Steve Hockensmith on short stories

Well, not just short stories. But the author of the upcoming HOLMES ON THE RANGE takes the Q&A bait from Bob Tinsley at The Short of It about writing funny, how different it is to write novels and short stories, and advice to those wanting to break into short fiction markets:

TSOI: What pointers or tricks-of-the-trade would you give someone who wants to write a humorous story?

SH:

“Don’t try too hard” would be my first bit of advice. You can be funny

without being ZANY! or WACKY!. Droll is good. Dry is nice. I wish more

people would give wit a try. Then again, this is coming from a guy who

recently wrote a KOOKY! story for AHMM about Soviet spies kidnapping

Santa Claus, so maybe I’m being a hypocrite. Let’s move on.

I

would beg anyone who’s thinking of writing a hardboiled private eye

parody or pastiche to reconsider. Please. Maybe it was still funny the

third time they parodied The Maltese Falcon on Your Show of Shows, but

ever since then the “Sam Shovel, P.I.” shtick has been pretty tired.

Then again, this is coming from a guy who recently wrote a hardboiled

private eye parody (or, to be more precise, a parody of hardboiled

private eye pastiches) for an MWA anthology, so maybe I’m being a

hypocrite. Let’s move on.

I would advise genre writers shooting

for humor not to go for laughs at the expense of the plot or

characters. Have a real story to tell — even if it’s damn silly — and

don’t fall into the easy trap of making everyone a contemptible clod.

Yes, contemptible clods can be funny, but a universe populated with

nothing but contemptible clods isn’t funny — it’s actually kind of

depressing. If you’ve ever been to West Virginia, you know exactly what

I’m talking about. (Just kidding, Mountain State! A big shout out to

all my homies back in Matewan, Fraziers Bottom and Droop!) Anyway, as

this is advice I think I actually stick to pretty consistently, maybe I

ought to stop here.

Excellent advice, and read the rest of the interview as well for even more good stuff.