Genre Help: Humour
Today we’re focussing on HUMOUR.
Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. [x]
Humour can be inserted into any novel or any piece of writing, it can be used to relieve tension (comedic relief) or it can just to make readers chuckle.
Most books contain humour and there are many variants of humour.
TYPES OF COMEDY/HUMOUR
Black Comedy/ Dark Comedy: Jokes about dark subject matter, dealing with solemn subjects and often ‘making light’ of sad and distressing situations. Can also be known as ‘Gallows Humour’ [x]
Word Play: Is a literary technique and a form of wit. Often involves making puns or phonetic mix ups. It’s a very clever form of humour when used correctly. [x]
Surreal: Based on violation of casual reasoning and irrational situations. “We can speak of surreal humour when illogic and absurdity are used for humorous effect” [x]
Physical: Similar to slapstick, not a subtle sort of humour. Very often used in sitcoms and comedy shows as comedic relief. [x]
COMEDIC CHARACTER TYPES [X]
These all come from the brilliant article linked above, it helped me in making this article and I think it will help you lot!
The Buffoon: The silly/stupid character that is funny by accident. Think Homer Simpson. Misfortune seems to fall into their lap- nothing ever goes right for these characters.
The Clown: Similar to the buffoon except the clown usually downplays their intelligence to create humour, this is normally done on purpose by the character. A good example of this character could be Grover from Percy Jackson.
The Dupe: Or the one everyone makes fun of. Doesn’t normally realise they are being made a fool of. The ‘Straight guy’ in comic duo routines.
The Rascal: The troublemaker, mischievous, fun-loving. The type of person to put itching powder in your shorts. The Weasley twins are perfect examples of this type of comedic character.
The Scoundrel: Is funny by not being funny- the serious troublemaker who tries to put a wrench in things. (normally fails). This is where the humour stems from.
The Cocky One: I think we can all think of a cocky character that is hilarious, I think of Dean Winchester. Their humour is usually about themselves and their own abilities, it is this overconfidence that makes them hilarious!
These characters are exaggerations of certain characteristics, for your comedy characters you can mix and match these stereotypical characters to get your perfect fit.
I personally think Ron Weasley is a combination of a few of these, as are many ‘comedic relief’ characters.
HOW DO I WRITE COMEDY?
HUMOUR STYLES
“This is a topic of research for personality psychology related to the ways in which individuals differ in their use of humor in everyday life. People of all ages and backgrounds engage in humor, but the way they use it can vary greatly. Although humor styles can vary slightly depending on the situation, they tend to be a relatively stable personality characteristic among individuals. That is, individuals are fairly consistent in the ways they use humor over time.” [x]
For more information follow the links, this research is really interesting and could help you in creating believable characters. Maybe you can figure out which type you and your characters are.
Characters are more than just one aspect of themselves. Although you perhaps have created them to be funny, that isn’t and can’t be the case all the time. Even the comedic characters have personalities, problems and suffer from bouts of unhappiness.
All characters should be rounded!
SO GO FORTH AND CREATE HUMOUR!!!
-S
