Saturday, April 18, 2020

Round Robin Blog Fest April 18

     

Welcome back to another Round Robin Blog Fest!
I would wish you a happy spring but it's snowing here and seems much more like December! Spring seems to have passed by us for this week. On the upside, it makes sheltering in place (aka self-isolation) much easier. Like everyone else, I've struggled to keep a sense of humor through all of this. Gawking at the craziness of the world as we watch and wait to see what happens next. The only thing that can really get us through, is a sense of levity.

Today's topic is:  How easy or difficult do you find including humor in your writing and/or have you ever incorporated a true life humorous event in your own life or the life of someone you know in a book you were writing? (Thanks to Skye Taylor for this one!)

I'm funny. My acting teacher told me so.
Actually, what she said was, "You're naturally funny. You don't have to act funny."
Translation, I had to rein it in a bit.
Just as I was learning to do that, acting class was cancelled due to some epidemic that was taking over the world. Naturally, I went back to writing novels and started to work on a script!

That said, I definitely find it easy to add humor into my writing. The best part is the ability to use funny situations from real life into my stories. For example, in my Wild Blue Mysteries, there are many scenes taken from real life. From Christina's gingerbread house collapse to situations involving Lucy's kids. My own kids were sometimes transcribed into the computer.

In my Gilda Wright Mysteries, there is a blend of reality and fiction, especially during the yoga and karate scenes. I studied karate for four years so some things were just too funny not to use!

I love to use comedy in my murder mysteries to lighten the mood and keep things from getting too dark, particularly since I tend to write cozies. I throw in a few one-liners for levity even when things are at their worst, but I tend to shy away from the slapstick.

From reading other books, I've learned that slapstick in a novel can become unrealistic and corny. Like my teacher said, "You don't have to act funny." I've stumbled across books with pages of Keystone Cop type comedy and find it makes the story lose credibility. What could have been a solid protagonist, suddenly becomes a bumbling cartoon character. 

Like many writers, I've been known to hear great lines on television and out in public. It's not a crime to use them. One of my favorites is still, "I'm a drinker with a writing problem." I actually used it in my first novella, Murder on Manitou.

And now off to see what my fellow bloggers have to say about humor in their writing...

Beverley Bateman 
Dr. Bob Rich 
Connie Vines 
Anne Stenhouse  
Margaret Fieland 
A.J. Maguire  
Victoria Chatham 
Judith Copek 
Rhobin L Courtright 

14 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your post. You have a great perception of humor and the ability to translate it into your stories.

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  2. I'm with you on slapstick. I'm not even a fan of it live. While I enjoy Harvey Korman, not a fan of The Three Stooges. But humor is definitely a part of life and belongs in our books.

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    1. I reviewed someone's book which I totally enjoyed until this long winded slapstick scene that put me off. I agree, humor is a great part of life and what helps us get through all the craziness!

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  3. Diane, I love the line about the drinker and writing. It's cold and rainy here -- that really cheered me up.

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    1. It's been snowy and cold here all week. I'm glad I could warm your spirit! That's still one of my favorite lines. I have bookmarks my publisher printed with them and will have to republish that novella.

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  4. I'm in the Chicagoland area, and folks are complaining about how cold it is, since we got about 4 inches of snow this week. But today is in the high 50's, so I'm not complaining. Husband's rule has always been not to plant the garden until Mother's Day. Last year he waited until Memorial weekend, because the late snows froze all of the buds off our fruit trees, which led to very few fruits for the rotten squirrels to steal and eat! Funny? Not to us! Grr!

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    1. In Canada, most people wait until the May long weekend. Risk of frost/snow is about the same as where you are! I tried growing corn one year. I gave my kids heck for taking off all the baby ears. Turns out we had a very fat chipmunk!

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  5. I enjoyed your post. We're still waiting for spring here, too. Interesting you're a natural comic and have to dial it back it up. It sounds like you use it well in your writing.

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  6. "Naturally funny". What a great gift! Enjoyed your post--I need to look into those yoga and karate scenes.

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  7. Oh, to be naturally funny! And if you can transcribe that into your writing, kudos to you. However, it seems like there is nothing funny about the weather from coast to coast to coast.

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    1. Right? Who needs icicles hanging off your nose in April? Not me!
      Webbed feet aren't appealing either!

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