They’ll laugh, they’ll cry, it’s better than Cats.
Often you’ll find yourself working on an assignment topic that’s intrinsically dull, like a report on the fourth-quarter profits at the cracker factory. Other times, you’ll be creating a query for a dream market and be so concerned with making a good impression that your writing becomes stiff and formal.
In these cases, I like to go for the laughs. For example, I once inserted a quip into what could have been a dry diet article for Family Circle: “If the fat hits your thighs from a big pizza pie, that’s not amore.” My editor called me in the middle of editing the piece to let me know she was dying with laughter. The article ran complete with quip, and I ended up writing many more pieces for that editor.
Just today, I was working on an article on a customer service topic. To make it a more joyful experience for myself, my editor, and my readers, I began with this lede:
Let’s take two scenarios: In the first one, which takes place in the Stone Age, a customer has a problem with your widget. She dials your 800-number on her stone phone, and one of your paid employees or the call center worker (both of whom are wearing loincloths because it’s Casual Friday) spends lots of valuable time walking the customer through the process of hooking up the widget.
A few minutes after I turned this piece in, my editor e-mailed to let me know she loved the lede.
For The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock, I interviewed a successful writer who occasionally includes actual jokes in his query, writing, “Even if you’re not interested in this idea, here’s a joke to entertain you.”
You’ve read all the articles in women’s and health mags that say that laughter boosts endorphins, helps you relax, yada yada yada. Don’t you want that for your editors and your readers (and yourself)? Before you put pen to paper, get into a funny frame of mind by browsing through your favorite jokes site (mine’s the risqué jokes page on the Maxim site).
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Aug 9, 2006 Advice, Magazines, Marketing, Observations, Writing
Yes, I can relate to that. I think the trick is to trust your instinct and go with it rather than thinking you have to be too formal.
Newer writers may have an advantage in this as they haven’t been conditioned by years of playing it straight as a staff writer under the watchful eye of an editor.
This is an area that can be developed well on a blog, isn’t it?
I recently worked on a series of articles for a business website and they could have been incredibly dull, (if handled differently, I hasten to add.)
One example was a piece on SWOT analysis new businesses – how to weigh up your strengths and weaknesses.
Here is the link:
http://www.bcentral.co.uk/business-information/starting-up/planning/swot-analysis-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats.mspx
I know it’s not a laugh a minute but the references to a ‘long forgotten US cop show’ and that ‘if you cheat, it’s like being on a diet because you are only cheating yourself,’ lightened the tone and really struck a chord with the editor, securing further commissions.
Oh I would love to include a joke in a pitch. Here’s a couple I think could do it – well possibly for a parenting magazine as they come from my seven-year-old daughters – or possibly, Fruit Sellers’ Weekly:
Why did the banana go to the doctor’s?
Because he wasn’t peeling very well.
What is green and smells of bananas?
Monkey sick
Many thanks for a great blog.
Linda
LOVE your Stone Age lede! It’s one thing to have a joke and another to keep running with it– as in the loin cloth bit. Love it! Still laughing.
Thanks, guys! And Linda — nice article!
How about this one:
What’s brown and sticky?
A stick.
Linda