This came across my Facebook feed the other day:
And when I finished laughing (gotta love those subliminal messages!) I wondered why – from a writer’s point of view – I found it so funny.
I’ve decided it’s because of the leap needed on the part of the reader. The story is headed in one direction (they make each other laugh; they have a good time) but then leaps to a completely different one (I’m in jail) and it’s the juxtaposition of these two ideas that is startling and therefore humorous. We get a clue it may happen (one was a police officer) but the brain does’t immediately think ‘going to be arrested and therefore need bail money’ and so when it happens, it’s a surprise but not an out-of-the-blue one.
Which made me think of my story from a few weeks’ back… again, boy meets girl and mesmerises her with his eyes – but then ends up being a vampire (I tried channelling Twilight with the ‘mesmerising’ bit). And I wonder if this ‘leaping’ idea is why Janet Reid liked my ‘Stillborn story’ where the reader is led in one direction, but then reader understanding is needed to follow the story to the conclusion?
Anyway, just a few random thoughts this morning. Have a leap-full day yourself, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn