When it comes to writing
funny stories, long or short, one should be very careful about the characters and the way the story idea is written and built upon. Keep in mind that what may seem funny to you, may end up hurting someone else's feelings and sentiments. For example, creating a character that is physically unfit and making fun of that particular character for making the story funny, would rather portray your insensitivity instead of your sense of humor.
You will be honored and appreciated for your funny short story ideas only when you would be able to tickle the funny bone of your readers without creating a 'soft target'. Take the animated show 'South Park' for example, they make fun of each and every possible thing on this planet, which is why the show is dealing with a lot of controversies. So make sure that the stories you build on should be such that everyone reads them without getting offended. So now that we know what kind of ideas that we should incorporate, let us have a look at some interesting tips on how to write a funny short story.
Well, there are many themes on which you can base the story at. You can either create fictional characters and create a completely unrealistic fairy tale like story. Take characters like Simpsons, Tom and Jerry for example. Or you can keep the characters like normal everyday life people and show how their normal everyday life is filled with humor and laughter. An example for the same would be series like Two and a Half men, Friends etc. Now the real challenge comes when you have to give the readers something new and unexpected. Refreshment is what makes a story popular and demanding. You can also just build a story on some situation and jot down the humor that arises from the confusion residing in the situation. All these funny short story approaches are explained in detail below.
Unrealistic Ideas for Funny Short Stories
By unrealistically funny short story ideas, I don't mean to write stories based on characters, theme and location that simply may not make the readers believe you, and how do you expect them to find the story funny if the basic element is missing, which is the 'believing or convincing' element! However, when we read stories or comics with characters which can fly, lift buildings and mountains and speak all funny dialogs to make us laugh, we still agree that even though these characters are just imagination, the writing style makes us believe that the characters are real enough to be laughed upon.
Not only this, an advantage that the writer has in writing unrealistic stories is that he can make the character extremely unique and interestingly funny by adding some elements that can otherwise not be added in a reality based character. An example for the same would be stories like Ratatouille, wherein a rat named Remy wanted to be a Chef and could talk to the great chef Gusteau in his mind. His journey in reaching the biggest restaurant in the City from the rat holes not only shows a great sense of inspiration, but also the writing style shows a great degree of humor. On the other hand, stories like Madagascar with funny characters like King Julian, Moto-Moto, the Penguins, make their serious journey turn into a journey of fun and frolic, making you laugh almost all the time.
Reality Based Idea for Funny Short Stories
By funny short story ideas based on realistic approach, I mean that writers should take inspiration from characters based on real life. You are not talking about a rat who can cook better than humans, or a bunch of penguins who can ride anything from a car, to a ship to a plane. We are talking about real characters and humor based on reality. By using this approach, the writers also can make the readers widen their horizon and sense humor in some tensed situation. If through your story, you can teach people as to why laughter is known as the best medicine, there can be nothing more rewarding than that.
You can find a lot of humor even in some critical situations, and with the gift of writing, you can actually turn your observation into a beautifully written funny short story. An example for the same would be this, Once there was an old man who was flying from Boston to Denver with his cat. The cat was obviously kept in the pet section along with other pets. When the old man arrived Denver, he didn't get his cat along with the luggage and was extremely worried about it. "I want my cat back or else I am going to sue this airline", the old man shouted at the airline agent.
The baggage department was in a chaos and were wondering where did the cat go! Alas, they found the cat in her cage, but to their surprise, the cat was dead. The baggage authorities were already feeling guilty of making their valuable customer upset. "He will blow the airport if he finds out that his cat is dead", an airline agent told another. So they decided to replace the dead cat with a live one. With lots of troubles, the airline finally got the cat back to the old man. The old man looked at the cat and screamed, "This ain't my cat, you morons! My cat was dead and I brought him home to get him buried!" This is what you call a funny short story idea with a twist. Funny wasn't it?
You can also get a lot of interesting ideas just by looking at your daily life and the people in it. What is it that makes you laugh your teeth out? What is it that you can't help but think and laugh? The best and most convincing funny stories are the ones that are inspired from your own experiences. So think about it, make characters which are inspired from the real life characters, create some situations which will make the character act or talk something funny and create a story based on your imagination.
It is also advisable to start and complete the story at a single sitting or else you may end up losing the flow of the story. It shouldn't be a problem for you because this is a short story you are writing and not a huge essay! So start looking around, try and widen your imagination, think of the moment that made you laugh the most, and write all of these in the form of a funny story so that everyone goes on laughing at its narration. All the best!
