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Comic Relief Help

Trick

Auror
In some recent perusal of this forum I've come to realize that I have no comic relief in my WIPs. At least none done on purpose. There are definitely no standard comedic characters and I'm fine with that but I'm wondering if anyone has struggled with this?

Anyone think it's not necessary for every book?

I can be funny face to face in a nerdy-wit kind of way but on paper I might be a little too serious...

(please no one ask, "Why so serious?")
 

teacup

Auror
Why so Ah, damn it.

I think you shouldn't try to have comedy in the story if it isn't natural. What's worse, no humour at all, or someone really trying to be funny and it just not working?
I would say that not every book needs comedy/comedic characters. If a character or scene works well being funny, and you can pull it off, I say go for it. Just don't try too hard to be funny, if you can be funny, and it works with the scene then by all means go ahead, just don't force it.

If you're wanting comedy then why not try turning your "face to face nerdy wit" into dialogue? If you have a character who isn't too serious they could probably do it, just don't break character just for some laughs. Maybe just write a scene and fit some comedy into it if it is suitable, and see how you go, and see how people like it.

Well, that's my opinion on the matter, though I should say that I do enjoy humour in novels (both reading and writing) when it works well.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
As I said in a previous thread, no one will ever review your work and say, "It's a great story, but it wasn't funny." Never try to force humor just because you think you need to add it for some reason. If it's natural for your narrative voice to be serious, then be serious. In our work, my writing partner and I incorporate humor, but only when it is natural for the characters to be humorous - of course, this results in some very ghoulish funny, as we write dark urban fantasy, but people do tend to react to stressful situations with off-color jokes. And comedy is just tragedy, with timing. ;)

Write what is natural for you. If a situation arises in your story that you find to be humorous, then flow with it... otherwise don't try to work it too hard.
 

Trick

Auror
It makes me feel better to know that having little to no comedy may not be as off-putting as I had imagined. I guess I've just read some novels with great comedy expertly blended into the story and I don't want to leave holes in my work that I could have filled.

Who knows, maybe I'll end up with comic relief naturally. That would be nice.
 

Grimwen

New Member
*enthusiastic nodding* I'm just going to agree with everyone here, alright?

Please, please don't put in comedy for the sake of comedy, I can't imagine that working well... In fact, I can think of quite a few examples of 'trying to be funny and failing so spectacularly the story fell flat', and no cases at all of 'wasn't funny, didn't like it.' (For me, if books seem too serious, it's mostly because the characters seem more like well-oiled ideals than real people.) Also, characters who seem to be there for no other purpose than being funny... meh. It seems forced. On the contrary, round characters with different personalities just being themselves usually end up being funny (to me, at least) without even knowing it themselves.

One last thing: nerdy wit is awesome. Go for it! :D
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
For me, I tend to write un-funny pieces. However, I like to keep it real and humor (however awkward) is a part of life. I don't ever consciously throw anything in TO BE FUNNY, but sometimes, it just happens. I think genuine humor is well accepted by readers, but they're smart enough to know when it's forced.

If you're worried about it, some things I do for my own amusement, are have two characters fight. Not a full-on insult-slinging free-for-all, but sometimes when people disagree, it gets amusing for the others watching the scene play out. I've done that a time or two when groups travel together. you know, sharing close quarters and all.

I guess my point is that humor should feel natural. Maybe you have one character who's a little less serious than the others. I used one character who wasn't directly cracking jokes, but had a snarky way about him. Readers found him funny. I didn't intend it, really, but it worked, so I rolled with it.
 

Nameback

Troubadour
I agree with what other posters have said--humor isn't a necessary component of your work. Humor is certainly an important part of life, but we choose which parts of life to highlight in a narrative. Inevitably, some parts of the human condition will be left out, must be left out. No author in history has ever created a world as rich and diverse and complete as human existence, so I wouldn't beat yourself up about choosing to put your emphasis and your authorial gaze on areas of life that don't have much humor.

That said, I do think it's admirable to try to make your world as complete as possible, without sacrificing the integrity of your work. And humor is a very big part of human life, so rendering it truthfully will add to the verisimilitude of your work. So, not necessary, but if you can make it work, I'd argue it's worthwhile. I'd say give it a shot--write a few short practice scenes with your characters (just ~200-500 words) and see if you can write something you think is funny. If you feel like there's potential there, then I'd recommend working at it--and if you feel that it doesn't mesh with your established tone, or it feels forced and unfunny, then don't worry about it.
 

Nameback

Troubadour
Since I've been whoring my work around lately, here's an excerpt from my "comic relief" chapter. There's also plenty of serious tone and plot movement in the chapter, but there's more humor than in any of my others.

[some coarse language and adult themes follow]

"After a few minutes, she came to another clearing littered with crumbling ruins, suitable for her purposes. She took off her cloak and laid it down on a smooth granite slab, before lying down on it. As she unlaced her breeches and pulled them down—slightly alarmed at how loose they were fitting these days—she imagined a scene more appealing than the ones she had been seeing in the glyphs. A strapping, glistening stable boy—make that two—and an inviting bed of hay. Where are the horses, though? Oh, you each have a stallion of your own? Where are they? Oh, my, I see!

It wasn’t long before the glade was filled with her moans and gasps, increasing in volume and frequency. Just as Hyriope was finally getting somewhere, she heard the crash of falling stone, and a loud curse. She froze, and opened her eyes, looking to her right, where the sound had come from. Standing there was a giant, pulling a weathered rock off his foot.

“Oh shit.

Typical. She finally had found a quiet moment to herself, and now she was going to pay for it by being eaten by a giant. The gods themselves were conspiring against her—she was sure of it. While the Errald lifted the heavy stone, Hyriope raced to pull up her breeches and haphazardly tie them. Leaving her cloak behind, she vaulted off of the granite slab, gripped the waist of her pants, and took off running for Ghira. As she ran through the dense forest, she could hear the sounds of the giant crashing through the underbrush growing closer and closer with each heartbeat. Just as the beast seemed to be within arm’s reach, she made it back to the ruins, and shouted to Ghira.

“Ghira! Giant! Run!” she cried out between gasps.

Hyriope had raised her arms to wave them wildly as she yelled—a decision that she realized, too late, was a poor one. Her teacher looked up just in time to see Hyriope’s breeches fall down around her boots, tangle her running legs and send her face-first into a puddle of muck. This was it. This is how she would die: bare-assed and face-down in the mud. Just like mother always said."
 

Trick

Auror
This is how she would die: bare-assed and face-down in the mud. Just like mother always said."

Out of thanks yous for a few more hours but I say thank you to both Caged Maiden and Nameback!

Nameback, I like that you made the actions funny while remaining dangerous and keeping the tension. That is something I'll be considering as I work on writing something worth laughing at (and hopefully just because it's funny)
 

ecdavis

Troubadour
I think it should follow the natural flow of things. I wouldn't try to put something funny in, just to have some comedy, but if it seems to fit the situation, then go for it. I think movies are what has made a lot of people think you need a 'comic-relief' character in a book. So many movies have the buffoon who is (I guess) supposed to break up the drama. More times than not they just really annoy the crap out of someone. I think it is more believable to have a character once in a while say or do something humorous, but only if it fits his or her personality and the situation.

To me, a character placed into a book for comic-relief makes the book feel as if it was meant to be read by younger people who might not be able to handle all the high tension of the book.

On the other hand, there are many books that get a bit carried away with this tension and while reading it you begin to think that if these characters were real they would have snapped long ago from the stress. Common sense is what a writer needs when placing something humorous in their book.
 

kayd_mon

Sage
If you do choose to add comic relief to your writing, then make sure you run it by a few other readers to see if it's actually funny. The book I am currently reading has two characters that are supposed to provide comic relief, but they never say anything funny. This detracts from the story, and causes me (as a reader) to hate those characters. It's best to avoid this sort of thing.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Yeah, okay.

You're a writer, and humor is a writing skill. It follows the same basic premises as all of the other writing skills. It's something you can - you should - be willing to learn. Drew Carey famously said that he learned how to tell jokes at a book in his library. I've done it, and I never thought I could.

It doesn't have to be a priority. I can't answer that for you. And as others have said, doing it poorly will hurt a lot, while missing it won't even register.

But what I mean to say is, don't let humor and comedy intimidate you. You can pick it up, when you're ready to.
 

Nameback

Troubadour
Out of thanks yous for a few more hours but I say thank you to both Caged Maiden and Nameback!

Nameback, I like that you made the actions funny while remaining dangerous and keeping the tension. That is something I'll be considering as I work on writing something worth laughing at (and hopefully just because it's funny)

Yeah, I think a good idea is to mesh humor in with other things. I originally set out to write the characters introduced in this chapter as primarily comic relief, but by the end of the chapter I fell in love with all three of them (Hyriope, Ghira, and the giant, who the end up befriending), and realized that they had a lot of depth to explore.

Anyway, glad you found my post helpful. :)
 

Nameback

Troubadour
Yeah, okay.

You're a writer, and humor is a writing skill. It follows the same basic premises as all of the other writing skills. It's something you can - you should - be willing to learn. Drew Carey famously said that he learned how to tell jokes at a book in his library. I've done it, and I never thought I could.

It doesn't have to be a priority. I can't answer that for you. And as others have said, doing it poorly will hurt a lot, while missing it won't even register.

But what I mean to say is, don't let humor and comedy intimidate you. You can pick it up, when you're ready to.

Very good advice! And as an add-on to that idea, find a book that you personally find funny and try to emulate the techniques used therein. Honestly, I don't think it even needs to be a novel--any humorous prose book will do, assuming it has narrative essays.

Anything from David Sedaris to Catch-22 can be good for learning how to write humorously. I personally went and re-read a couple of my favorite David Sedaris essays before writing my comic characters.
 
There was a similar thread to this only a couple of months back, in which I opined at length and couldn't be bothered doing so again, but in a nutshell: if you are genuinely funny, you'll know it, and will naturally write comedy into your work no matter dark and serious it is otherwise. If however you do not KNOW yourself to be funny then do not try to be in your writing. If something just happens to come out funny, then great, but there is seriously nothing more pathetic than a person trying to be funny who is not.

Remember Lieutenant Steve in Good Morning Vietnam? You want to seem like him do you?
 
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