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/lit/ - Literature

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17684559 No.17684559 [Reply] [Original]

how do I become a funnier guy? I'm just kinda humourless, sometimes I make people laugh in conversation but not very often and I'm never funny in my writing. Attempting humour on the page just feels wrong to me—the only styles I have are cloying, pompous, and autistic. Everything I write either ends up sounding embarrassingly purple or like a second-rate technical manual.

I'm not trying to become a writer, I don't have that in me. But I like getting (you)s on my posts, and that's a kind of writing, plus I often contribute technical articles and guides to various wikis for hobbies and video games. My dream is to someday write a manifesto on principles of video game design.

>> No.17684580

>>17684559
You've got to lose the ego without becoming self-deprecating (which is actually another form of egotism). If you stop taking yourself so seriously, at a deep level, humour will start to come naturally. This of course entails not viewing everything you do or write as ultra-important.

>> No.17684595

>>17684580
Disregard that OP, I'm gay

>> No.17684597

>>17684580
I can't stop taking myself seriously. I can't even imagine what that would look like. When I picture it, I am just imagining what it would be like to delight in my own magnanimity. Look at me, not taking myself seriously. I am so beautiful.

>> No.17684626

>>17684597
If you refuse to do that, then my only recommendation is finding textbooks about how to be funny in writing. You won't be the funniest writer around, but you'll be able to feign in it some extent perhaps. You can also go for the type of mocking humour where you make fun of people who are clearly less talented or capable than you are, who also tried to be successful in the field of whatever you are writing about.

>> No.17684628

it's just play, m8. find someone who doesn't have anything to do and listlessly fuck about for a bit, each of you doing your best to mine for a bit of dopamine by what you invent through free association. if your attempts falter then don't get discouraged, let things roll and hope that something inspires you - for this reason it is often best to have an object as your focus. a movie or video game to riff off of, something that requires no real energy or input. i must add that you won't get anywhere if your partner is a dominant personality or the type who won't let you get a word in edgewise. find someone who's bored and cut your teeth on them.

>> No.17684642

>>17684559
First, delete all your blowjacks

>> No.17684648

>>17684580
This is interesting buy what is a technique to stop taking oneself seriously? It doesn't seem like a conscious choice nor something you can just opt out of

>> No.17684655

>>17684648
i don't think it's even accurate. you can take yourself seriously and still make funny and adroit comments.

>> No.17684694

>>17684648
think of someone you love and enjoy but don't think the world of. you know they have their follies and you wouldn't worship them but you admire some of their virtues, tolerate their weaknesses and thinking of them brings you joy but you don't think about them all the time.

Now imagine thinking that way about yourself. Seriously consider whether you uniquely deserve to be as central in your own thoughts as you currently are. Usually you have a pretty good idea of the virtues and vices of your mates; can you honestly say that after all your close inspection, navel-gazing, obsession, you really understand yourself better and have a clearer picture of what is needful in your life than in your friend's? Chances are you're overthinking these things by a lot.

The Lord has said, "love thy neighbour as thyself." The converse of that is "love thyself as thy neighbour".

I begin by forming an image of myself and picking the things I like about it. I also know what I don't like about it. I try to imagine I'm a supporting character in a play, and to find ways to make that character a character that I like. And I try to enjoy those times when he is very much himself—maybe lovably, maybe damnably, or maybe just ridiculously, but in any case so very much himself that I have to laugh.

(If you don't know that you have any vices or follies, then you need a religion—that'll teach you quick)

>> No.17684744

>>17684648
It's not a sudden choice. It's an ongoing process which gradually completes itself. In Christianity it was the belief in humbling oneself, being aware of one's real position, etc., which gradually exerts itself on your actions and personality the longer you ruminate on it. There are non-Christian methods of course, but it's not set out so doctrinally (Christianity also had other traits which tended to not be not so conducive for humour).
>>17684655
Also this person is correct, I didn't mean this was the absolute be-all of humour, I only meant it in the sense that it will make it that much easier to let loose the humorous side of yourself which most people have, but that cerebral people tend to have concealed. There is still an art to comedy, which practice will make you better at, which is especially necessary if you wanted to actually become a professional rather than just incorporating humor into your writing. I was guessing from the OP that you are exactly that kind of cerebral person who would benefit from a broadened perspective, which is why you would benefit a lot from what I originally said.

>> No.17684756

Idk just binge watch Norm MacDonald videos on youtube

>> No.17684779

>>17684744
>I was guessing from the OP that you are exactly that kind of cerebral person who would benefit from a broadened perspective, which is why you would benefit a lot from what I originally said.
I can't help it, I'm obsessed with myself.

Well maybe I can help it, but I need something concrete. I need a "life hack" or a "one weird trick".

>>17684642
never gonna happen and certainly not because a tripfriend told me to

>> No.17684792

>>17684648
op here and just to be clear this post isn't me. maybe this is that ego we're talking about but I have some issues with the style of his post and don't want it associated with myself.

>> No.17684831

>>17684779
YWNBAFG

Prepare for a life alone

>> No.17684931
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17684931

>>17684831

>> No.17684952

just be yourself and the funnies will come ;)

>> No.17684961

>>17684779
if you're obsessed with yourself then your problems exceed "not being funny"

>> No.17685008

>>17684831
Or unintentionally funny like you buttafloi

>> No.17685048

>>17684961
no shit Sherlock!

>> No.17685499

>>17684559
Pick a fictional character or a real person. Then imagine they're gay and/or retarded and go from there