For Laughs

Sometimes I’ll write a story almost entirely around a gag that I (and likely few other people) find really amusing. Conspiracy: Peer Pressure was built around the line “Tanks for the mammaries.” I’d wanted to work that one into a story for a long time. Gassing Up is all about “I’m up here.” It was inspired by a scene from Lost that has absolutely nothing to do with inflation, but my imagination took it there. And of course there’s the one that started it all: “You’re fired” in Donna’s New Look.

I recently wrapped up the first draft of a story that was originally going to be quite dark. Then partway through I realized that the premise was rather ridiculous and my text was reflecting that. It actually happened when I was writing dialogue and one of the characters saw fit to point out how silly the situation was. And while there’s nothing wrong with silly stories, but you can’t treat them the same way as dark stories. The story I’d planned ended with the protagonist’s explosive demise. As the story turned out, I couldn’t kill her off for one very important reason: The story had turned into a joke, so she had be there at the end to deliver the punch line.

I find these stories to be particularly fun to write. Kind of cheesy, but fun. I do find it kind of annoying when story doesn't end up like I originally intended, but that bothers me a lot less now than it did in my early years of writing.