Wednesday Writing Tip: Invigorate Your Stories with Humor

I’m a humor writer. My Bash and the Pirate Pig series of novels are farm adventure novels full of silliness. I write a weekly humor column that runs in local newspapers in northeast Ohio. I attempt to inject smiles, chuckles and guffaws into everything I write.

You should too.

“Oh, surely not in my dramatic suspense horror spy novel!” you say.

Absolutely.

• WHY should I write humor?

A snicker—even a nervous one—provides tension relief.

A light moment disguises the next jolt of adrenalin that’s about to hit your reader.

Laughter makes scenes, thoughts, and characters memorable.

Humor shows humanity. It’s a major coping mechanism most of us use when facing danger or trauma. We try to laugh something off, sometimes even when it’s inappropriate to do so.

A joke reveals your characters’ varied personality—the guy who always has the wisecrack, the pithy remark, the grump… It makes characters real.

Humor quickly and naturally establishes the depth of your characters’ relationship. Friends tend to tease each other and giggle together.

Being funny is serious business for your writing.

• WHAT types of humor are there?

Misdirection—Readers think your about to say one thing, but your punchline goes somewhere else, like in this classic Steven Wright joke: “I’ve been getting into astronomy, so I installed a skylight. The people who live above me are furious.”

Exaggeration—“When she saw the snake, she jumped so high that she banged her head on a star.” That’s impossible, but it makes a funny picture.

Sarcasm—Yeah, right, like that works.

Pun—This is when you really get to play with words: “The grammarian uses comma sense.”

Irony—You express what you mean with words that usual mean the opposite. When he dropped the dishes, she said, “Good job, Joe.”

Surprise / incongruity—The next words or actions are opposite of what we expect, or these things don’t fit together. Here’s the famous Groucho Marx joke: “One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.”

Slapstick—That’s when you’re slipping on banana peels and taking pies to the face.

• HOW do I write humor?

What’s the best way to write humor? By NOT trying to be a jokester. Forcing humor makes it feel just that—forced.

Humor is an everyday occurrence and it should flow naturally from your prose.

Research (this is fun!). Read comic books. Read joke books. Read funny novels. Listen to Tim Hawkins’ goofy song parodies. Soak up the silliness.

Observe. Life is full of absurdities. Look for them. Embrace them.

Comedian Don Novello said look for an everyday situation, then take it to its next ILLOGICAL conclusion. For example, you see plastic lawn chairs everywhere. What if, he said, they are space invaders on a mission to spy on and take over the earth? Suddenly, you notice all the strange places you can spot plastic lawn chairs and you can build funny stories around them.

Play. Book critic George Scialabba once said, “Imagination is intelligence having fun.”

I say writing is playing with words. Imagination is playing with scenes, situations, thoughts and speech. Have fun and the humor will come out and enjoy a few games too.