To write dark comedy, you should first have a clear understanding of the genre and its conventions.
“Dark Comedy” is a blend of “humor” and “tragedy”, where the humor is derived from the “darker” aspects of life such as death, illness, and suffering.
Here are some tips for writing Dark Comedy:
Start with a strong premise:
“Your story should revolve around a tragic or difficult situation, but with a comedic twist.”
That’s how an AI would start this blatantly low effort ‘How to’ articulate meant to lift the spirit of a failed self-hating comic writer who has picked Darkness as a personality trait to avoid genuine human interaction.
Please, read on.
- Create compelling characters:
When a tree being brutally mutilated to be covered in neon lights and surrounded with presents for children begs for its life does anyone hear it? This is why characters in your story should be relatable and likeable within reason, even if they are flawed or morally ambiguous for the most part, because nobody wants to see a sweetheart fall face first into a week old mass grave and scream “i’m ok i just sprained an ankle” as he sticks an arm out flashing a manicured thumb.
- Use satire and irony:
There’s an argument to be made about how Dark Comedy picks the person and not the other way around, i mean who purposely chooses to like Musicals, nobody randomly starts singing in the middle of an assault, which is why Satire and Irony can help you highlight the absurdity of the situation and make it funnier.
- Keep the tone consistent:
Dark Comedy should have a consistent tone throughout the story, because nothing screams fake dark humorist like a couple of gorey gags followed by bog standard PG-13 audience rub & tugs “for the eyeballs”. in short; Cowards needn’t apply. And an inconsistent, watered down work of Dark Comedy always exposes the writer’s sweaty, arthritic, “that’s not blood it’s ketchup” hand.
- Be mindful of your audience:
Dark Comedy can be controversial, so it’s important to consider the audience you’re writing for and to be aware of any sensitive topics that may arise and offend people who are trigger happy with the baton-finger wagging. They are generally irrelevant for the average writer of Dark Comedy but any new blood in the game ought to consider wearing several layers of thick skins from preferably tough folk because THERE WILL BE BACKLASHES.
- Edit and rewrite:
Not to be the professorial type spitting the obvious here but Like any other genre, Dark Comedy (perhaps especially!) requires editing (autistic – ‘under a totalitarian regime autistic’ grade editing) and (OCD lining up handkerchiefs in a sinking titanic) rewriting to get the perfect balance between tragedy and comedy.
Remember that the key to writing Dark Comedy is to find humor in the darkest of situations.
Dark Fiction Corner 