Don't You Hate Book Tours?
“The
trick to pulling a rabbit from a hat is to have the rabbit already in there.”
– Mark Twain
I'm not here today. The A2Z has begun and I am the first poster on deck at the Really Real Housewives Click here to visit)!
But have no fear...I left you in the very best of hands!
Welcome Roland to the blog!!!
Roland Yeomans here:
This is not an April Fool’s Day post in my “Don’t You Hate Book Tours?” Book Tour.
Yet it is. It
is about humor in your writing and in mine.
Why should we be concerned at all about humor when
writing our novels?
What are the bits of dialogue you repeat to friends
after seeing a movie that wowed you? The
funny parts.
They stick in the minds of your readers like
cockle-burrs and become internet chatter that grows into that all-important Word
of Mouth.
Humor also teaches you crucial writing lessons.
Writing humor teaches you a great deal about vital
prose skills such as pacing and artful word choices that casts the mood you
wish in your tale.
Even in terrible situations, people joke with one
another or see something funny – be in combat or the ER for a few days and see
for yourself.
A few moments of humor peppered throughout your novel
can make your characters and situations seem more realistic and deepen your
readers’ connections with them.
You should develop as many skills as possible because
you can never be certain when you might need to switch gears in order to punch
up a scene.
Comedy can disarm the reader.
This can be useful for a number of reasons.
It may leave the reader or the characters off guard
and not expecting a sudden injection of tension or fear. It may allow a writer
to introduce an uncomfortable subject.
Writing humor successfully relies on things like
timing, vocabulary, tone and even the length of sentences. It may take more
effort than any other type of writing, but it is crucial that it look
effortless.
USE YOUR OWN MATERIAL:
If you say
something funny or make a laughable slip of the tongue, make a note of it, and
see if you can use it in something you’re working on.
JUXTAPOSE TWO UNEXPECTED THINGS:
This can be absurd or it can simply produce a funny
contrast.
For example, using an elevated tone to describe an
event like a mud-wrestling contest might be funny.
USE THE RULE OF THREE:
This is about
the rhythm of our language.
The idea is to establish a pattern in the reader’s
mind and then throw the pattern off. Three is used because it is the minimal
number possible to establish this pattern.
“The
moment was unforgettable – the loveliness of the pale redhead in front of me,
the longing for me in her vampire eyes, and the diarrhea in my pants.”
DELIVERY IS EVERYTHING:
Pay attention to elements such as the setup, the word
choice and the payoff.
Jokes and other humorous moments will need to be
revised more than once just like any other aspect of your novel.
Experiment with
different ways of writing your humorous scene to see if things like shorter or
longer sentences or changes in tone affect how it comes across.
HUMOR in THE
NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD:
Having Mark Twain in my Steampunk novel, how could I
not have humor in it?
Whether he is being hung over a pit of sulfuric acid,
riding to a death-trap surrounded by deadly Comanche, or trying on a pair of
poisoned kid gloves to impress a beautiful vampire, Mark Twain makes you laugh
despite the deadliness.
At the end of the novel, even Horace Greely gets into
the act and becomes unintentionally funny during the worst train robbery in
history.
***
AN EXAMPLE:
Sammy Clemens slapped me on the shoulder. “Captain Sam,
don’t be so down. Why in no time a’tall
Georgia will be all re-people-ated.”
Eleven year old Nikola Tesla sighed, “Sir, that is repopulated.”
Sammy bristled, “Young man, who is the native born
Amurican, and who is the immigrant here?”
“You are native born, sir, but it is still repopulated.”
Sammy turned to Meilori, whose memory stretched back
farther than the flow of blood through Eve’s veins. “See, Lady Meilori? This
is the gratitude of the immigrant.”
Slanted eyes, which had viewed the construction of the
Sphinx, sparkled, “To me and the race I rule, you humans are all immigrants.”
Sammy snorted, “Oh, sure, turn philosopher on me. But you will recall what happened to old
So-crates.”
(He’d turned the last syllable into the word for a
wooden box.)
“Sir, his name is pronounced …” began little Nikola
but Sammy covered the boy’s lips with his fingers.
Meilori’s eyebrow arched dangerously, “I prefer my
hand to take my enemies’ lives and
not my own.”
Sammy bent down to Nikola. “And that, my lad, is why us single males
should stay single!”
***
So will you take a chance on laughter and go to my
book’s Amazon page?
Cost of the adventure of a lifetime and laughter? Only $9.99!
More on Mark Twain:
***************
Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in! My good thing of the week!
Today is my first column for an online magazine.
(It's a paying gig! Like Tonja Drecker- I'm earning me some ice cream.)
 |
| Check it out HERE! |
Roland really needs to take all the blog posts he's written for people recently and make a book out of them! It'd be infinitely helpful to new authors!
ReplyDeleteThanks for thinking so, Randi. I try to make my posts helpful to more people than just me!!
DeleteWhat a wonderful post and such interesting reading. Thank you Roland.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Thank you, Yvonne, for thinking so.
DeleteA story that is all seriousness is draining on the reader.
ReplyDeleteAND a movie, too ... which is one of the chief complaints about Bats vs. Supes, right?
DeleteGreat post! Humor is a big part in my writing, and I love books that make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIf a book doesn't make me laugh, I usually put it down.
DeleteAll the dark and dreary can drain indeed. Rather have humor any day.
ReplyDeleteMe, too! Laughter is one thing we can generate ourselves, right?
DeleteGreat post, Roland. I love adding humor to my stories, mostly through dialogue. It's fun to write!
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on the magazine column, Elizabeth!
Thanks, Julie. I enjoy writing Mark Twain -- he makes me smile with his dialogue. And yes, congrats on the magazine column, Elizabeth!
DeleteIt's absolutely true that humor in a story (particularly a tension-filled one) is super important. Wishing Roland much success.
ReplyDeleteYay for your new PAID online writing gig - that's so cool! Congrats! :)
Humor persuades the reader to let down his guard so that the surprise hits her harder. :-)
DeleteHumor is a difficult thing to write, especially because it has to look effortless.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that the fact that I have an odd sense of humor...
Odd humor may bring you a slew of new readers! Try it for a short story and see what happens. :-)
DeleteI always worry that the funny things I put in will just be stupid to other people. I used to take them all out. It's taken me a long time to trust myself and leave them in.
ReplyDeleteUsually your instinct will serve you true in this.
DeleteHumor can be tricky to write, but is so necessary even in the most dramatic/serious situations. Enjoyed the post!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. Humor is hard, but then so is writing a good novel -- we just have to go with it and try our best. :-)
DeleteMy husband once heard a comedian say the key to good comedy is "random specificity." If you'll notice, some of the best of today's comedians do just that. They'll make a list of normal things and the last will be something odd, for instance...but very specific, like Greek yogurt or pickled beets.
ReplyDeleteYes, the rule of three -- two common items followed by a very specific totally left field item can be funny indeed.
DeleteI wish I could write humor. Great post, Roland!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for thinking so, Cathrina. :-)
DeleteI love humorous books, too. They are incredibly difficult to write, though. Wonderful post with great tips, Roland.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked my post. :-)
DeleteCongrats Liz on the paid gig. Who doesn't love that green or in your case ice cream? Humor is good but so are dramatic and even sad moments that can stick with a reader or movie watcher.
ReplyDeleteHumor can intensify a dramatic or sad scene by preceding it. And I am so happy for Elizabeth, too!
DeleteGreat post, and yes, I use humor in everything. It's the best!
ReplyDeleteIt helps the day go better, right?
DeleteI love this. Thank you for the tips, as I'd really like to bring humor in my writing. The excerpt from The Not So Innocents Abroad is great.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you liked my excerpt. Twain makes everything better! :-)
DeleteOf course I don't hate them, I'm in the middle of one. LOL Happy book tour, Roland!
ReplyDeleteI am afraid that our tours are wearying our friends who see us all over the place as in "Enough about me. What do you think of me?" :-)
DeleteI love it when a writer can make me laugh while reading a story. It's a real talent who can do that, Roland. And if I can laugh during a book tour, you know there's talent involved. :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you laughed during this post. If you didn't, the ghost of Mark Twain will never let me hear the end of it! He doesn't get hysterical; he gets historical! :-)
DeleteGreat post
ReplyDelete@CazsBooks
http://cazgreenham.blogspot.com
Thanks, Caz!
DeleteGreat post! I love it when books have humor. And I had to laugh about your example of the "diarrhea in my pants"—looks like you succeeded there! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristin! Yes, if a vampire was closing in on me, my bowels would most definitely loosen!! :-)
DeleteA wonderful post full of tips and advice. Thanks Roland for sharing! Congrats on the release!
ReplyDeleteI try to help as well as hype my book. :-)
DeleteGreat tips. I appreciate humor in books and incorporate it in my own writing.
ReplyDeleteIt helps us lighten the mood right after or right before a scene of tension -- and it makes for great word of mouth, too! Thanks for liking my post!
DeleteHumor is so incredibly difficult. I'm ok at it, but working on getting better. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it is hard, but that is how we know it is essential for a good book. "Easy" paths usually go in the wrong direction, right? Ah, I just did it again, didn't I? :-)
DeleteLaughter is so good for the soul. A lovely post Elizabeth.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Roland. Great post with cool tips!
ReplyDeleteGood humor is challenging but so important. I always try to cushion my heavy material with playfulness and humor in a way that doesn't detract from either.
ReplyDeleteAs always, valuable advice, Roland. Thank you.