When I was a kid I grew
up with a father and his family who had escaped Communist Russia during the
Stalin purges. We very rarely laughed.
My father, the head of our household, saw nothing to laugh about. As a
matter of fact on my wedding day he became very annoyed that Ron and I were
being silly and joking with each other. "Now be serious, Anna," he
said. "Getting married is nothing to laugh about." Actually it was
probably one of the reasons I fell in love with my husband. He laughed a lot
and could find the humor in almost anything. And so in the years we have been
together I have learned to laugh.
When I wrote my
mystery/thriller book Justice Forbidden
I deliberately snuck in some humor even though the plot is serious. And in the
next fiction book that I am presently writing in the Justice series, I am adding even more humor. Why?
If we didn't have humor
in our lives when things got tough, where would we be? Probably even more
anxious and depressed. The thing is, that the world is pretty stressed out
right now and many people are reacting with anxiety and anger. That's okay.
People have automatic emotions when they listen to the news and for each person
the emotion may be different. But don't forget. We all have choices about how
we will respond and act. Can you see the problem from a different perspective?
Can you turn the picture upside down or at angles and see the funny aspect of
it? Comedians have a great way of doing just that. If you can laugh at a
situation it will help you cope with what is going on.
Patrick McManus, who
lives here in North Idaho, is one of the great humorists in this country today.
I hope all of you have read some of his books. My favorite of the books I read
was Never Sniff a Gift Fish. Most of
his stories are about his adventures in the woods, rivers, and lakes in the
Sandpoint area, just north of Coeur d'Alene. The last book before he stopped
writing in 2000, is one he wrote to teach humor writing. The Deer on a Bicycle: Excursions into the Writing of Humor. In his
book he included several tips. So if you are interested in writing humor, here
are a couple:
1. Never write real-life humor. I would probably say
don't write real life humor if the audience you are trying to reach cannot
identify easily with what has happened. Probably Johnny falling off the canoe
was hilarious to the family because they knew him, and knew his particular
personality, but most of your readers will say, "HUH?"
2. Write about your bad experiences, not your good ones. Write about your
failures, your fears, and situations others have experienced as well and say,
"Yeah, that's me," or "That's what happened to my dad,
alright."
3. Write about personality quirks. My character, Evelyn Frampton, in Justice Forbidden, is an elderly,
eccentric, but very loving neighbor who runs around helping Faythe capture the
murderer by hitting the presumed criminal over the head with a wine bottle. She
also gets rid of her dandelions by
slurping up puffballs with the vacuum cleaner. Also create two characters who
play well off each other like Lucy and her friend in the ancient but very funny
show, "I Love Lucy."
4. Use exaggeration but not so much that it seems completely
implausible. You must be able to
imagine the situation and see how funny it would look. Of course if you earlier
read the title of Patrick McManus' book, The
Deer on the Bicycle, you might say, "A deer on a bicycle? That's
crazy." But you can see it in your
mind and it would probably make you laugh. Most people are willing to suspend
reality for a while if not too absurd. Another
one of his stories is called, "A Bear in the Attic," and it's
hilarious. I am finding this technique to be one of my favorites to create
humor for my books.
5. Say or do the opposite of what someone would expect you
to say or do.
Although McManus does not mention this technique, I have found that the element
of surprise in humor is very effective. I have heard many people use it,
including me, and it works really well as long as it is funny and not hurtful
to someone. Of course that's true for all humor. Using four letter words over
and over for shock value looses it's effect, and for me just turns into shock.
The more I read and
learn about writing humor, and practice it in my writing, the more fun it's
becoming. And yes, I'm getting better at
it.
If you have any other
great ideas and comments about writing humor to help the rest of us schmucks,
let us know.
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