MSTing Tips for Newbies
Article by TheAuthorGl1m0
[[First off, no, I am NOT copying/replacing the Riffer’s Guide here; this is a guide that I wrote completely by my own “wisdom”. If you haven’t read the original guide already, then go read it already, damn you! Once you get back from that, we can get around to the actual guide…]]
So, let’s assume that you’re a newbie riffer, and you want to learn how to get into the practice. You already know what it is, have the resources and means to do so... you just wanna riff a fic. Okay then, fair enough. This guide assumes you already know what an MST is, how it’s formatted and all that, so that we can focus on the “funny” and “professionalism” aspect.
As I myself am learning the ropes of riffing as well, I’ll be sharing my knowledge with you via various separate articles, complete with examples and some on-the-side snarking. Feel free to skip any section if you feel you need not learn it, but I’d recommend giving it all a good read-through.
So, let’s assume that you’re a newbie riffer, and you want to learn how to get into the practice. You already know what it is, have the resources and means to do so... you just wanna riff a fic. Okay then, fair enough. This guide assumes you already know what an MST is, how it’s formatted and all that, so that we can focus on the “funny” and “professionalism” aspect.
As I myself am learning the ropes of riffing as well, I’ll be sharing my knowledge with you via various separate articles, complete with examples and some on-the-side snarking. Feel free to skip any section if you feel you need not learn it, but I’d recommend giving it all a good read-through.
On the Science of Comedy
Being funny is not as easy as some might make it out to be. Nor is learning how to be funny in the first place, either. To master the art of wit is something that hard to pin down; not any one person can tell a joke that everybody will find funny. Some may even be offended, depending on the joke. There’s a reason there are so many TV shows on the airwaves you know; no single show is meant for everyone. Not even MLP, which we as bronies have come to adore, will be loved by everyone in the world. This same fact always applies to comedy.
But what is the best way to be funny?
One important factor is to understand your audience. Know who you are aiming for, be it little kids or full-grown adults. A kid isn’t going to understand that really funny sex joke you heard from a friend, and an adult will likely roll his eyes and groan if you tell a corny knock-knock joke. Knowing the audience, and planning for that audience, is key.
Another factor to consider is timing and relevance. Know when to make the jokes, and how to relate them to the situation at hand! This is critical in MSTing, since the very format relies on commentary that takes direct shots at the story itself. Say you spot a line like this (from an excerpt of a riff I’m working on):
“… Can you tell me what happened?" Suddenly, something clicked in my head.
You could (or in my case, I would) retort with this:
AJ: Somepony finally found the light switch.
In which the comment refers to the "clicking" action, as described by the story. Not that bad, eh? Sometimes, during riffs that feature more than one character, these comments can “stack” with each other, resulting in brief exchanges or joke buildups:
Gl1m0: Good, it was getting dark in there! What, with the lack of imagination and all.
Be careful not to use a joke too soon, or too late though! Too soon, and you’ll spoil the joke before it has a chance to become humorous. Too late, and your audience may no longer see the relevance (and therefore, not find it funny).
And finally, the last major factor to consider when being funny is variety and originality. Don’t repeat jokes; NEVER repeat jokes (unless of course it’s a running gag, like how Author/the riffers tend to get slapped when telling a bad/dirty joke or how Fallen Prime mentions rusty sawblades, but that’s in a different category altogether). There’s no better sign of a comedian’s incompetence than having to fall back on the same kinds of jokes over and over again, without coming up with new material. Comedians are REQUIRED to regularly drum up a new act, because if they don’t, their act will grow stale.
The same principle also applies to riffing. Sticking random jokes in-between the lines of a terrible story is easy enough, but those with real talent can do this and be consistently funny and original in their joke-making. How? The answer: Variety. They watch a lot of shows, read a lot of books, play a lot of games, lurk around on the internet a lot… you name it. Cultural references are a staple of comedy mastery, and adding references in your jokes will most likely make you a funnier person. (No promises, though; there’s always a chance that some guy you’re telling the joke too might not “get” the reference, which carries the risk of torpedoing your humor harder than the Lusitania. The more obscure the reference, the greater the risk. And try to avoid “in-jokes” where possible, too.)
There are many ways to be funny, and these are only a few, but I hope that you now have a slight idea as to where you’re headed with your jokes now.
Being funny is not as easy as some might make it out to be. Nor is learning how to be funny in the first place, either. To master the art of wit is something that hard to pin down; not any one person can tell a joke that everybody will find funny. Some may even be offended, depending on the joke. There’s a reason there are so many TV shows on the airwaves you know; no single show is meant for everyone. Not even MLP, which we as bronies have come to adore, will be loved by everyone in the world. This same fact always applies to comedy.
But what is the best way to be funny?
One important factor is to understand your audience. Know who you are aiming for, be it little kids or full-grown adults. A kid isn’t going to understand that really funny sex joke you heard from a friend, and an adult will likely roll his eyes and groan if you tell a corny knock-knock joke. Knowing the audience, and planning for that audience, is key.
Another factor to consider is timing and relevance. Know when to make the jokes, and how to relate them to the situation at hand! This is critical in MSTing, since the very format relies on commentary that takes direct shots at the story itself. Say you spot a line like this (from an excerpt of a riff I’m working on):
“… Can you tell me what happened?" Suddenly, something clicked in my head.
You could (or in my case, I would) retort with this:
AJ: Somepony finally found the light switch.
In which the comment refers to the "clicking" action, as described by the story. Not that bad, eh? Sometimes, during riffs that feature more than one character, these comments can “stack” with each other, resulting in brief exchanges or joke buildups:
Gl1m0: Good, it was getting dark in there! What, with the lack of imagination and all.
Be careful not to use a joke too soon, or too late though! Too soon, and you’ll spoil the joke before it has a chance to become humorous. Too late, and your audience may no longer see the relevance (and therefore, not find it funny).
And finally, the last major factor to consider when being funny is variety and originality. Don’t repeat jokes; NEVER repeat jokes (unless of course it’s a running gag, like how Author/the riffers tend to get slapped when telling a bad/dirty joke or how Fallen Prime mentions rusty sawblades, but that’s in a different category altogether). There’s no better sign of a comedian’s incompetence than having to fall back on the same kinds of jokes over and over again, without coming up with new material. Comedians are REQUIRED to regularly drum up a new act, because if they don’t, their act will grow stale.
The same principle also applies to riffing. Sticking random jokes in-between the lines of a terrible story is easy enough, but those with real talent can do this and be consistently funny and original in their joke-making. How? The answer: Variety. They watch a lot of shows, read a lot of books, play a lot of games, lurk around on the internet a lot… you name it. Cultural references are a staple of comedy mastery, and adding references in your jokes will most likely make you a funnier person. (No promises, though; there’s always a chance that some guy you’re telling the joke too might not “get” the reference, which carries the risk of torpedoing your humor harder than the Lusitania. The more obscure the reference, the greater the risk. And try to avoid “in-jokes” where possible, too.)
There are many ways to be funny, and these are only a few, but I hope that you now have a slight idea as to where you’re headed with your jokes now.
TV Tropes is your best frenemy
It’s a veritable goldmine of pop-culture and media information, on top of copious amounts of meticulous narrative device analysis that we’ve all seen in some way, shape or form. Yep, TV Tropes is fun to read, addicting to browse, and is packed with literary deconstructions and references within its web pages. TV Tropes is your best friend.
And it’s also your worst enemy . (Which would technically make it your “best frenemy,” so… let’s go with that.)
When browsing for ideas for jokes and references, TV Tropes can prove to be an invaluable resource. On the same hand, it can prove to be too invaluable; some may find themselves wholly dependent on it. That's the same as being completely dependent. And that’s terrible. Whether it be through using trope names, definitions, or other stuff like that during the riff, referencing TV Tropes can be somewhat dangerous.
“B-but why—HOW on earth could it be dangerous, Gl1m0?” some of you concerned readers might be thinking. “What was all that great praise about TV Tropes’ veritable “goldmine” of information?” Well, that’s just the thing. It’s, almost literally, too much information. Allowing references to TV Tropes to take over the majority of jokes in a riff just illustrates how desperate you are for ideas and how reliant you are on such a source.
Now, don’t get me wrong; it’s perfectly okay to make a few TV Tropes jokes and/or references every now and again. Just don’t overdo it and fill the page with complicated terms that only a regular troper would make sense of, because that is not being funny. It just ruins the quality of the riff, and your existence in general.
Seriously, what did you even expect when the site warned you that it would ruin your life? That you’d be forced to change the layout of the site every six months? Really now.
It’s a veritable goldmine of pop-culture and media information, on top of copious amounts of meticulous narrative device analysis that we’ve all seen in some way, shape or form. Yep, TV Tropes is fun to read, addicting to browse, and is packed with literary deconstructions and references within its web pages. TV Tropes is your best friend.
And it’s also your worst enemy . (Which would technically make it your “best frenemy,” so… let’s go with that.)
When browsing for ideas for jokes and references, TV Tropes can prove to be an invaluable resource. On the same hand, it can prove to be too invaluable; some may find themselves wholly dependent on it. That's the same as being completely dependent. And that’s terrible. Whether it be through using trope names, definitions, or other stuff like that during the riff, referencing TV Tropes can be somewhat dangerous.
“B-but why—HOW on earth could it be dangerous, Gl1m0?” some of you concerned readers might be thinking. “What was all that great praise about TV Tropes’ veritable “goldmine” of information?” Well, that’s just the thing. It’s, almost literally, too much information. Allowing references to TV Tropes to take over the majority of jokes in a riff just illustrates how desperate you are for ideas and how reliant you are on such a source.
Now, don’t get me wrong; it’s perfectly okay to make a few TV Tropes jokes and/or references every now and again. Just don’t overdo it and fill the page with complicated terms that only a regular troper would make sense of, because that is not being funny. It just ruins the quality of the riff, and your existence in general.
Seriously, what did you even expect when the site warned you that it would ruin your life? That you’d be forced to change the layout of the site every six months? Really now.
Spicing-Up Your MSTs with Plot (And Not That Kind)
The most basic form an MST can take is when it’s just one or more characters taking turns making fun of a story. While it may still be funny on its own, it can get a bit boring after a while. Many well-known Fanfic MST series’ have a background setting and “plot” of sorts, on top of a colorful cast of characters to keep the riffs interesting. For example, Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000 starred an author-insert (whom was named Author, appropriately enough), Twilight and Rarity, who are forced by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to read terrible fanfiction against their will.
Many of these series follow a similar plot concept: a group of characters are trapped by one or two captors and forced to read/watch bad fanfiction until they are done. The format is virtually identical to that of the show that MSTing is based-on, in which a man and his robot pals are trapped on a satellite watching horrible movies by a couple of mad scientists. So, not many examples deviate very far from this style. In fact, there are only two generally agreed-upon methods of MST writing:
Overarching plotlines, told via the “Interlude” sections between riffings, are a good way to keep an on-running MST series interesting. Short skits (basically, a scene that builds up to a joke, a string of jokes, or a story roundup) can also be implemented during these “breaks”, which occur at certain points in the MST depending on its overall length. As for what to put during these breaks, well, have some character development! If you're like most riffers, then during your riffs you'll have included a version of "yourself" to riff along with some other characters (though there are some exceptions, with RJ Bachler's Mystery Equestria Theater 3000 being a notable example), so why not show some backstory, or other scenes of character interaction? Don't just have them for the sake of having them; make them work.
Sometimes, a riffer can get away with introducing conflicts into the riff itself that ties in with the "story" of the ones riffing the fanfic. It can happen between the riffers and the story itself (ie. expressing their digust and hatred), the riffers and their captors (ie. expressing their hatred and digust), and even among the riffers themselves (ie. Forty-Two). Don't go overboard with the drama though; people came to read funny commentary, not listen to whining and moaning from the poor saps stuck reading a terrible fanfic (even though it would be a fairly realistic depiction). And as with any story, keep it consistent. Nothing hurts a good story (the same applies to riffs!) more than glaring logical inconsistencies. Good grammar and spelling certainly don't hurt either, and it's almost a given to be fluent in writing if you're supposed to make fun of bad writing in the first place.
No matter what form of story you choose to give your riffs some backbone, always remember that you are just as susceptible to the rules of writing as any other author. The difference between a good riffer and a bad fanfic writer is that one of them always follows the rules, and the other constantly breaks them. Wanna guess who is who?
The most basic form an MST can take is when it’s just one or more characters taking turns making fun of a story. While it may still be funny on its own, it can get a bit boring after a while. Many well-known Fanfic MST series’ have a background setting and “plot” of sorts, on top of a colorful cast of characters to keep the riffs interesting. For example, Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000 starred an author-insert (whom was named Author, appropriately enough), Twilight and Rarity, who are forced by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to read terrible fanfiction against their will.
Many of these series follow a similar plot concept: a group of characters are trapped by one or two captors and forced to read/watch bad fanfiction until they are done. The format is virtually identical to that of the show that MSTing is based-on, in which a man and his robot pals are trapped on a satellite watching horrible movies by a couple of mad scientists. So, not many examples deviate very far from this style. In fact, there are only two generally agreed-upon methods of MST writing:
- The typical script format, which is the default format for most riffs on the Archive.
Line from the fanfic.
Riffer: Insert snark! - The older format, dating back to the MSTing days of Usenet.
>Line from the fanfic.
Riffer: I'm so snarky, blah blah!
Overarching plotlines, told via the “Interlude” sections between riffings, are a good way to keep an on-running MST series interesting. Short skits (basically, a scene that builds up to a joke, a string of jokes, or a story roundup) can also be implemented during these “breaks”, which occur at certain points in the MST depending on its overall length. As for what to put during these breaks, well, have some character development! If you're like most riffers, then during your riffs you'll have included a version of "yourself" to riff along with some other characters (though there are some exceptions, with RJ Bachler's Mystery Equestria Theater 3000 being a notable example), so why not show some backstory, or other scenes of character interaction? Don't just have them for the sake of having them; make them work.
Sometimes, a riffer can get away with introducing conflicts into the riff itself that ties in with the "story" of the ones riffing the fanfic. It can happen between the riffers and the story itself (ie. expressing their digust and hatred), the riffers and their captors (ie. expressing their hatred and digust), and even among the riffers themselves (ie. Forty-Two). Don't go overboard with the drama though; people came to read funny commentary, not listen to whining and moaning from the poor saps stuck reading a terrible fanfic (even though it would be a fairly realistic depiction). And as with any story, keep it consistent. Nothing hurts a good story (the same applies to riffs!) more than glaring logical inconsistencies. Good grammar and spelling certainly don't hurt either, and it's almost a given to be fluent in writing if you're supposed to make fun of bad writing in the first place.
No matter what form of story you choose to give your riffs some backbone, always remember that you are just as susceptible to the rules of writing as any other author. The difference between a good riffer and a bad fanfic writer is that one of them always follows the rules, and the other constantly breaks them. Wanna guess who is who?
Well, folks, that's all the tips I have to give out for now. Hopefully you may have learned something about riffing, or at least gained a little more insight into the practice. I'm no guide writer like Ezn, but darn it, I can at least try. And since I'm such an OCD maniac, you'll be seeing this guide expand with more topics in the future as I come up with them.
- TheAuthorGl1m0
- TheAuthorGl1m0
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