio and visual cues is hard. If you're writing prose, you can sometimes give clues by describing character expressions and actions when the humor comes in the form of dialogue, but if you're trying to be funny in your narration or in an essay, then that isn't an option. If you're not sure if the words are coming off the way you intended them to, try letting someone else read it and see how they take it. Better, you can have them try to read it out loud to you. Are they getting the tone you intended? This actually segues very nicely into my next tip.

Sarcasm, witty narration, snark, call it what you will, but it seems to be in vogue. A lot of popular fiction features narration that has that sort of caustic humor vibe going for it. Here's the thing, though. It's popular and a lot of people like it, but doing it well is hard. I'm quite possibly one of the most sarcastic people I know and I have issues making my sarcasm come acrossed the way I intend it. I usually have tone of voice and body language to my advantage, too. Trying to do this without either of those is a struggle.

My suggestions are to use sarcasm sparingly while you're getting the feel for throwing humor into your work. Let the comments grow out of the work itself rather than looking your piece over and thinking "Hm, I think it would be better if I inserted some witty comments here, here, and here." Your reader is going to be able to feel the difference between a sarcastic comment that was added for the sake of having a sarcastic comment and a sarcastic comment that gets a point across. They might not be able to put their finger on what's off about it, but they'll notice.

Avoid cliches. Especially as an aspiring writer. All rules are meant to be broken, but falling back on cliches is a bad, bad, bad habit to get into. If you're not sure if your turn of phrase is cliche, do a little research. See if you can find something similar. If your friends have heard the phrase or if a google search turns up a ton of documents with the same phrasing, odds are good you're using a well worn joke. This isn't to say there isn't value in taking a cliche and finding a way to update it and make it exciting and new, but if it's updated, exciting, and new then it isn't a cliche anymore, is it?

You know how inside jokes are only funny if you're on the inside? Same rule applies here. Jokes about physics properties are out of place in a book review unless the book is about physics. Jokes appreciated by the fantasy community generally won't be appreciated by the romance novel community, assuming they're topical. A stand-up comedian making off color jokes about women's rights is going to bomb at a Working Women Convention. For most people, this one is fairly common sense, you'd be surprised how many people try to work in humor that tickles them that is entirely inappropriate for the content they are writing.

Really, this is one of the biggest tips and another one that writers probably hear a lot. Look around you. You need to be funny? Find some other humorous writing and read it. Why is it funny? Why does the humor translate well to the page? Take notes and get some inspiration there. If you say something funny that has your friends rolling, make a note of it and maybe it will become material. Write down funny things that your friends say and experiment with ways to get that humor down on paper without losing the impact. Take notes of what people you know who you find funny say and do when they're cracking a joke.

This is the most important tip here. It's also generally everyone's least favorite. But just like I don't expect to be able to pick up a guitar with zero training and suddenly be tossing out solos like Dragon Force, no budding writer can expect to open up a word processor and start putting out comedy gold. The first few things that you try to write with a humorous twist will probably fall completely flat, except maybe with your close friends. And guess what? Most of your close friends will lie to you so they don't hurt your feelings. You might get a few really good jokes right from the get-go, but if you want to be able to weed out all of the stinkers you are going to have to practice.

These tips aren't the end-all be-all of writing pieces with a comedic flair, but for aspiring writers looking for guidance, this should be a gentle shove in the right direction.