Last night Billy O’Hara (aka Parrot) one of GWC’s new members shared some of his thoughts on comedy writing with the group. It was a rare romp through the secret world of comedy writing and with over 35 years experience the acclaimed and award-winning writer did not disappoint.
Billy began by mentioning Robert McKee’s book ‘Story’ as a useful read that deconstructs scripts and reverse engineers them. As a writer we can often feel when something is not quite write about our work and Mckee’s book provides a useful vocabulary to diagnose what what the problems may be. For Billy though the most important aspect of writing is not story but characterisation i.e. the internal stuff going on inside a person. This is what people really care about and the reason why they will will continue to read your work.
There were lots of general tips about writing. In no particular order these were:
Comedy should have a rhythm.
Always take the rubbish out.
Keep the pace fast moving (lots of short scenes).
Don’t censure yourself.
Don’t get it right, get it written.
Write and rewrite (A Fish Called Wanda had 26 drafts).
Don’t be afraid to kill your babies/best lines if they don’t fit – you can save some for another day.
Characters have their own internal logic (which makes them funny).
Jokes are a change in direction.
Most dialogue is unimportant its what’s not said that matters more – subtext.
Comedy can be parabolic – nothing really happens.
Comedy has to be focused on something specific – nothing too vague.
Chase your characters up a tree and throw stones at them.
After tea there was a short question and answer session with Billy and then he set a writing exercise: a treatment for a sitcom. Four characters, a setting a story and a subplot. A few intrepid members jumped above and beyond, creating scenes and dialogue, but Billy commented how all created lots of tension among their characters – essential for potential comedy conflict between them.
Next meeting is on 29nd September – Social Writing Group hosted by Paul Kelly – a little bit different from our usual meetings so should be interesting.
Ho Hum, onwards and upwards.