Editing Principle 22: Laugh Lines Reside in Syllable Counts

If you want your writing to be funnier, you need to edit. Because humor typically comes from surprise — something happens, or is said, that the reader or viewer was not expecting — and the result is a ha!, an intake of breath, a snort. All these are reactions of surprise more than “oh my goodness hilarious.” But the impact is the same. The surprise is the funny. What comedians and comic writers do to achieve this effect is cut out all the steps in their thinking that got them from point A) to point H). Rather than say this happened then that happened and then I thought well gee, which led to that which then…etc., they make a quantum leap in reasoning or logic or narration. They only confess to the beginning and the end.

In the realm of straight, not-funny-and-not-meant-to-be nonfiction writing, an editor might suggest you refrain from “showing your work” (in the math test sense). It’s the same principle. You can add both punch and intrigue to a text by cutting out the prefatory hemming and hawing you think is required.