"I'm Not Afraid of Stephen King Books Because I Know Maine Isn't Real"
An interview with Rachel Keller
Hello and welcome to Humor Science, the newsletter I started so I could have an excuse to talk to and learn from some of my favorite humor writers. Thank you for being here!
This month I interviewed Rachel Keller about her piece for McSweeney’s, “I’m Not Afraid of Stephen King Books Because I Know Maine Isn’t Real.” Rachel is a comedy writer and screenwriter, as well as a Reductress contributor with a truly delightful collection of absurd and creative headlines.
I love the origin story for this piece (a formula, how scientific! the researchers at the Humor Science Institute approve!) and I learned a lot from hearing about Rachel’s creative process. Let’s dive in.
Tell me about the inspiration for this piece. When did you start writing it?
I was coming up with headlines for Reductress and I wanted something that was kind of a formula, like, “Woman scared of blank thing that is scary comforts herself with the knowledge that blank thing that is real isn't real.” I was trying various things in there and then I put in Stephen King and Maine. The headline wasn’t picked for Reductress, but I thought it had some legs, so I tried writing a whole piece for it.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the piece?
I'm a pretty fast writer but this one definitely took longer than usual. It took me about an hour and a half to write the first draft because I was moving around different paragraphs trying to come up with jokes and doing research on Maine, because I really didn't know much about Maine. It was a lot of just moving around things to heighten and seeing what fit best where.
An hour and a half still feels really fast to me!
I’m a fast writer, but I'm not a fast rewriter. But first drafts usually come pretty quickly. My first McSweeney's piece was called “Our Meeting On Accessibility Is Just Down Those Stairs.” It took me about half an hour to write, partly because I was in a rush. I was going to one of the Some Fun Lines events and I needed something to read there. Luckily I already had the germ of the idea in my head.
When you’re writing a piece like this, what’s your process? Do you have a solid plan going in, or do you write freely and then shape it from there?
I don't really outline or anything, I just kind of pants it. But I definitely have little bits that I know I want to include. For this piece, I did some research. I knew the McLobster was a real thing, but I had to double check that it was still being sold — I think it is! I was also looking for something that people say in Maine. I don't even know what a motor canoe is, but I know it's in my piece. I also knew I had to heighten. In the past, a common note I’ve gotten is that I have to heighten more. So I really wanted to do that with this, and I think that having that as my compass really helped.
What was the audience reception like for this piece? Did you get any interesting or surprising reactions?
My favorite audience reaction was that there was this big Stephen King fan page on Facebook, and someone from that group posted the article. And the majority of the people on the page didn't think I was being sarcastic or that it was satire. They genuinely thought I was an idiot who didn't believe Maine was real.
Another person, someone from Maine who’s a professional lobsterman, sent me an email saying I should make Florida disappear instead, so I'll get to that one next time.
Are you a fan of Stephen King?
I’ve read some of On Writing because I need that writing inspiration. But then of course get distracted and forget to finish it. But I listened to the audiobook of Carrie a while ago and it’s so good. I need to read more Stephen King books but It is prohibitively long, and I have The Shining but it’s also very long and my attention span is very, very short.
Is there anything else you want to share about this piece that I didn’t ask about?
I went to visit Maine because I was in Boston, and my mom and I drove to Maine and I took a photo with the sign. I was actually in Maine when I found out that the piece was published and up on the site!
Where do you find inspiration for your humor pieces? How do you come up with ideas?
I keep a notebook with me at all times for various observations and shower thoughts but if I'm being honest, I end up using my Notes app a lot of the time. Reading a lot of satire definitely helps to get my brain going in that particular way. Sometimes I'm just not in the headspace for writing satire, or humor, or anything funny, really. And then sometimes it's just like a switch is flipped and I can totally get in that mode, and I’m able to bang out a piece very quickly.
I feel the same way. Sometimes I have no ideas and then some weeks, they all just flow.
Yeah! One of my favorite things that I wrote was “The Maid of Honor Speech at a Fuck Marry Kill Wedding” for The Belladonna, and I woke up with the idea, and while I was in my PJs, I wrote the whole thing because I had to write it just then. Honestly, this Maine piece was one of the few that I've written that I was like, “Okay, I'm going to write this piece. Let me plan on a time that’s good for me to write it.” Usually, I'm like, “Okay, shit, I have to put everything aside to write this thing in my head, otherwise, it's gonna get away.”
Are there specific humor writers or any particular pieces out there that you’re inspired by?
“How to Bathe a Horse” by Casey Rand is just so good at heightening and including weird specifics. I absolutely love that. I also love and admire political satire, which I'm not as experienced in, so writers like Devorah Blachor, Bobbie Armstrong, and Carlos Greaves, I love their stuff. Tom Smyth wrote a piece about West Side Story called, “We’re Sorry, You Can’t Join Our Street Gang Because You Don’t Know Ballet” that was one of the funniest things ever. I also loved Emily Kling’s piece that was trending on McSweeney's for a while about marrying your best friend. I was privileged to be able to give notes on that piece before it went out.
How did you first get started with humor writing? What advice do you have for someone who might just be getting started with their humor writing journey?
I owe everything to Caitlin Kunkel. I took a class with her at the Magnet in 2018 and I feel like I learned everything there was to know about writing through that class. Another thing that’s been helpful is reading other people’s stuff. I try to read as much from all the sites as possible.
Anything else you want to add about humor writing, comedy in general, or anything at all I didn’t ask about?
I’ve been writing comedy since 2016, mostly sketch back then. But before college, I didn’t think I could write funny, so there’s hope for everyone!
Where can people find more of your work, and are there any particular projects or news you want to plug?
My website, rachelrosekeller.com, has a good amount of my satire writing. That’s where I post all my favorites. I also write sketch for GOLD Comedy and my team is called Get Me a F*cking Shovel. We came out with a sketch I wrote and directed about sexy bagels. It’s about as strange as it sounds.
That’s it! Hope everyone has a wonderful week filled with lots of creative ideas.
What’s new:
Starting in July, Humor Science will be published twice a month. Woohoo!
The wonderfully talented and always hilarious Janine Annett is teaching a workshop on July 11th called “How to Turn Tragedy Into Comedy.” Check it out and sign-up.
Are you in L.A.? This Friday at 7PM, me and my Jokes to Offend Men co-writer Kate Herzlin are hosting a humor reading + comedy meetup at The Village Well. We have an amazing lineup of humor writers performing and we’ll be telling some of our favorite jokes from the book. Hope to see you there!
About me
I’m a comedy writer and freelance copywriter living in Brooklyn. My humor writing has been published by The New Yorker, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Reductress, and more. I’m the co-author of Jokes to Offend Men, which was named the #2 Comedy Book of 2022 by Vulture. I’m available for new writing projects, humor coaching, and nerding out about comedy, so please reach out and say hi!