3 Ways The Stand-Up Process Helps Writers

Seeing a stand-up comedian is entertaining and fascinating, but you can dive deeper into their lives and process with a stand-up comedy documentary. Not only will you get a backstage view of the world of stand up, but you can take life skills from the process. If you are a writer, then stand-up comedy can offer valuable lessons you import into your everyday writing.

Learn about the writing lessons and how a stand-up documentary conveys those messages through real-life storytelling.

1. Editing and Revising

One of the more revealing parts of a stand-up documentary is a deep look at their on-stage process. You can witness how a comedian evolves their act, adds lines to jokes, and tweaks their stories. A comedian prepares so many sections of their shows and being adapt and change is a key part of finding success.

As a writer, you can use those skills to keep an open mind about the editing process. Going through revisions is hard, especially when you have to delete sections of text. You can watch how a comedian completely removes a joke or transforms an initial concept into something completely different.

2. Collaborating

You may feel alone through the writing process. A comedian may seem like they are alone on stage, but the process of coming up with an act requires a lot of collaboration. Comedians work with other writers to come up with the act and flesh out ideas. As you expand on your writing, learn to collaborate with others to brainstorm and get feedback.

Collaboration can help you gain perspective or see aspects of a story you never realized. As you go through the writing process, you can meet with other writers, find writers you trust, and get help going through the process.

3. Knowing the Audience

A main goal of a comedian is to get the biggest laughs. As such, a key part of this is knowing your audience and how to play to them. The same process works for writers. If you are writing in a specific genre, the readers have certain expectations with the language and elements of the story. With this in mind, you should know who you are writing to and what perspective you have as you plan out your writing. For example, the language used in a novel for middle school children is far different than a fiction story catered towards adults.

Watch stand-up comedy documentaries to help your writing process. Sometimes repeated viewings will give you even more insight into the process and help you notice details you missed the first time around. For more information, contact a company like Cooperstown Properties, LLC.