That’s SoOoOoOoOo Random: Falling Into the Randomness Trap
(and how to get out!)
Happy Friday, Belladonnas and Friends! Today we’re sOoOoOoOo back with another writing tip! About what, you may ask? The randomness trap. And folks, this is a writing tip article we at The Belladonna have been meaning to write for awhile, because the randomness trap is one of the top critiques we have as we’re reading through submissions. It is something that can often dissuade us from accepting a piece.
WHAT IS THE RANDOMNESS TRAP
To sum it up, randomness in humor writing for us is when you read something and you’re like, “Huh?” Randomness can pop up in a variety of different ways, and in different formats. We see it in rule-of-three phrases used as an element of surprise or for the sake of being random. If some of the writing doesn’t relate back to a theme, it can come off as random. It can be found in piece premises that make us ask, “why is the character telling this story?” We see randomness used incorrectly most often in lists, so I’m going to focus most on that format. In particular, lists that have an overarching theme, and everything in the list is unrelated.
HOW TO DIG YOURSELF OUT OF THE RANDOMNESS TRAP
When I feel like my writing is getting a little random, I like to come back to my title and thesis of the piece, and ask myself the following questions:
⭐Is my writing connected by theme?
⭐Is my writing building on itself and the rest of the piece?
⭐Is my writing adding purpose?
⭐Is what I’m writing relating back to the premise and point I’m trying to make?
⭐Is what I’m saying adding specificity in relation to the thesis?
Staying on topic and connecting everything is super key. We want our writing to be snappy, and full of jokes. We only have so much word count to say what we need to say, so it’s important to stay on course. Not to get all *academic* here, but anything else is just filler, if it’s not relating back to and supporting your thesis. And because the satire pieces we run are shorter (500–1,000 words typically), anything out of the norm that doesn’t fit is going to stand out like a sore thumb.
Think about when you’re looking to make dinner but the very last thing in the world you want to do is grocery shop. So you decide to throw random stuff in your fridge together to make a “meal.” Some may call it a girl dinner: A can of creamed corn. A piece of toast. A couple Oreos. Yes, it might be considered “dinner,” but otherwise, they’re random ingredients and not really connected to one another as a full complete meal. They’re not really meant to come together as one: the creamed corn makes its way over to your Oreos on the plate and makes the Oreos soggy and corny. The crumbs from your toast land in your creamed corn and messes up the consistency. Just absolute havoc. If your list is reading like this, you may want to take another pass at making the reps more connected.
And now to make it not random: say you’re making your favorite meal in the world tonight. Let’s say it’s spaghetti. To prepare your spaghetti, you’ve gotta have all the ingredients. At the grocery store, you buy spaghetti noodles, parmesan, marinara, meatballs (packaged is fine!!!!). All of the ingredients fits under the parameters of the meal you’re going to make, or what your title is promising. And, each rep is connected to one another. The marinara and meatballs go on top of the spaghetti. The parmesan is shaken until it looks like you’re making a scale model of Machu Picchu. Check. This is what you want when you’re writing a list. The items shouldn’t be the same, but should complement the specific meal you’re making.
A good example of a list like this is Aine Hunt’s piece “What We, Your Pilates Studio, Plan to Spend Your No-Show Fee On.” In this list, every single one of the items are different from one another, but all complement the Pilates studio theme. The author could have put a rep like “Bitcoin” in there. Yes, that is something that the Pilates studio could have bought with the no-show fee, technically. While that item does fit under the broad cloud of the thesis, it’s not complementing the rest of the list, or diving deep to add detail and specificity to the thesis at hand. Sometimes reps like these have their place in a piece for the element of surprise, and that’s valid. But when a piece only includes reps like this, to the point that a different title could be tacked on and the list would still be work, then it might come off a bit random and unrelated.
RANDOMNESS USED PURPOSEFULLY
Randomness can have a place in satire. Of course! If your character is known for being soooooooo random, then go for it. Make it clear that this is a trait of the character, and not the premise/thesis. If it’s a trait of the plot/premise, then it can come off as rambling, scattered, and random. A “random” character trait can be molded into a neat premise, but it’s hard to fit a character into a “random” premise. A great example of a character piece with a more rambling character trait, but with a tight premise, is “I’m a Reviewer On a Perfume Blog, Prepare to Have Your Mind Blown” by Steffany Ritchie. The very funny perfume blogger character is verbose and tends to almost ramble throughout the piece about the perfume, but it’s clear that this is part of her characterization, and ties back to the blog format.
TLDR; The randomness trap is easy to fall into — but you can always dig yourself out! In the end, it’s really about making sure your writing is specific, connected, and relating back to a theme. And there’s nothing random about that!
Emily Kapp is a comedy writer based in Chicago, and her favorite food is movie theatre butter popcorn. You can read more of her work at emilykapp.journoportfolio.com.
