How to write a laugh-out-loud funny story

I can’t think of anything more tummy-tickling than writing a funny story or two, especially when you’re on a break from school. As a lover of belly-bungling books, I fell in love with the hilarious likes of Roald Dahl, Jeremy Strong and Michael Rosen when I was a young bookaholic. That’s why I always try to keep my readers chuckling away like I did all those years ago, and here are a few of my tips for making your stories as laugh-out-loud as possible.

1. Think about what makes you giggle

Using your own sense of humour is a great way of getting just the right type of joke into your writing. Telling the story should be just as much fun as reading it, so my first rule for writing funny books is “If it doesn’t make me laugh, it doesn’t go on the page”.

2. Try to be unexpected

Nothing can reduce a reader into fits of howling laughter like the element of surprise. After all, why push the Queen off a bicycle when you can hook a rocket to the back of her frilly pants and launch her into the air like a geriatric, grey-haired firework?

3. Think about the language you’re using

Silly words are brilliant things and I recommend using them as much as you can. I will never forget the first time I read Roald Dahl’s description of Grandma in George’s Marvellous Medicine. He could have just said she was ugly, but instead he wrote: “She had pale brown teeth and a small puckered up mouth like a dog’s bottom.” WONDERFUL STUFF!!

Now get out there and make your friends and family cackle like a pack of hyenas at the zoo. HAPPY WRITING!!