Funny Dialogue for the Sitcom
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Writing a sitcom is perhaps the most profitable area of scriptwriting. Little wonder if the pressure is on to make an audience laugh at least 75 times an episode. If you think this is an overestimate, a standard sitcom lasts twenty five minutes and a funny line must be delivered around three to four times per minute. In terms of comedy, a minute is a long time without a laugh. How can the writer dream up funny lines on a regular basis?Ideas for Situation Comedies
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| How to Write a Sitcom |
Funny Lines for Sitcoms
Putting words into the characters’ mouths means getting into their minds. This means being brutally honest about what they might say rather than writing what a perceived audience might think is funny. A script that makes the writer laugh is likely to make the audience laugh and create a unique sitcom.
Tips for Funny One-liners
The lines are not so funny by themselves. The classic one-liner delivered by Friends’ character Ross during a tiff with Rachel “When was I under you?” means nothing by itself. It is the context of what was said before, the build-up, the body language, the timing and the line delivery that makes the moment memorable. In other words, the line is nothing by itself.
Creating Comedy Tension
Creating odd contrasts and conflicts between the characters and the surroundings will make an ordinary line funny. This could be sexual advice from a repressed exec to his 12 year old son, or the conversation a nun might have in a gay bar. Comic contrasts will provide great opportunities for funny dialogue as well as funny one-liners.
Embarrassing Situations in Sitcoms
Awkward situations are often the bread and butter of comedy. Always look for ways to make an embarrassing scene more cringe-worthy, unique or bizarre. One-liners with double meanings can be hilarious if it illustrates repressed emotions hidden innuendoes or secret codes between friends. Acute observation of the everyday or sourcing upon one's own exeriences and putting a spin on it is likely to yield more ideas. Keep a notebook handy for such inspiration.
Secrets to Writing Dialogue for Sitcoms
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Create distinction in how the characters speak in the words used, the sentence construction and the accent (to be indicated on the cue). Look for alternative words used if the line is a little flat. A thesaurus is useful for this purpose, but remember a more accurate word is not the objective, as in the case of literary fiction, but a word to make a one-liner funnier. Look at antonyms as well as synonyms.Contrasts in Characters
Including ordinary or ‘sane’ minor characters in sitcoms is a good way of bringing out the ridiculous qualities of a main character and therefore what he or she is likely to say to greater focus.
If a funny line does not come, never force it. Put the script away or move to another part of the script for now. Sleeping on it or changing the scene might be the answer. More often than not, the scriptwriter just needs to find his or her inner voice.
Relevant Links to Writing Sitcoms
The most crucial part of the script is the beginning for it determines whether the rest of the script will be read. However, a tedious build-up promising a compelling storyline may never come if the reader chucks the screenplay in the slush pile by page two. What is the secret to writing the ideal opening scene to a script?
Stamp out mimicry and stereotypes to strive for originality. See what happens if the opening scene occurs in another location, or if a character or trait is replaced by another. A lover’s tiff does not have to happen in a car, try a library. The tension of having to keep quiet could add elements of embarrassment and bottled emotions.
A crime story is nothing without a great villain. But some crime writers may find it difficult to create a convincing baddie that moves the story forward. The reason might be that the author might have been inspired by a storyline rather than the characters. To make the story happen, the writer may “people” the plot, simply filling in gaps with fictional human entities that move from one scene to another.
An example might be how a divorce might have impacted upon the author’s ability to make friends at school. Projecting the lonely feelings this might have invoked in the writer can be projected upon the villain albeit for a different reason, which might be a childhood spent in hostels due to poverty. Having an intimate understanding of the villain’s emotional core is the key to creating a realistic villain rather than a cardboard cut-out character within the crime novel.
The novelist may find that publishing a digital novel is quite simple, as free publishing tools on Amazon, Smashwords or LuLu make sharing a novel with the world possible. However, with so much competition out there, the enovel could well be buried beneath millions of other enovels.
It is never too late to change the title if the author has misgivings. Avoid hackneyed or generalised phrases that does not evoke an image, or those that remind the reader of another book. Original use of words will make the book title memorable or whet the potential reader’s appetite, ask questions or wonder what the book is about. A thesaurus is invaluable for this purpose.
Regardless of how riveting the plot might be, unless the author takes reign of every marketing strategy available to get the digital book seen, the story will remain largely unread. So what can the author do to drive traffic to and make money from an ebook? Well, there are many ways to get interested customers to the electronic book, such as:
The author may by now have several keywords and phrases to use for marketing the enovel. The best place for these words is in headings, subheadings, bullet points, hyperlinks and dotted around the body text. Ideal opportunities for a scattering of keywords might be in the novel synopsis, the blurb or enovel description.
Most authors would jump at the chance at having a published novel on the bookshelves, but sadly, this is difficult to achieve. But the past few years has seen a revolutionary power shift in the author’s favour. Ebook publishing companies such as Google Ebooks, LuLu, Smashwords, XinZii and, the focus of this article, Amazon.com have made publishing tools and resources available to the author.
Amazon offer two pricing options for the ebook: The first is the 70% royalty option, for ebooks within a low price threshold, the other is 35% royalty for ebooks within a higher price range. It is worth bearing in mind, that the enovel may attract more buyers if it is low in price.
Amazon’s CreateSpace is a hub of free online publishing tools that enables the writer to publish, sell and distribute books through Amazon. The CreateSpace account means the writer can sell books through three different channels. These are:
Special features of the CreateSpace publish a book are as follows: