Humor in Fiction- Reflections of a Sit-down Comic (Part Two)

My last blog post was part of a talk on humor that I gave this weekend at a mini-writer's conference at Read It Again and Again Bookstore in south Houston. Last post we stopped here:

If you’re willing to face the risks of writing humor, then how do you add humor to a book?

Very carefully.

Actually everything you add to a work of fiction should be added carefully.

I realize this isn’t a news flash to most writers. If you’ve spent any time trying to be a better writer, you know that writing is a craft that takes care to get it  “right.” We writers have been known to disagree on what’s “right.” Sometimes to the point of flaming each other.

There is information out there about writing humor. It shouldn’t surprise you to know, I don’t agree with everything others have to say on the topic. I once heard a very popular author give a talk on humor some years ago and she said, seriously, she wasn’t joking, she said “Women’s humor is kinder than men’s.”

I wanted to raise my hand and say, “So you’ve never been in a girl’s locker room in high school?” This was before the movie Mean Girls. But she shouldn’t have needed a movie about mean girls to know they exist. I think what she was trying to say is that men and women perceive humor differently, but that doesn’t track with my experience either. People can experience humor differently, but men and woman can and do laugh at the same things. I have seen this with my own eyes. Yes, it is true that we don’t always laugh at the same things and yes, there are jokes that are gender oriented, but I believe that for the most part, humor is divided by experience, not gender. Your life experience affects your point of view in all aspects of writing. It is what makes us—and our writing—unique.

Years ago, I saw this postcard that said, “It’s funny, but where ever I take my eyes, they always see things from my point of view.”

Your sense of humor will flow from your experience, so how and what humor you inject into your work will be different from the humor I inject into my books. And readers will react based on their experience.

If everyone has a point of view, and if everyone has their own experiences that shape that point of view, shouldn’t it mean we can’t share anything? Thankfully it doesn’t. We have and continue to find common ground. It does mean that not everyone will get your humor, so if you expect to make everyone laugh, you will be disappointed. Settle for making some people laugh. You can work on everyone later.

Humor finds its way into a book three ways. It comes from character. It comes from plot or from a mix of both.

A work of fiction can be consistently funny, laugh out loud funny, quietly funny or an author can sprinkle humor into a book like rest stops for the reader, a break from the drama or suspense. Shakespeare used comic relief in his dramas. And he used drama for contrast in his comedies. I tend to start with a character that has a humorous or wry point of view, though I have also started with whacky situations and then peopled a book with characters who would get into those situations.

How you add humor will depend on the type of book you are writing.

I can’t have humor without a thread of serious.

I like the contrast of light and dark. That contrast makes each element more intense. How much serious depends on the book. I have some books that are funny, with elements of suspense and some books that are seriously suspenseful, with elements of humor. Different books, different balance.

Humor isn’t only a way to provide a respite for the reader, or provide contrast. Laughing makes us feel better, so letting readers laugh while they read your book gives them an endorphin boost. When they want to be cheered up, readers look for funny books.

Humor—or that endorphin boost—can help you build a bridge between the reader and your story.

Bridges are good. Bridges help build a fan base. Of course, the reader can choose to cross it or not. Some readers will run across the bridge, some will edge across, and some will shrug and turn away. Some will blow up your bridge. Not everyone will get your humor. Someone somewhere IS going to think you’re not funny. As I pointed out before, we’re lucky we can share anything.

Next post I'll cover other benefits of adding humor to your fiction. In the mean time, I'm...

...perilously yours,

Pauline