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Satire is a very refined sort of humor, and writing a satire piece can be challenging if you've never done it. Here's some advice about how to pick the right topic and how to write your satire as effectively as possible.
Steps
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Understand what satire is. Satire writing is a particular genre of humor in which the writer uses his or her humor to criticize some part of human society. The presentation can be harsh or gentle, but the aim is always to draw attention to some flaw in need of correction. [1] X Research source
- When writing satire, it is important to write from the perspective with a desire to correct broken parts of human nature and society rather than a desire to break these elements down further.
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Familiarize yourself with Horatian satire. Horatian satire is gentle, and the general idea is to persuade people to fix wrongs with sympathetic laughter. [2] X Research source
- Good examples of Horatian satire include The Spectator by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele or Candide by Voltaire. In the latter, for instance, Voltaire creates caricatures of various ideologies to laughingly point out the folly of each one.
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Examine Juvenalian satire. Juvenalian satire has bitter and angry overtones. The general idea is to demonstrate a sense of moral outrage by using sarcasm, parody, and similar techniques to show how broken things are.
- One of the best examples of Juvenalian satire is Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. Swift makes the very immodest suggestion of eating surplus children to ease the economic burden of his country, and uses logical language and arguments of the time to justify the proposal. In doing so, he shows the flaws of the same arguments he pretends to use.
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Choose a topic people know about. Satire is meant to be read. In order for people to really get something out of your work, you need to choose a subject that people are familiar with, even if they do not necessarily know all the details about it. [3] X Research source
- For this reason, current events are often used as subject matter for satire. You could also draw from pop culture or point out societal flaws, however.
- Even though choosing a topic people care about is important, you also need to make sure that the topic you choose is one that you care about, too. Picking a moderately popular topic that you are very concerned with is generally better than choosing a very popular topic you barely even care about.
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Focus on a famous individual. Politicians and celebrities are the easiest targets for satire. You can usually get away with criticizing someone famous as long as you criticize that person's ideas or behaviors and not the actual, physical person. [4] X Research source
- Typically, you should stay away from making fun of someone's race, religion, or family background. It's also advisable to stay away from disabilities or medical conditions. If that person is constantly drawing attention to one of those elements, however, you can probably still use it as long as you only make fun of it in the context used.
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Stay away from people groups you have no claim to. This primarily refers to ethnicity and race, but on a larger scale, it could also refer to certain medical or psychological conditions. Pointing the finger of criticism at a group you do not belong to could make you look bigoted toward that group.
- For example, African-American comedians can usually get away with being satirical about African-American subculture, just like Asian-Americans can usually get away with joking about elements of Asian or Asian-American culture. A white person joking about either group would not get many laughs, though, and would only come across as being racist.
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Choose politics or current events. Politicians are good targets, but so are political parties and overall events within the political realm. Most people who would pick up a work of satire have at least some basic familiarity with current events, especially major ones, and you can almost always find someone who appreciates biting humor on them.
- Just keep in mind, though, that you can also almost always find someone who will be offended or upset by your stance on current events and political issues.
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Be careful about using tragic events. Writing satire about tragic events can be extremely difficult, so you need to exercise caution in choosing the right tragedy to satirize. Moreover, the satire should be aimed at the people responsible for the tragedy or those who try to write it off as being no big deal.
- Any tragedy labeled as a “scandal” is usually fair game. The term “scandal” suggests that there is a person or group of people behind the event, in which case, there is also some policy or vice responsible and in need of correction.
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Take a look at religion. Religion is another iffy topic, and when writing satirically about it goes wrong, the results can range from distasteful to downright dangerous.
- The safest bet is to write satire about your own religion. As with other people group topics, people generally take criticism a bit better if it comes from someone “inside” the group instead of someone “outside” the group.
- You might be able to get away with writing about another religion if you are writing about a particular public figure within the religion or the leadership of that religion. You can also direct your criticism at a sub-faction of a religion that most people of that religion refuse to claim. For instance, not many Christians would get upset at a satire written on the Westboro Baptist Church.
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Make fun of yourself. Self-depreciation is the safest form of satire. Since the idea of satire is to draw attention to something wrong in society, though, you need to do it in a way that connects to something larger than yourself. [5] X Research source
- One way to do this is by making fun of yourself in the midst of making fun of something else.
- Another way to do this is by drawing attention to one of your own vices, when that vice or one closely related to it is one you hope to correct on a broader scale.
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Check your facts. In order to have a valid argument, you need to make sure that your evidence is accurate and factual. Basing your satire on something that isn't true will only discredit you now and in the future. Thorough research is vital.
- The way you present these facts is just as important. Typically, you should make sure that the facts are either completely right or completely wrong. Presenting true facts in the midst of sarcastic remarks and ironic scenarios will give your argument support, but weaving in one incorrect fact can put your entire argument in question. On the other hand, getting all the facts wrong, and making them obviously wrong, suggests that you know the truth of the matter and are intentionally getting things wrong to make your point. [6] X Research source
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Keep your writing simple. Your audience needs to understand what you are trying to say. Fancy words are only impressive to other people with vast vocabularies, and substituting someone's name for a fake name only works if you provide enough detail to let the reader know who you are talking about.
- One way to come up with a fake name for someone is to use a name that is close to the original name while providing details that match those of the actual person.
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Balance the border between vicious and sharp. Your humor should have an edge when writing satire, but you should avoid being downright vicious, even if you are writing with a Juvenalian tone.
- For example, you can draw a connection between a singer's number of breakup songs and her number of ex-boyfriends, and that can work. Implying that the same singer is somehow unlovable, however, starts becoming too vicious to be funny.
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Avoid obscenity. The best satire is very literate and mature. Being obscene tends to make you seem juvenile and childish, which undermines the validity of your argument. [7] X Research source
- Obscenity is usually pretty easy to identify and stay away from. For example, excessive swearing, vulgar remarks about an individual's mother or hygiene, or implications about one's private bedroom matters are usually off limits.
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Pretend to be serious. Good satire is subtle, rather than being over-the-top. When you make a satirical argument for something, it should be in a serious or matter-of-fact tone. [8] X Research source
- Even though satire needs to be obvious, unlike other types of humor, it requires a sophisticated and mature tone in order to really work.
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Turn a story upside-down. One of the easiest ways to write satire is to take the exact opposite stance as the one you are actually trying to take. In doing so, you can show how preposterous the opposing side actually is.
- Refer back to Swift's A Modest Proposal. He wrote from the perspective of someone who used humanitarianism to justify acts that were very inhumane and, in doing so, shined the spotlight on people in his society that used the same methodology in less dramatic ways.
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Know your audience. Another way of putting this would be, “understand the audience of the publication you're working for.” A serious newspaper or media outlet rarely uses satire, so if you want to deliver your work to a publisher that will use it and an audience that will appreciate it, choose a publication that frequently uses satire.
- Context is also an important part of understanding. It is much easier to accept and understand satire when you expect to read it, but less so if it jumps out at you when you were expecting something straightforward.
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Choose a fitting title. A headline or title will be responsible for grabbing a reader's attention. You might think that it's unimportant, but without a good title, you might not convince anyone to read your satire in the first place. [9] X Research source
- Your title can also play into the satire itself. Refer back to Swift's A Modest Proposal , which was anything but modest.
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Find a good picture, when applicable. If you are writing satire for a newspaper or magazine, you need a good picture or photo to go with it. Like a title, a good picture will grab readers and convince them to read your article. [10] X Research source
- In some cases, the picture is the publisher's responsibility, so you may not need to worry about it.
- Note, also, that this is less significant if you are writing a book.
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Reread your work. As with any other form of writing, you need to make sure that your satire piece is as perfect as you can make it before you try sending it off to publishers. Sloppy spelling and grammar mistakes can be enough for some publishers to turn you away immediately.
- Also note that, oftentimes, your work will be edited even after being accepted. These edits might be big or small, but they are always done with the intention of improving your work. Understand that "editing" is not the same thing as "censoring."
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References
- ↑ http://faculty.bsc.edu/jtatter/375terms.html
- ↑ https://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/422/satire_terms.html
- ↑ http://www.nottheonion.com/howto2.cfm
- ↑ http://rumandmonkey.com/articles/203/#.UkW6wIZ6bYJ
- ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/satire-writing-tips.html
- ↑ http://www.bandersnatch.com/how_to_write_satire.htm
- ↑ http://www.bandersnatch.com/how_to_write_satire.htm
- ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/satire-writing-tips.html
- ↑ http://www.nottheonion.com/howto2.cfm
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To write a satire, which is a genre of humor in which the writer criticizes some part of human society, start by choosing a topic that people are familiar with, such as current events or pop culture. Once you have a subject, do some research to make sure your facts are correct. When you begin to write, you can use a serious tone to pretend that your comedic take is real. You might also decide to take the opposite stance of the one you actually take to prove your point. To learn how to publish satire, keep reading!
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