Hello, I need some clown help.

[JohnnyBoy]

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I am currently on the verge of writing a story, possibly even a full length novel about, well... clowns. to be more precise: a clown mafia. To be even more precise: A carnival mafia but clowns are the main subject. What I am having trouble with is finding names for the clowns and basically the nature of clowns. (Please note these clowns will be sick, twisted, dark humored clowns.) So what I ask from all of you is... If you could, could you please let me in on some clown info? Like what way does one go about finding the perfect clown name for them? And do clowns have some sort of hatred for trapeze artists or anything? Anything would help me here so please feel free to share! Thank you and goodnight.

[Harpoetta]

Hi there JohnnyBoy, and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like an interesting novel, you'll have to let us know when you've finished it and what it's called so I can get a copy.

A clown's name usually has something to do with his personality.

Clowns as a whole don't have a problem with any other group of performers as a whole, but in any Circus, there are always going to be a couple of people who don't get along very well with each other.

Read thru some of the intro threads, and some of the other specialty threads, they will hae some of the personal stories of some of the clowns on the forum. What you will tend to find is that a lot of clowns have something sad in their past that has had a huge effect on them, and may even have something to do with why they became a clown. A lot of clowns are or were at one time depressed, suicidal, abused, picked on in school.... Some have had a really hard life. Some were really messed up.

Hope you get what you're looking for, and keep us posted. Ask any questions you want on any thread you want. Make any comments you want wherever you want. Stay involved in the forum the entire time that you are writing the novel and we'll help you along when we can.

[Snugglesnort]

<<Please note these clowns will be sick, twisted, dark humored clowns.>>

Okay I see a couple of problems here, but they are not insurmountable.

1) sick or twisted and especially dark humored clowns in writing are more cliche then happy well balanced ones. What you want is conflict, and happy well balanced clowns who do excatly what clowns do, are not good writing material, so few people write about them. But misanthropic, dark, cynical and/or killer clowns are all over the place because it does seem to create conflict. But unfortunately this idea has been played to death for decades.

2) Circus clowns have a hard time doing dark or cynical humor in the ring. A really good Tramp or hobo can maybe pull some of it off but is is more resignation and self cynicism than anything else. But for the most part it doesn't work. Not only is it against their nature, it will be completely missed by most of the audience to don't have the luxury of seeing or reading it over and over till they get it (like you can do with a book or movie). A circus clown's style works on mass instant feedback from the audience where there is no time for people to work things out.

My suggestion is to separate the people who play the clown from the clown character. It would actually be very interesting to read about. Take a very good clown, as in: funny, loves making people laugh, nothing untoward or scary as a clown, visits sick children and hospitals without a problem... and then make the the actor out of clown dark, cynical and twisted ect. Then have the clown persona bleed into the "normal" persona, instead of the other way around which is pretty cliche.

Also I just want to add that writing about clown humor effectively is hard. It is extremely visual. Saying "The clown chased his hat across the ring" is entirely different then seeing it. A adequate visual rendering would take a page or two.

All that being said there is a lot of drama behind the scenes of any production, and a circus is definitely no exception. So the impulse is good. Good luck and tell us how it goes.

Also some possibly helpful threads:
The Amazing clown resources thread!
Articles on clowning
Choosing a clown name (one of the articles)

edit: I forgot got to say "Howdy and welcome to the forum."

So howdy Johnny and welcome to the forum!

[Duckie]

Personally, I don't like the idea. Sorry, but we clowns spend sooo much time trying to downplay all the bad vibes out there about who we are and what we do that another "Homey" type thing is not very appealing to me.

Just my oppinion, I guess there are those out there that would like to read it. I like Snugs idea much better!!!! Make the bad guy just that a bad guy, his clown persona is his good side!!!!

[pixcoco]

all people have a good side and a bad side. Keep your charactors multi-dimentional. It makes for a more interesting and real person.

Not all clowns even use a seperate clown name. I the circus it is common in fact for not to have a clown name.

[tim]

I agree that this concept is too cliche and overdone.

What you want is human drama. Perhaps even comic drama. Something which presents the natural tension between good and evil which everyone struggles with in life.

Why not turn it the other way around? Make the clown the one who is despised. Actually, I think that is much more true to life, including historic circus life. Or perhaps the clown can be some sort of in-between who is crucial in resolving another conflict which exists in the circus.

But "twisted clowns" are just so passe. I mean, after Steven King, why would you want to even try to go the same thing again?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Personally I'd rather you find a new topic to base your 'sick,twisted and dark humored' novel on.

Clowns get enough flack from bad media as it is already.

[Calavera]

Sigh....listen, the only person to ever do an "evil clown" story well was King. Since then, we have seen a lot of imitations and all of them run stale and are unoriginal.
However, if you are so insistent upon writing an "evil clown" story, then I strongly advise checking out the book "Life Expectancy" by Dean Koontz. Rather than taking King's approach, he wrote a novel that featured criminals who happened to be clowns. They were not fully painted as clowns, but as people who had that particular occupation.
I cannot stress that enough..make your characters HUMAN instead of them just being clowns 24/7.

[JohnnyBoy]

Hello everyone I just thought I'd let you know I have changed my situation on the story. I have decided to make the characters not really 'evil' but pretty much badass tough people with a crazy (in a good way) sense of humour. They are not going to be evil, psychotic clowns like Pennywise, The Joker, or Konrad Beezo like in the book 'Life Expectancy' by Dean Koontz. (Yes I have read it and it sort of got my interest of clowns started.) I will try as hard as I can to make the clowns have more than one side to them than just the crazy clown form, well I may have some exceptions there

Well that's all I have to say now I'll have to keep you all updated on my progress as it develops

EDIT: btw does anyone know if they still shoot clowns out of cannons in carnivals and if so what is the technique? thanks!

[Fitzwilly]

Tim would probably know better but there is a difference between a circus which usually has clowns and a carnival which usually doesn't. Carnivals use clown images quite frequently but rarely do they have actual clowns. The clowns would slow down the action of a carnival and a carnival exists solely to empty the pockets of the patrons as quickly and as unobtrusively as possible (in some ways similar to the government.)

Your revised character ideas fit well with the typical Carny. They lead a rough life, always moving from town to town and generally thought little of. The barkers for the different carnival games need to be charismatic and outgoing (which would fit with your "crazy (in a good way) sense of humour" but they still need to be tough to handle themselves in some of the more "unpleasant" situations they run across.

In this day and age I would expect that most cannons are air powered. Explosives would be too dangerous (and loud) and while mechanicals (springs and such) would be possible I think that compressed air, or some sort of piston would be the most reliable and safe.