Uncyclopedia:The Creative Process
The Creative Process: An answer to the question, "Where do you get ideas for articles?"
Top Ten Places Uncyclopedians Get Their Ideas[edit]
10. Drugs.
9. Blunt objects (rocks, baseball bats, potatoes, syringe handles) applied forcefully to the head.
8. Malaria-induced fever.
7. Marijuana-induced fever.
6. Reading the newspaper.
5. Countries and diseases. Well, diseases if you think countries aren't that funny.
4. Alcohol. Which, though legal, is technically a drug.
3. Going on a vision quest by having many visits to the sacred sweat lodge at the invitation of our great native elder, Chief Running Nose.
2. Playing with adorable little kittens. Adorable little kittens on drugs. Or, of course, using the kittens as drugs.
1. Drugs.
0. Drugs.
-1. If you can see this, you've been taking (a little) too many drugs.
A More Serious Answer[edit]
There have been a lot of questions about getting ideas for articles. This article is an attempt to sum up some of the less idiotic input from the Village Dump article on this subject.
- Everything is like an orange, and funny is the juice. Don't look for something funny. Look for the funny in some thing. Even the chair you are sitting on is funny. If you squeeze your chair, the funny will run out like jelly. Go on, squeeze your chair and I will squeeze mine. Mmmmmmmmmm..... Well, that certainly made me feel better.
- Don't panic. I am both an expert and a doctor.
- So - what's funny about a chair? Look for an angle and you've got a way in:
- Recognition: The primary function of the office chair is to allow people to roll about looking for Post-IT notes without actually having to stand up.
- Situation: An analysis of the chair through the medium of Merchant Ivory films.
- History: With the invention of the chair, large round rocks fell out of demand.
- Lexicography: The chairman of the board counted all the chairs and then put them on the board. The mayor applauded.
- Anthropomorphism: One day I sat down in my favourite chair. And suddenly the chair spoke to me. “”Hey you!” the chair protested, “I’m fed up of seeing your bottom all the time. Stop being so rude.”
- ...and so forth. So - lesson 1: Don't look for something funny, because everything is funny. Just look for the funny.
- Identify something that's stupid in life, but that people accept and take for granted without questioning it. There must be something that's crossed your mind and made you think, "Why the hell do we do this? Whose idea was it?" Point out, by example, how ridiculous it is. People like to laugh at themselves.
- Relate commonly misunderstood ideas, old wives tales, conspiracy theories, prejudices, and other misinformation as the absolute truth, and back up this misinformation using other "facts" (true ones, or ones that are misunderstandings themselves). Play Devil's advocate, but avoid Poe's Law. Remember, we’re an Uncyclopedia.
- News. If you see something happening in the news that makes you go “WTF?” then it’s probably worth an article or UnNews piece.
- Straight out parodies of people and characters aren’t as good as parodies of how people would do things. Ask yourself: “how would this person handle this situation?” Examples would include Ernest Hemingway’s Cookery Corner, a set of IKEA instructions written by James Joyce, a Guide to Acting by William Shatner, or a Guide to Leadership and Management by Darth Vader.
- Pick your targets. Some people are just asking to be taken down a notch. The rich, the powerful and the famous. People who are liars, hypocrites, arrogant or jerks are also perfect targets for satire, whether they are celebrities or random people whose name you don't know, other than "That Guy who cut me off in Traffic". Generally speaking, people who are helpless aren't. Making fun of cancer patients is hard. Let me tell you, I've tried and the cancer ward was not amused. Nice people are also poor targets; Mother Teresa doesn't lend herself to parody. Animals, on the other hand, are fair game due to their quirks, claws, fangs and not-so-human behavior. Even their tails are entertaining. Ask yourself, which animal would I NOT want to be?
- Look at some classics. For TV/Movies, I'd recommend Monty Python's Flying Circus and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Marx Brother's Duck Soup, The Kids in the Hall, (old) Saturday Night Live, The Upright Citizens Brigade, Mr. Show, and the Simpsons/Futurama. For prose, I'd recommend Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal", Woody Allen's Getting Even, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, and Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and sequels.