What would your top three humorous writing prompts/ideas/themes/topics be?

1. 0

   Edliraposted 14 years ago

   What would your top three humorous writing prompts/ideas/themes/topics be?
   
   Here in the hub pages I have ran into some very sharp and funny hubs, which I liked a lot,  and I was thinking to challenge myself and try to write funny hub (as hard as it is :-), but that makes the challenge even more enjoyable, and the result if you succeed even more worthy). While I have already a few ideas on what it could be based, I thought it would be interesting to involve my fellow hubers in the brainstorming process. So, I am kindly asking all the ones who feel like it to contribute with three.
   
   

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2. 0

   MrDSpade2posted 14 years ago

   1. Pick a character or holiday/topic that everyone would seem to know and twist it around from being serious to humorous.
   
   2. Sometimes it's funny to make the joke or what every you write rhyme to make it even funnier then it would be.
   
   3. Make the character sound angry or stress, or write about something remotely funny that happened in your life and twist it a bit to fit in what your creating...

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3. 60

   rweltonposted 14 years ago

   Kids - yours, the neighbors, etc.  After the pain of pure honesty subsides, many funny stories are left behind.  I've posted a few and there are many more to come.
   
   Embarrassing Moments_- we have all had them & when I read yours I can avoid them in my life...
   
   Dating- An aberration of the suggestion above, but definitely in a category by itself.
   
   Good Luck - I am following you now- so, I am anxiously awaiting your next post!
   rlw

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4. 74

   Silver Poetposted 14 years ago

   Humor sells.  Funny is money.
   
   1. Something that aggravates you.  Turn frustration into humor.  For instance, I wrote a whole fake ad for a remote that muted people who disrupted movies by talking excessively based on having been aggravated by the aforementioned situation.
   
   2. Irony or paradox: something that is what it isn't or seems to be what it isn't.  On of my humorous stories involves a friend who acts like an enemy in order to save a friend.
   
   3. Exaggeration or hyperbole.  People like Patrick McManus are extremely good at it.  He wrote a book on how to write after the huge success of his humor pieces in magazines like Outdoor Life.

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5. 82

   Wayne Brownposted 14 years ago

   Personal life experiences...I've had a few, the humor that occurs around us, and the absolutely stupid things people do on a daily basis.  There is always humor there and the reader can relate because reality is funnier than fiction. WB

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6. 0

   Edliraposted 14 years ago

   MrDSpade, rwelton, Silver Poet and Wayne, thank you so much for your tips. I find them very valuable. As amusing as humourous writing is, it is so difficult to master it. So, I confess it is going to be a daunting task that of trying my hand in it :-), but afterall I have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

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7. 63

   wingedcentaurposted 14 years ago

   Good Day Edlira!
   
   I like this question. Why don't you create a maniacal cyber-alter ego? You can make it a composite of the craziest kinds of characters  one runs into online.
   
   You can do a hub in which You, as yourself interview this created alter ego. Call him or her something like AnalBlogger 5000 or something like that.
   
   I just had a stupid idea (I mean that literally) but let me just put it out there. You could write a hub about what one's toes say to each other when she's asleep -- you know, most people take off shoes and socks and its been eight, ten hours since they'd last seen each other (all ten of them). How long would eight, ten hours be in toe years?
   
   You could write a hub which would be a game proposal based on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. That would be funny, wouldn't it.
   
   Good Luck

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8. 60

   darrenhooperposted 14 years ago

   Just look around you. The reality of this world we live in provides so much to make fun of. Just pick a subject, person, or event and run wild with it! Exaggeration is one of the keys to humor.

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9. 38

   slc334posted 14 years ago

   I agree with SIlver Poet, Patrick McManus is hilarious!  I tend to write a little more tongue-in-cheek when I try to be funny, but be carful, the more subtle to joke, the more flak you'll take from people that don't understand it.  I wrote a hub about how Hubpages is like highschool romance, and one lady would not stop with telling me how horrible it was (the pageviews say otherwise)!  Anyway, outlandish humour is my favorite, and maybe that's why I like Stephen Colbert so much.  If you approach something ordinary from a really intense point of view, you're sure to get laughs.
   Good luck!

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10. 61

    Antrobusposted 14 years ago

    Something tangential. I love when the completely ridiculous is used as a basis for the everyday. For example, the Babel Fish in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Kids and Pets are also excellent sources of completely ridiculous concepts. Good Luck!

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11. 65

    Howard Allenposted 14 years ago

    I suggest any topic that you have a strong opinion about, especially a negative opinion. Besides that, making fun of yourself or people with authority or power is widely accepted.
    I look forward to reading your attempt at humor writing. It's harder than it seems.

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12. 82

    Jaynie2000posted 14 years ago

    I think that by planning topics to write about, the author would likely pen humor that felt contrived. The best humor is spontaneous. It is sparked by an emotional reaction to something or an observation of something that they found to be humorous and want to share. I've been writing about politics, body image and person life experiences lately. That could change if I happened to be inspired by something else.

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