I agree with Alison's focus on finding your voice and starting smallish. A blog that builds your voice as you explore your topic could be a place to start-- then you use those blog pieces as building blocks for the book.
I would also suggest you look at your own sense of humor and how you express it. I'm of the sly-aside school. I'll slip an observation or remark into an essay or review. It might be snarky or skeptical, just whatever I'm thinking, then I move back to the topic at hand. That's one way of letting a reader learn who you are.
Another thing I sometimes do is break the third [or is fourth] wall and address the reader directly. I don't just metaphorically wink at the readers, I grab 'em by the elbows and haul them into the scene. So I'm not really a teller of jokes, I use my humor like a sniper in my writing. Or so I like to think!
Defo going to save this and give it a good read. Thinking about Voice, when I wrote my first book, that’s what ex colleagues often said… “Whilst I was reading it, I could hear you talking, in your own inimitable way…” that could be it, thanks. Clearly though, ex- colleagues had the benefit, or not 😉, of actually knowing what I sound like. Defo going to read the whole thing and have a good think though. Thanks too for the mention too. Change is constant! (https://changeisconstant.substack.com)
Let me know if I'm leaving you with more questions! Good to have a conversation about this. Humour's hard to nail down. But can make all the difference in a read.
If you write it in the form of a series of stories, the icing on the cake are the observations - if the story is good, you can slide that commentary right in and nobody will complain.
You might subscribe to the New Yorker. Check out one of Christopher Hitchens's essay books is another suggestion - not for ha-ha humor, but for the ways he can lampoon himself along with his targets. Go back and read Tom Wolfe - and if you're into gonzoid journalism, there's always Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas.
I agree with Alison's focus on finding your voice and starting smallish. A blog that builds your voice as you explore your topic could be a place to start-- then you use those blog pieces as building blocks for the book.
I would also suggest you look at your own sense of humor and how you express it. I'm of the sly-aside school. I'll slip an observation or remark into an essay or review. It might be snarky or skeptical, just whatever I'm thinking, then I move back to the topic at hand. That's one way of letting a reader learn who you are.
Another thing I sometimes do is break the third [or is fourth] wall and address the reader directly. I don't just metaphorically wink at the readers, I grab 'em by the elbows and haul them into the scene. So I'm not really a teller of jokes, I use my humor like a sniper in my writing. Or so I like to think!
Good advice too thanks.
Yes--love how Susan articulates her humour :)
Sniper and wall-breaker!
Defo going to save this and give it a good read. Thinking about Voice, when I wrote my first book, that’s what ex colleagues often said… “Whilst I was reading it, I could hear you talking, in your own inimitable way…” that could be it, thanks. Clearly though, ex- colleagues had the benefit, or not 😉, of actually knowing what I sound like. Defo going to read the whole thing and have a good think though. Thanks too for the mention too. Change is constant! (https://changeisconstant.substack.com)
Let me know if I'm leaving you with more questions! Good to have a conversation about this. Humour's hard to nail down. But can make all the difference in a read.
If you write it in the form of a series of stories, the icing on the cake are the observations - if the story is good, you can slide that commentary right in and nobody will complain.
You might subscribe to the New Yorker. Check out one of Christopher Hitchens's essay books is another suggestion - not for ha-ha humor, but for the ways he can lampoon himself along with his targets. Go back and read Tom Wolfe - and if you're into gonzoid journalism, there's always Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas.