humor formula(s)
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, has a weblog that is really interesting, particularly because he talks a lot about the process that goes into putting together one of his cartoon strips. For example, a post about how to evaluate the success of a particular cartoon on the basis of six basic criteria.
If you read the post and look at the examples you'll see how he came up with this formula. I read it yesterday and I'm still thinking about it because I'm trying to figure out how it overlaps with writing a funny dialogue scene in a novel. How does the visual nature of the comic impact on the six different criteria? Or maybe no comparison can be drawn... but I think there is some kind of connection. Maybe a vague connection, but this could be a way to start analyzing humor in novels, how it works (or doesn't work).
I have to go write now and the I'm off to Canada with teenaged girls to see Brokeback Mountain. But I'm going to think about this humor thing in fiction, and how to take it apart.