Time out for some Thurber

The author and cartoonist James Thurber (pictured) once offered a list of six rules for comedy writers. He said he wrote the list “after receiving dozens of humorous essays and stories from strangers over a period of twenty years.”

Here’s one of Mr. Thurber’s rules:

3. If the writer has decided to change the name of his protagonist from Ketcham to McTavish, Ketcham should not keep bobbing up in the last five pages. A good way to eliminate this confusion is to read the piece over before sending it out, and remove Ketcham completely. He is a nuisance.

The Takeaway: Enjoy the other five rules.

See disclaimer.