When it comes to my ability to write funny scenes and characters, I largely credit my obsession with New York improv; seeing, studying and doing. Many of the rules of improv apply to humorous writing.
+ Make someone a straight wo/man. A comic character breaks the rules: they are willfully or naively doing and saying the things we find funny because they’re somehow outrageous. While an audience might enjoy a comic character, they do not fully relate to them. The straight man or woman is the voice of the audience; they are the ones saying or doing what the audience would say or do. The straight character is often the main character. It doesn’t mean they can’t be funny, it just means they ground the comic characters and help facilitate their crazy behavior. Think Annie (Kristin Wiig) in Bridesmaids, Stu (Ed Helms) in The Hangover or Evie in The Regulars.
+ Deliver on a promise. Audiences love being told something odd about someone or a situation and then see it come true. Have one character claim the neighbor is obsessed with his lawn, then later (when we've forgotten about it) have the neighbor show up with three new lawnmowers (for varying weather patterns). Once you’ve established something bizarre as true, you’ll get easy laughs by heightening: all we want from that neighbor is his obsession with his lawn to get more and more pronounced.
+ Matching is fun. One security guard who loves Taylor Swift is fun enough: two makes it really delightful. Punch up your small supporting characters by choosing an odd trait and have them do what we call “matching”. These characters support and build on each other. Neither is a straight man; they are both comic roles.
+ Get out on a laugh. In improv, we’re looking for a big laugh to edit on (ie. finish the scene and start a new one). In fiction, the same rules apply. We always want to get out early of every scene anyway, so rather than let the air go out of your fantastic scene, look at cutting around the height of hilarity with a particularly choice insight from your protagonist.
Bad Women at Better Read than Dead
While on tour in Sydney, I organized Bad Women, a panel on women, writing and likability at Better Read than Dead in Newtown, NSW. We sold out in 24 hours, with 1.5K people interested in attending (via the Facebook event page). On the panel, Lauren Sams, Caroline Kepnes, Summer Land and moderator Lex Hirst. As a result of the night, the store has started the Bad Women book club, starting with my book. I was the week's best-seller in-store!
How to work with a freelance publicist and (gulp) build your brand.
The Regulars has gotten a Judd-Nelson-fist-pumping-at-the-end-of-Breakfast-Club level of amazing press. People, Redbook, Refinery 29, Cosmo, Bust and Harper’s Bazaar are just some of the awesome mags and sites that've said nice things about my book. I worked with BookSparks, a marketing and publicity company who (in addition with the Simon & Schuster team) were invaluable in helping make The Regulars the success that it is. I asked Crystal Patriarche, founder and CEO, and Kelly Bowen, Director of Publicity and Marketing, to dish the dirt on how to sell a million billion copies.
Q. Why do I need a freelance publicist?
Kelly: Publicists at major publishing houses face the daunting task of working on anywhere from 6-10 titles each month. The best freelance publicists work in tandem with your internal publishing team, enhancing their efforts while also generating creative concepts and marketing ideas to move your campaign to the next level. A freelance publicist lives, breathes, and eats popular media outlets, social channels, and other industries’ successes to bring the best possible ideas to your campaign.
Q. What's the secret to a great launch?
Crystal: Creating as many conversations as possible. Georgia came to BookSparks with a strong author platform, great connections, numerous content pieces, and a solid marketing campaign in place already for The Regulars. Working with her S+S publishing team, we sparked conversations with national media that turned into reviews and interviews, with bloggers and Instagrammers to share fun photos and rave reviews online, and locally within communities to support Georgia’s events. All of these conversations sparked more conversations, and the word quickly spread.
Q. How can an author (and I know we all hate this idea!) “build their brand”?
- Crystal: Connect you and your books: So many authors struggle to unite their personal brand with the content of their books. If you write fantasy fiction, but your website looks eerily similar to a divorce attorney’s webpage, you’ve already started down an unfortunate branding path. Be sure that the brand you show the world matches the books you write.
- Practice your voice: If you’re incorporating a lot of your personal life into your brand strategy, then your voice may just be your voice. For many though, there will need to be a deviation from the typical way you talk. You may need to be darker, or funnier, or bubblier. You may need to swear less (or more!). Just like your office personality may differ from your party personality, your author identity may not be a dead ringer for who you are at home. Practice your voice on Twitter.
- Choose your branding elements: Once you've firmly decided on your brand, think about the physical and digital elements that'll incorporate the look and feel you’ve established. Decide what elements are most important. Some you’ll be able to create on your own, others you may need to hire an expert for. You may not have a huge budget for branding, so start out by prioritizing these elements to get your brand off the ground
Jess Biel loves The Regulars!
Lea Michele loves The Regulars!
How to find and nurture inspiration for a novel
I have a relationship with every book I write, complete with engagement (selling it), wedding day (publication day), and exhausting late-night fights (first draft first edits). The inspiration for each book is the moment-our-eyes-met-across-the-crowded-dancefloor: the moment I knew this story was the one for me. For The Regulars, I’d been thinking loosely about something to do with beauty. One night, I was home alone working on edits for Parched, and the idea of a purple potion that turns you beautiful popped into my head. Hm, I thought, That's interesting. I muted The West Wing (sometimes I edit with a familiar well-loved TV show running in the background), and gave the idea my full attention. A scene started playing in my head: three or four girls (wasn’t sure how old), at someone’s home. A potion introduced, mockery made, grounding the scene: this is the real world, one where “magic potions” don’t exist. Unexpected transformation: gross and visceral, not a Disney one. Unexpected results, it works… and someone comes home, forcing the girls to lie to an authority figure as they grapple with the impossible magic change… and the inherent possibilites. The scene ended, and I knew immediately it was a strong enough concept to become a novel. It was the easiest and the clearest inspiration I’ve experienced. I relayed the idea to my Mum and my agent, and they both said, go for it.
Sometimes the line between Mr/Ms Right and Mr/Ms Right Now can be blurry. How do you know an idea is good enough to start exploring?
- It doesn’t leave you alone. Your mind keeps returning to it, turning it over, touching every surface. You have a crush on your idea.
- It matters to you. You might not know the themes yet, but the story or its world is important to you. Instinctively, you know this book will explore something you feel passionate about.
- You would read this book. If someone pitched you this idea, you’d be into it. It is enticing, even though it doesn’t exist yet.
- It’s different. While it falls into the wheelhouse of a genre you’re familiar with (it’s very challenging to write a genre you don’t already read), there’s something about your idea that’s fresh, that turns a cliché on its head, that hasn’t been done before. Your idea is unique.
Pro Tip: Make an idea feel unique and different by subverting our expectations. Change a character’s race, gender, ability or sexuality and see how that shakes things up. Give someone a weird, unexpected hobby, mash two genres together and see what happens. Be weird.