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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Insert Humor Here
These exercises were written
by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared by: Charles Hightower
Posted on: 18 December 2011
Posted on: 24 February 2013
Posted on: 6 March 2014
Posted on: 11 October 2015
Posted on: 10 December 2017
Posted on: 5 April 2020
Posted on: 2 October 2022
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, paint an intense scene intermixed with
a bit of humor.
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When a writer - or a filmmaker for that matter - builds up to an
intense scene of action or suspense, it can prove effective to lighten
the mood with a bit of humor. Let the reader catch his / her breath
before you ratchet the tension to still higher levels.
Who has seen the movie The Terminator that doesn't remember the line,
"I'll be back," spoken by Schwarzenegger moments before he returns to
reduce a police station to rubble? What about Bruce Willis in Die
Hard, who offers this comment as a car is being riddled with bullets,
stories below: "Welcome to the party, pal."
You might have a wise-cracking police officer at a bloody crime scene,
a glass of spilled water during a salary review, a narcoleptic bus
driver fending off rush hour lunatics. Build the tension, and then
provide a release valve for the reader.
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In your critique, consider whether the humor comes across as
authentic. Would you want to read more of the tale?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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