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This week we're talking about how to most effectively use runners in your short humor pieces—and no, we don’t mean making your characters marathoners, coming up with a hilarious jogging-related premise, or writing a piece in the voice of Usain Bolt. After that, we’ve got a recommendation for a local news outlet we think deserves your support.

What Makes A Runner Successful in a Short Humor Piece?

First, let’s define what we mean by a runner. Here’s a definition that we like to use: “A runner is a recurring joke or element that appears regularly throughout your piece, and heightens over the course of the piece, but does not directly follow from your central premise.” (They’re similar to what’s called a “subgame” in sketch and improv.) Runners are a great way to make a piece feel more satisfying—but there are also plenty of ways they can go wrong. So how do you make sure you’re incorporating them into your piece in a successful way?