Imagine two people: one who tells jokes brilliantly and another whose incoherent joke-telling is a source of embarrassment. The contrast is partly a matter of personality - the tellers' respective senses of timing, capacities for humorous embellishment of the details, tones of voice, etc - but it is largely governed by the details of the story and the order in which details are recounted.

This topic sheet sets aside all the personality issues, and even the quality of the joke, to concentrate on the structural aspects of story-telling.

BEGINNING WITH THE END

For the purposes of this discussion, let us begin with the end: the punch line or end line of the story.

(This method is purely for the purposes of this analysis, and is not intended to suggest that it is in any way wrong to begin writing at the intended beginning of the story: there is much pleasure and inspiration to be derived from allowing characters and situations to emerge unexpectedly and to find their own way.)

The end line is important because it marks the farthest extent of the story and gives the writer a clear objective. The quality of the end line is not necessarily important, however, insofar as the task of writing in pursuit of the imagined end line may inspire other, better, more conclusive end lines. The original end line may then be discarded, or the narrative that leads to it may be woven into the fabric of a longer, multi-layered story.

What matters is that the ultimate end line (whether it is the end line originally conceived or another that emerges subsequently) should ultimately become the focal point of the story.

• In a simple, single-layered story, the end line is the resolution of all that has gone before, or else the statement of the question that is deliberately left open in the reader's/listener's mind.
• In a joke, the end line is the punch line: the laughter-inducing surprise that resolves all the previous elements of the joke.

SET-UP

In a short, single-layered narrative, the writer must rapidly set the scene which is to enable the end line. In other words, characters and situation must be sketched at the outset of the story. This is a good discipline in terms of craft, forcing the writer to evoke a credible world with a few "brush strokes". No less importantly, it is a relatively effortless way of identifying characters with strong humorous/ narrative potential for subsequent development (possibly in a later work, long after the initial moment of inspiration has been forgotten).

EXPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL DETAILS

Perhaps the greatest weakness of the poor joke-teller is a failure to recall the salient details of the story fully and in the correct order.

Whether or not one suffers from this problem, it may be surprisingly helpful to jot down the essential details of the story line as part of the initial sketch. This may provide valuable source material when the writer comes to alter/embellish the story while seeking to preserve the main thread of it.

PATTERNS AND EMBELLISHMENT

Notice how many jokes involve the use of three or more stereotypes: the Englishman, the Irishman and the Scotsman, etc. This reflects the way our thinking adheres to patterns. Patterns assist our attention and memory by creating "hooks" on which additional information may readily be hung.

Contrast the stand-up comedian who tells unrelated jokes in quick succession and the comic (or writer) whose humour is dreived from a sustained theme. The former's unrelated jokes are quickly forgotten, being instantly superseded by new ones in the limited space of our short term memory. The latter's related jokes are relatively memorable, because our minds adapt to the pattern of information and therefore better able to retain it.

Crucially, the "surprise" element of many jokes is the breaking of an established pattern. The first two characters establish the pattern, which the third (or fourth, etc) then breaks.

Alternatively, or additionally, the joke is deliberately organised to reinforce the humorous characteristics of the stereotypes (meanness, stupidity, arrogance, etc).

Accordingly, while patterns are an essential feature of much humorous writing, they also hold out excellent opportunities for embellishing even the simplest of jokes.