Ah, humour, the most hit-and-miss-worthy genre of writing out there.
Fairy Tale My A$$ is supposed to be humourous. And, to be fair, Lady Lucia did a decent job of of making this story chuckle-worthy.
I won’t go in too much depth about setting, ideas and characters, after all, this is about as deep as your own understanding of the opposite sex. That is, it’s sporadic, confused and dripping with misunderstanding, but still exciting and more than a little tantalizing.
No, I want to review this for what it’s trying to do. It’s trying to be funny, and therein lies its greatest faults and praise-worthy achievements.
Now, kiddies, I like shoving a few life lessons in my reviews, so here’s one for the books: humour ain’t easy.
Oh, sure, once in a while the idiocy slogging out of your mouth-hole will garner a giggle, but I’m quite sure that most jokes delivered fall flat. After all, comedy relies upon one of the most impractical of the sciences, philosophy.
What is funny to one peasant might be dull to another. A good joke can be ruined by a bad set-up. Timing can be unpredictable, and voices might not register in just the right way.
Lady Lucia did a few things right. Her character voice is brilliant. Visible from the get-go. Her language and bits of dialogue are both easy to grasp, and have that little tinge of comedic resonance that scream “this is supposed to be funny.” Her premise, most of all, is most imaginative and chuckle-worthy on its own. “Cinderella’s pumpkin is a sapient narcissistic pervert” just has a wonderful ring to it.
Miss Lucia falls on her pretty face in other places, unfortunately.
When writing the ever elusive comedy, one has to be weary of a few big factors. The elephants in the room (or, in your case, the creature formally known as “Mommy”).
One: repetition sucks. I could slap on another mother joke here, but I won’t. Your father also likes spanking and it wouldn’t be fair to keep his buttocks out of the loop.
Hearing something funny once is... well, funny. Twice and it starts to lose its charm. Half a dozen times makes one want to look the other way. This story suffers from repetitive humour.
Two: Interesting voices can be stretched too far.
Yes, I love the sarcastic, rude tone that the main character adopts. Little wonder that I’m fond of that particular tone since I use it everywhere. But, it does lose its strength at about the same speed that we lose our patience for it. Sad, but true.
If you find yourself using it in your own work, be wary of over doing it.
Finally: some of the humour is just a little... lowbrow. As in, childish. Yes, panties are great fun, but we don’t need to have them rubbed in out faces (well....). Silly, dumb slapstick jokes just get annoying if you’re expecting slightly more... adult-oriented comedy. It’s like listening to the things thirteen year olds think of as funny.
Is this worth looking at? Yes, but only because it’s so short. This story does not suck, but were it longer than it is now, it would start to feel like rubbing your face with a cheese grater.
Keep warm, stay cool.
