For writers: 5 ways to be funny

March 7, 2013March 3, 2014beccakinla advice, funny, words, writer, writing, writing process Tags: asimov, author, comedy, cosby, funny, hilarious, how to be funny, humor, irony, joke, klassen, laugh, light, mac barnett, puns, purim, stand up, steven wright, theater, voice, write, writer, writing 8 Comments

If you play your cards right, you’ll have them laughing like hyenas!

It’s been a week and a half since Purim, so I’ve gotten lots of feedback about this year’s Klempner family Purim Spiel. My husband and sister (fellow contributors) agreed with me that this year’s was less funny than last year’s, but we seem to be in a minority. As I mentioned last year, since I began writing professionally, my little hobby now feels like work, and I avoided cranking out a complete rough draft until the week before Purim.

And then, I deleted several stories at almost the last minute. They just weren’t funny enough. So, I prayed–yes, that’s what this professional writer with a Master’s Degree and a generally pragmatic outlook on life did–I prayed for new ideas. And G-d sent some!

Besides relying on Heavenly Intervention, there are other ways to be funny. Without further ado:

5 Ways To Be Funny Continue reading →

Who’s talking? POV, Voice, and Narrator as explained in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird

January 10, 2013beccakinla advice, authors, fiction, finding agent, finish that novel, literature, publishing, recommended reading, review, reviews, style, submissions, teachers, writer, writing, writing process Tags: advice, Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, character, Ethan Canin, first person, Lamott, learning, Lisa Yee, literature, narrator, novel, point of view, POV, third person, voice, writer, writing, writing process 5 Comments

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

There are few books that come up with my writer friends more often than Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. In the same way that I feel like I’m not quite smart enough because I’ve never taken Calculus, I’ve felt like a slacker because I never got around to reading it.

And I should have felt guilty–because it’s great.

Okay, so it has a lot of rather vulgar language, but Lamott’s writing is so funny, and yet so useful, that I’m pretty much in love with the book.

One of the interesting bits of advice that Lamott gives writers is a gem she attributes to the author Ethan Canin. The most important way to improve your writing, he says, is to employ a likeable narrator.

Here’s the thing that struck me about this advice: for many, many years, I always wrote in third person. Continue reading →

But what about my Voice!?! What a writer should do when an editor asks for “a few changes.”

December 11, 2012January 16, 2013beccakinla advice, book, books, editing, editors, frustration, good news, publishing, revision, stories, submissions, words, writer, writing, writing process Tags: advice, article, author, change, editor, help, revision, story, sub, submission, voice, writer 1 Comment

Hey, buddy! What about my voice?

Last week, I got an email from an editor (she’ll be the heroine of this story, but will remain nameless nonetheless). She asked me to make one change–one very small change–to the story that I had submitted.

Because I trust this editor–she’s very good at what she does and has built a friendly relationship with me–I said I’d make the teeny-tiny change she’d requested.

And then I panicked. Continue reading →

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

voice

For writers: 5 ways to be funny

Who’s talking? POV, Voice, and Narrator as explained in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird

But what about my Voice!?! What a writer should do when an editor asks for “a few changes.”

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