On Sucker Buttons: Come to the Snark Side

There may be people who pick a genre specifically for its money-making potential and work from there. I write from the perspective that if you want to make money, you should give your reader your best possible work – and you write your best stuff when it’s something you love.

One of the things I love is snark.

Wit. Sarcasm. Wordplay. There’s nothing better than a couple characters verbally sparring amongst themselves, and possibly with the reader. (Footnotes are a special type of snark with the reader. See Sir Terry Pratchett’s works. Or the Ciaphas Cain books. Or those notes in the Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy.)

Note I said sparring, not fighting. It may sometimes be “to first blood” level of serious, but my favorite snark is a verbal expression of how much two characters can trust and rely on each other. You don’t throw puns and Quips to Black at a complete stranger. You throw them at someone who’ll get the joke.

Meaning someone you know. Or want to know.

A few examples. From the Arrows of the Queen, Talia finding out Prince Consort Karathanelan died in a “hunting accident.”

Talia: I suppose that’s marginally true. They were hunting Selenay.

From Person of Interest, Finch: “We need to find out who was shooting at you. Did you get a good look at them?”

Reese: “I tried. But they were shooting at me.”

From Caves of Ice, by Sandy Mitchell. Proceedings of a meeting.

“Colonel Kasteen called the meeting to order. Then she called it to order again. Major Broklaw fired his bolt pistol into the ceiling, and the meeting came to order.”

Snark lets a writer play. With the characters, and with the reader. If someone’s reading your fiction in the first place, odds are they want a vacation from Real Life. They want to play. After all, which hero is more impressive? The one who’s constantly grim in the face of oncoming monsters? Or the guy who, realizing only the dedicated survivalist had enough firepower to take it down, quips, “Guess we can’t tease Burt about his lifestyle anymore.” (Tremors, the movie.)

Though be warned. One side effect of loving snark is, I’ve often been dragged into new fandoms not by watching a show, but by stumbling on someone’s snarky fanfic. Some examples:

Nirvana in Fire by way of Venenum ex machina

Mo Dao Zu Shi by way of A Moment’s Delay

see you yesterday

mission report

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by way of The Ring

Duck, Duck, Demon

BnHA by way of brilliant lights will cease to burn (by my hand i’ll reignite them)

villain eradication plan 5C: let them attack budding heroes mothers, wait appropriate time for mother to defeat them

The Smoke Series by Tanya Huff, by way of NyQuil, Succubi, and Other Tall Tales

Welcome to Night Vale by way of Love is All You Need to Destroy Your Enemies

Come to the snark side. We have cookies!