How To Write Satire

A Satire is any form of comedy or humor which seeks to mock or criticize a person, idea, organization, common habit or basically anything else. Satire is often negative and generally has a victim of some sort, even if that victim isn't an individual person, but often also has a positive social or political point of view somewhere behind it. It can also be whimsical and silly, and mock itself. The most common tools used to achieve it are sarcasm, irony, and parody. The distinction between these 3 parts is quite fluid and blurry, and most satire could be said to have elements of all three.

Sarcasm: Sarcasm is sometimes described as the lowest form of wit, probably because when it is used verbally it is so simple - often just involving the repetition of something a person has said in a sarcastic tone of voice, or just saying the opposite of what you really mean, again with your tone of voice emphasising the sarcastic intent. But these two simple techniques don't really translate so simply into literary or written sarcasm, which is actually (in my opinion and experience) the most difficult form of satire to write.

In written form this kind of literary sarcasm is basically an understated form of parody. An example would be to write a news, politics or current affairs article, in which you pretend to take the opposite attitude to the one you actually want to express, but are actually mocking it by highlighting its faults. Whereas a Parody would take those faults and deliberately exaggerate them to make them look as ridiculous as possible, in a sarcastic satire you would try to defend those faults but deliberately fail to do it well. Effectively you are making fun of the defense of the faults you want to point out rather than those faults themselves.

Parody: As stated above this involves deliberate exaggeration as a form of mockery. Cartoons, plays and movies do this very well, but it can also be done well in written form. Parody often takes the form of replacing the main characters with another figure that you want to compare them too, or putting them through a completely ridiculous set of events in which they are totally out of place or which has obvious similarities to real life and draws comparisons whilst still being outrageous and making them look as ridiculous as the circumstance you put them in.

Irony: Irony basically involves an event, comment, or attitude which highlights the ridiculous nature of the context it is presented in, without being ridiculous itself. So, to take an example from real life, British Prime Minister Tony Blair getting a job as the UN peace envoy to the middle east, after starting two wars there himself, is rather ironic. Someone getting this job isn't at all ridiculous or fabulous or exaggerated, as someone has to get it, but the irony comes from the conjunction of two ordinary events which seem to present a contradiction in nature between eachother. As with sarcasm, the difficult part of writing a good ironic piece is keeping it realistic enough that you don't descend into out and out parady

1. If you have a social or political point you want to make it is important not to get preachy. As I said in the intro Satire is primarily negative - it isn't there to present a correct answer, although your views on the way it should be can be lurking in the background, the main thrust should be pointing out folly or ridiculousness of your chosen victim rather than putting across your own alternative viewpoint. If in doubt just remember - serious political / social opinions aren't funny, but making people (or yourself!) look silly is.


2. You might not be writing a joke, but you still need punchlines. Single lines which give people a jolt, make a sudden humorous reveal, or bring things to a head in a pithy way are often the most effective parts of a satire.


3. Choose the right target. Firstly there must be something inherently ridiculous about the person / situation / entity that you are mocking for you to bring it out. The most common mistake is to choose something or someone just because you disagree with it or them, and then fail to find anything to really satirize and end up just righting a bitchy, bitter sounding article or story. You must keep the tone lighthearted, like you don't really care about any of it even if you do actually care quite a lot. Secondly it must be someone enough people are likely to have heard of, or something that people are likley to know enough about, otherwise it will not be appreciated and will not be successful.


4. If you are lacking inspiration for something to write about - particularly for articles where you have to keep coming up with new subjects, then rather than trying to think of an idea for a piece from a standing start, write down a list of topics to start yourself off. That could be just a round up of the main headlines, plus more longer term favourites (banker bashing, a particular personality etc), or it could be a list of your pet hates or something like that.