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How to Know if You'll Like a Book
 

Similarity to Jokes

The Awesome Moment is strikingly similar to the punch line of a joke. To start, there is a formula for telling a joke, and you would rarely if ever break that formula.
  • The punchline must be short
  • Isolation is a trick issue. Obviously, nothing should come after the punchline. I suspect there is a pause before the punchline to mark that it is coming.
  • Anything that must be explained, to appreciate the punchline, must come before the punchline. I think this is even called the setup.
  • The setup also tries to lead the reader astray, so that the punchline is unexpected and surprising.
  • Telegraphing the punch line is bad.>/li>
There's another thing I haven't mentioned yet. You can make your joke be about a guy in a restaurant, but if it works better, you can change it to a woman in a bar. You sometimes have choices like that to make in the setup. For example, you could construct the character or setting to make the awesome moment work best.

Managing Expectations