Debra Daniel: Can a Funny Writer be Taken Seriously?

From the time I was a little girl, I could make people laugh.  Jokes, puns, impersonations, parodies of songs, I had a million of them. Was I genetically predisposed for funniness? I doubt it, my parents being the polar opposites of hilarious, knee-slapping pranksters.  Nevertheless, I reveled in my role as the comic relief in any and every situation. And I wasn’t just orally witty. I found that my sense of humor could translate to the written word. Whenever a teacher assigned a theme, I’d invariably look for a way write funny. How cool I thought it was to make someone laugh even when you weren’t standing directly in front of them. I wanted to do for people what Mad Magazine did for me.

So now here I am attempting to make it in the literary world as a serious writer. The problem is I’m quirky, offbeat, witty, hysterical, and that just doesn’t cut it when the Pulitzer committee meets. I really do try to be morose, maudlin, and melancholy. What I wouldn’t give to inspire a lump in the throat, a tear in the eye, a plucking of the old heartstring.  Come on. Throw me a bone. At least, I deserve an occasional, “aw.” I don’t expect the Pulitzer, but it would be nice to have an editor, a publisher, hell, even my family, to realize the effort it takes to evoke a giggle, a titter, much less a guffaw. I’d love to utter the words, “Does this Pushcart make me look fat?”

I can write about divorce and depression. I can write about death and destruction. I can even do it with amazing alliterative powers. Notice, for example, all the d’s I’ve already used in this paragraph, and that was without even trying. We funny writers can craft a sentence with a complex clause or two. We can extend a metaphor and do it without dangling a single participle. Come on, people, now, smile on your brother. We’re the stand-up comics of the literary world. Can’t you guys love us just the way we are? I am a funny writer. If you cut my story, will I not read? Take my prose, please.

Debra A. Daniel’s story, “There Are Reasons You Don’t Hear About Pavlov’s Cat,” appears in  LAR Issue 10 (forthcoming in October 2011).