So, now that I have given you a lot of examples of satire, I am going to start giving you some advice on how to write satire on your own. Satire is, as previously stated, an extremely powerful tool and by using it you could make many points about life and society in a way that would make people listen.
In order to write good satire, it is of course important to understand what satire is about. Therefore, my first how-to-write-satire-lesson will be devoted to explaining the essence of satire. I think that one really good summary of what satire is about can be found in the Satire Cambridge Contexts in Literature Guide, where these eight essential characteristics of satire are listed:
- Satire reflects society
- Satire helps people to view others differently
- One of satire's purposes is to reform or change society
- Satire brings out points generally applicable to everybody
- Where an individual is the satirical target, satire should not be libelous (you should not make false and typically malicious statements about a person, you should not give the individual undeserved discredit)
- Satire helps people to work out the difference between folly and vice
- Satire is particularly concerned about pointing out hypocrisy
- Satire has a lofty aim: to prompt the good to improve the world
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