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...

Skye Taylor 

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