Fiction Humor Books:
Creating Hysterical Fiction

Any genre can be made funny - though some lend themselves more to humor than others. I personally don't see much funny in horror, but a good laugh now and then will certainly break the tension.

But will your readers think it's funny, too? Or will they run screaming because you've ruined your great build-up? Do use it wisely.

Not everyone can write funny. And not everyone's sense of humor seems funny to everyone else.

My sense of humor (leaning toward the absurdities in my everyday, overworked world) is quite different than that of say a seven-year-old boy (who tends to think bathroom humor hilarious). So, depending on who you're writing for, you may need to angle your humor differently.

And please don't try to make me laugh on every page. Just like anything else in life, too much can make a person sick. It quits being funny and starts being annoying. So use humor it deft, small doses.

The humor in my books (which aren't fiction humor books, per se) comes from knowing my characters well enough to have them tease each other. It's usually funny, if not hysterically so, but it isn't every page or every scene. That wouldn't fit with the type of fiction I write.


A Jolt of Hysteria

But HOW can you insert that jolt of mild hysteria into your humor fiction books?

Start by looking at life. Life is funny. Look around you. It'll hit you when you least expect (and want) it.

You've just started losing your pregnancy weight - finally - when your two-year-old asks in a loud voice in the middle of the library, "Mommy, why is your butt so fat?"

Yes, that's sure to get a snigger behind many a hand at the library. So use it as a springboard for your next piece of fiction. Give someone else that child from Hades who speaks clearly and loudly only when most inappropriate.

Look for everyday illogical and ridiculous situations. Why is that lady putting her mascara on with both hands while she's driving 80 MPH down the freeway? Maybe there's some humor in there somewhere (as long as she doesn't cause you to crash!). Let that percolate in the rich playground of your deviated mind, and you'll come up with something silly, I bet.

Or, get punny. Like the play on words in the headline of this page. Plenty of people know and love historical fiction (myself included). But I can't stop myself from thinking humor fiction books would be better known as hysterical fiction. (I might confuse the less literate, though...)


It's Only Funny Until Someone Gets Hurt...
Then It's Hysterical

If you think in pratfalls, it pays to be exceptional at "showing" with your words. Otherwise, your funny falls flat. No one can SEE your book the way they see a movie. They have to envision. So create that funny-vision with care to detail.

Much humor takes on the stereotypes in our world - sometimes not so nicely. Be careful here because you will offend some people if your funny-bone's connected to group targets like age, weight and ethnicity. You either need a tough skin or to keep your humor non-group-specific.

Another way to add humor to your work is through characters that are funny themselves. Maybe you know someone who wants to be funny but can't quite pull it off. Without using the actual person you know, play that up until it's funny how un-funny your character is. Usually these types of characters are more caricatures than characters, so give them appropriately goofy names to go with their personalities.

Weird settings can also bring laughs to you fiction humor books. Try to think of the most incongruous setting for your romance, for instance: maybe falling in love in a cave full of bat guano... That's got to tickle a few snickers out.


Plotting to Be Punny... ah, Funny

Even your plot can be comic. One bad step leads to another, leads to another. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series not only has a somewhat comic character as its lead, but the situations she gets into are crazy, too.

Two things make most of these methods work: exaggeration and understatement. Your comedic character can be way overboard with oddball traits. It will only make him funnier. Your tough-as-polished-nails heroine can downplay her extreme kick-boxing ability as "It's just my PMS." Both will make your readers laugh.

Anything unpredictable or absurd can make your fiction humor books ring with laughter. The more absurd the better. Pay attention to the bizarre dreams you have. They're fodder for your irreverence, too.

And by all means, keep a journal! Anything you see or hear or dream can be the inspiration for your next comic masterpiece. But if you don't write it down, you'll never remember it.

So go ahead. Make me laugh. I'll feel better and so will you!