How to write a funny character

[SwiftieDaughterOfAthena13]

For a new story I am planning, I was thinking of making one of the main characters the "funny" character. This character is a rogue spell crafter who illegally makes and sells spells. I do not have much planned out for this character, but I plan on attempting to make them the fan favorite, aka the one that the fans will obsess over. How do I make them funny but not stereotypical?

 

[Rexenm]

This is an interesting conundrum, but you gotta have meaning. I think that level of emotion is pretty much even throughout one story for another, but a good way to change these things is to present an obstacle.

I have this same issue, but reversed. Sometimes a character will turn out so differently, that it kinda weighs on them, but usually, it isn’t a problem.

 

[Penpilot]

It's basically the same as how to make a character hated, liked, etc. You have them do funny things, say funny things, and have a humorous outlook on life. If you don't want them to be stereotypical, give them a personality and traits that give them depth that make them more than just the funny one.

If you're not someone who's humour and outlook matches up well with how you imagine the character, writing them is going to be a lot tougher. You can't force humour.

 

[Finchbearer]

How many books have you read where there is a funny character? It’s not very often done, or it’s otherwise done through banter / dialogue between two characters. I think humour is a very difficult thing to write and of course everyone has different tastes in what they find funny.

 

[dollyt8]

In my experience, humorous characters are more liked when humor is their coping mechanism to cover up something tragic, as opposed to humor for the sake of humor. For example, Kelsier in Brandon Sanderson's books often injects the humor into a given situation, but he's lost his wife and been through the Pits of Hathsin as a slave. He uses humor to try to ease the worries of those around him. That's as opposed to a character that is just unfailingly and perpetually obnoxious and doesn't have a personal character arc. There needs to be faults, growth, etc. for these characters just like for any other, or they will become stereotypes made to fill a role rather than three-dimensional, whole people. And as Finchbearer said, it's usually more about banter than being the person everyone else is laughing at.

I don't know if this is helpful, but in my novel Loyalty Fallen, my "comic relief" character is a spy whose sister was sold as a slave by his own father. He uses comedy to disarm those around him and make them more likely to talk and reveal secrets, and he also uses humor to cover up his emotions when things get too "real." He loves making fun of the two main characters' messy romance (or lack thereof) and always has something to tease about. He's basically a self-appointed lord of chaos, spreading confusion and conflict wherever he goes just for fun. So far, everyone I've had read the book absolutely loves his character.

 

[Diana Silver]

I always fall for the characters who blantanly point out the absurdity of situations. Especially in fantasy/adventure there'll be more than enough opportunity to do that, and it usually lends itself very well for humor. If done well, it adds to the sense of realism of your world and the situations, because remarking how abnormal things have become, underscores that there is a 'normal' out there somewhere. By being intensely human, a character like that becomes a touch-stone in the sea of madness.

 

[pmmg]

I think a good case study for this is the original Star Wars movies, which had many funny moments, and the prequel movies, which had Jar Jar as a clown for the whole series. Which one worked well?

I dont really have comic relief characters in my own writing. There are some things I think are funny, but they are born of the situation, and the circumstances. There are some characters who are more likely to be funny than others, cause they have a world view and a coping mechanism that allows for it, but they are not meant to be clowns.

I think, with everything else, you just got to write the characters true, and if they are funny, then...they are funny. Personally, I would shoot for funny in the way Han Solo is, and not the way Jar Jar is.

 

[Diana Silver]

I think, with everything else, you just got to write the characters true, and if they are funny, then...they are funny.

Second this.

 

[Finchbearer]

I think a good case study for this is the original Star Wars movies, which had many funny moments, and the prequel movies, which had Jar Jar as a clown for the whole series.

You are talking about film here. A book (with text only) conveys humour differently from film. I know there is technically a Star Wars book, but even that was adapted from a screenplay (?).

 

[Mad Swede]

I don't usually attempt to write "funny" characters, at least not deliberately. The reason is that such characters don't fit the sort of stories I write. As a reader, I find that the most effective "funny" characters are those who are tragicomic. By this I mean that the humour and behaviour of the character arise from some tragedy or loss that the character has been through and is trying to hide or run away from. That gives real depth to a character, and can provide a contrast to other characters ways of dealing (or not) with loss and sadness. As an example try reading David Eddings The Belgariad and think especially about the character named Silk.

 

[The Dark One]

Ask yourself... are you funny? Deep down?

You don't have to be funny to write funny characters, but it helps a lot. There is nothing worse than attempted humour that doesn't land and there is a LOT of it - even in top selling books by famous authors.

In particular (in recent times) there is so much of that snarky/sarcastic wisecracking narrative that is supposed to be funny but is really just tedious. Even worse is the so called "banter" between buddy/rivals. Definitely avoid those.

The best hint I can give is that real humour emerges out of developing situations and how the characters respond. It's not just gags or attitude.

 

[The Dark One]

Here's something I prepared earlier...

The Secret of Being Funny

There is something about a certain type of writing that inspires physical change in readers. The process begins with a pleasurable sensation in the brain, leading to the spasmodic contraction of th…

adriandeans.wordpress.com

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Writing funny can be really hard. It can also be really easy. It just depends on how you find your funny.

My wife and I both have some pretty mad hax. She's the spawn of musicians, an entire family of entertainers, and I'm Irish - funny comes standard with the package, and then we got the extended warranty - and I'm the most recent offering in a long line of poets and liars and bastards and pirates. My mom was also an author and a satirist, and my dad was both intrinsically charming and very funny.

I grew up immersed in funny. There are people who think I'm funny as hell, without being my friend or me giving them money or anything. And it's still hard. But, funny still happens. And the reason it happens is because our funny happens naturally. Like a lot of the advice above, you can't successfully force a joke. The reader will always catch the false note and will not like.

But when the joke arises naturally, it can sing.

Okay, some examples. This one is from Faerie Rising: The First Book of Binding. Jessie is a teenager and one of our funnier characters, and so her inner monologue is a lot of fun to write. Sometimes it spills out of her mouth, and that's always fun, too.

~~~

“I don’t know. This guy does. Just let me up.”

The security guard rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Give me his name and I’ll call him.”

Yeah, okay… so it wasn’t Jessie’s best plan ever. “Uh, sure. Gimme a sec.” Why hadn’t she thought about that? She made lots of business deliveries for Curiosity’s, so the sneak-in-as-a-delivery-person idea had made perfect sense when she’d come up with it.

The only thing was she usually made those deliveries to the preternatural leaders and they were all people who knew her.

She turned her back on the big round desk and dug the receipt book out of her delivery bag while her mind spun at a frantic pace. She only knew the names of two people who worked here, and one was the guy who had kidnapped Cian. She really didn’t want the guard to call him. Even if he let her up to his nefarious lair where he was holding her friend prisoner, she could just imagine how that conversation would go. ‘Here, have some herbal lotion. I’m just going to grab this boy and run, now. Kthxbai.’

Yeah, that would fly like a lead turkey.

~~~

You can find the funny while running from demons. This is from Ties of Blood and Bone: The Second Book of Binding.

~~~

Alerich followed Etienne deeper into the vineyard, Fitz close behind him. Etienne’s eyes were full of questions for Alerich, but he did not seem like he was going to ask them while they were playing Hide and Seek with fire and demons.

Later. There would be a conversation later.

They came to the end of the row of vines—and ran right into a pair of demons. Before the demons could call out, Fitz grabbed his flask and flung his hand out with a Word of Command, and they both shrank down into…

Wasps? Really?

The wasps attacked, and Etienne swatted one down with enough force to crush it. Alerich cast his hand out at the other one, summoning the fire that coursed within him, and got stung in the process. He caught the demonic wasp in his hand and burned it to ash. Then he turned to Fitz and signed, “You had the whole of Animalia to choose from, and you chose something with a weapon?”

Fitz shrugged. “Seemed sporting.”

Alerich flipped two fingers at Fitz and shook out his hand, trying to control the rising pain and swelling, and set fire to the vines.

It was going to be a long night.

~~~

And a little preview for our fourth book and some time inside Fitz's head. He's one of our funnier characters, and also one of our most damaged. Here we have some actually serious questions hinted at in the funny.

~~~

Fitz’s phone buzzed against his hip, and he realized it had been doing so for a while. He flipped the phone over and gritted his teeth on a silent curse. Must have been a worse nightmare than he remembered to earn him a check in. I’m here. I’m sorry.

Fitz waited for the reply and knew he wouldn’t have to wait long. Cyrus was one of maybe two people Fitz knew who could type faster than him. Do you know how many times I’ve texted you?

Well, as you’re a one-man phone explosive, I imagine it was a lot.

Funny. You’re all right? No one’s kidnapped you and beaten you with a nood- Never mind. You’d like that.

Fitz snorted, a hint of a smile tugging the corners of his mouth. Dammit, Cyrus. Just when he was on the verge of working up a quality melancholy.

Do you need an extraction?

Fitz shook his head, though why when Cyrus couldn’t even see him… was probably on par to why Cyrus spoke and signed at the same time. No. I’m still at Mulcahy House.

The young lady hasn’t had the sense to put you out of house, yet?

Must be my rakish charm.

Couldn’t possibly. We disproved you have any years ago. Called in specialists. Cyrus paused, but Fitz knew it was more for effect than because he’d finally tapped through the screen. She does know she doesn’t have to put up with you, right? Rick’s a lock, now.

Fitz felt the tickle in his nose that told him he’d snorted. That, sir, was terrible. Funny, but terrible. And no, for some bizarre, maybe American, reason, she’s fond.

You misspelled ‘delusional.’

Fitz glanced at his screen. No, no, spelled ‘American’ correctly.