How to handle jokes and humour within the story?

[Flaviosky]

Hi,

I've found particularilly hard to be satisfied on how to handle jokes and humour within a story that doesn't have comedy as a core theme. What would be a good way to deliver jokes from characters without having that taste of forceful laughter? (for example, menctioning that the line itself was funny and/or write that everyone laughed)

I seldom think that I may be forcing funny moments when there could be the case that there's nothing to laugh about.

 

[HareBrain]

for example, menctioning that the line itself was funny and/or write that everyone laughed

I really wouldn't do this. If the reader doesn't find the line funny, writing that the characters did makes them seem like idiots. Steven Donaldson's Covenant books contain a lot of characters laughing at things that weren't (to me) at all funny, and it just felt weird. (Donaldson seems to have learned "humour" from a cheap correspondence course.) I would focus on making the line funny in the first place, and even when you succeed, only mention the other characters' reactions if it's important.

But if you're not good at funny lines, don't worry too much. Though I really enjoy bits of humour in an otherwise serious story, if the book doesn't have any, it doesn't really detract if its other qualities are good.

 

[Toby Frost]

Is the joke meant to be funny to the characters, the reader, or the reader and the characters at once? The answer can change things a lot. A large amount of real-life humour relies on delivery and in-jokes, neither of which really works on the page. Unless the story is comedic, or the setting itself is absurd, I would avoid the characters doing this and just make them cheerful and friendly to each other, which will have much the same effect on the reader without the risk of jokes falling flat.

 

[Biskit]

Humour is arguably one of the most difficult things to get right. I use it a lot, even when I'm being serious (which is rare), but I make the joke for the reader, even though it might technically be something between the characters. I might consider mentioning a character laughing at something going on in the background, but if the "joke" is in the foreground then it needs to be runny for the reader, and either the reader gets it or they don't, and if that's the case telling them it's funny doesn't help. As @Toby Frost says, making jokes work on the page is difficult.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Humor needs to be in keeping with the character providing the line. The character's humor needs to be repeated and can't be a single, stand alone joke. Some situations where humor might be appropriate.

• If a character has a personal conflict with another, then it may be appropriate to have the character give a snarky, mild insult when the characters interact.
• If a character is a natural joker, then it may be appropriate to have the character deliver a pun or wry observation when entering a scene.
• If a character is a peace keeper, then it may be appropriate to have the character provide a light hearted comment or sever understatement when stressful situations arise.
• If a character is an over-planner, then it may be appropriate to have the character recount his or her plan, either before or after execution, to highlight the borderline absurdity of the plan.

In general, the humor should be in keeping with the character's personality. A one time joke doesn't fit this criteria. By having humor as an ongoing quirk, it doesn't matter if some of the jokes fall flat on the reader -- it will be in keeping with the character's personality. It is also unnecessary to have other characters react to the humor, except, perhaps, for the first time a character issues a humorous line.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Is the joke meant to be funny to the characters, the reader, or the reader and the characters at once? The answer can change things a lot. A large amount of real-life humour relies on delivery and in-jokes, neither of which really works on the page. Unless the story is comedic, or the setting itself is absurd, I would avoid the characters doing this and just make them cheerful and friendly to each other, which will have much the same effect on the reader without the risk of jokes falling flat.

Yes I agree. Is it two characters joking with each other or one person coming out with a humorous comment in a desperate situation? This is different and it happens all the time in real life.

If you are trying to inject humour or absurd/humorous situations into a book which is essentially not intended to be funny then that is a different matter, particularly if (as you mention) you don't feel that the situation demands it.

As has also been mentioned, the danger with humour is that it varies from person to person. But I would suggest reading (if you haven't already done so) Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for a story which seamlessly integrates the absurd into the storyline without (in my opinion) forcing it's humour onto the reader .

 

[Flaviosky]

Thanks a lot!

In fact, it isn't a story meant to be funny, but rather has a couple of characters that are prone to jokes, and also plenty of brief situations that are rather embarrassing that hopefully can inspire a smile on the reader.

I'll take a serious look of @Wayne Mack 's list and everyone's comments to check on my scenes.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Does it need to be a joke? Does it have to be funny?

Not all books have a lot of humour in them. I am currently reading one without a whole lot of humour.

If it does need to be funny try writing your joke then asking yourself how do I make this sillier.

If it just needs to be jokey as part of the character then the best way is to make the interaction so the reader knows this is your character's idea of a joke. You could simply use the tag:
"What is green and bounces round the garden? A spring cabbage," he laughed at his own joke.

His companion looked at him -- blank rather than responding with the what the f^^^ you on about that went through his head. This wasn't the time or place to start a fight.

 

[J-WO]

I agree with everyone in terms of not forcing it and not having the characters laugh in order to get across it's meant to be funny. In fact in a lot of comedy the characters don't realise they're being amusing, often because they're all too used to each other's company and have acclimatised to each other's eccentricities. In fact a lot of the funniest lines come out when characters are downright miserable at their circumstances. Red Dwarf is a good example here (being an SF comedy series). I bet if you went back and counted the amount of times the characters share a laugh or even laugh individually it's quite rare. To them, the situations they find themselves in are deadly serious. And yet it's hilarious to the rest of us.

 

[The Big Peat]

J-WO has a good point.

Humour in fiction is weird, and yet simple. Most people will say funny things at some point. Just let them do it. Don't force the jokes unless you want to write comedy. Don't force the reaction. If the reader smiles, well and good. If they didn't, trying to chase a reaction will chase them away.

To pick a few lines in books that made me smile recently:

“I could have chosen Eruthros for a sword brother,” he said.
“So you keep telling me.”
“He wouldn’t bother to chase a wandering pig.”
“Eruthros is dead. If he had the choice, I’ll wager he’d sooner be chasing a pig than walking through Hades.”

(Shield of Thunder, Gemmell)

“So that’s why you wanted us? Because of Kim?” It was Paul Schafer; the first words he’d spoken since arriving.
“Yes,” said the mage, simply.
“Damn!” tried Kevin softly. “And I thought it was my charm.”
No one laughed. Kim stared at Loren, as if seeking answers in the lines of his face, or the shifting patterns of his robe.

(The Summer Tree, Kay - note he does give the reaction but a) it is the one completely, totally natural to the characters and situation b) he's not trying to lead us along with him)

“And stabbed me,” put in Oskel. “But he’s not important. It’s Mawat who’s the problem. And we can’t just knife Mawat in an alley.”
“Much as we’d like to sometimes,” put in Okim.
“Well, apparently you couldn’t knife Eolo in an alley either,” said Hibal.

(The Raven Tower, Leckie)

“Fool of a Took!" he growled. "This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance.”

(Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien)

Notice that in a lot of those lines, the people complaining are doing so in complete seriousness, and that's what sets up someone else to have a laugh at their expensve.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Joss Whedon is someone who is really good at getting humour into tense situations. Firely in particular is full of funny character based lines. Humour when it's forced is a pain in the arse. It gets really irritating really fast. (Pace most of the 'funny bits' of any Star Trek episode you care to name.)

All my writing (mostly for comic strips) is gag based, I'm pretty much incapable of writing anything else. The one thing I will say about writing jokes with confidence is that there is only the One Basic Rule of Comedy. Is it funny?

If you don't think it's funny - if it doesn't make you laugh when you write it then how can you expect anyone else to?

 

[Steve Harrison]

I like using humour wherever I can, whether by deliberate choice or highlighting things I think are amusing in everyday life.

For example, I wrote a very dark thriller and my two main detectives often resorted to gallows humour as a kind of coping mechanism. On arriving at a particularly gruesome murder scene, they would always ask the response team, "is he dead?" This, and other quips and banter between them, became a kind of running gag. By nature, I'm not a 'dark fiction' writer, so my instincts are to lighten things up a little within the context of the work.

On the observational side, I used this kind of humour in my YA SF novel: Josh came so close, Polly could see herself reflected in his eyes. A nose in each.

It's all subjective of course, so all I can hope if that my reading audience finds my attempts at humour as amusing as I do

 

[atsouthorn]

I like the idea of adding laughter for the sole purpose of showing camaraderie. Usually, this will be a written joke that certain characters would find funny but is not necessarily directed at the reader.

For humour directed at the reader, I avoid any indication. After all, it's up to them if it's funny or not, not the writer.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

I'm going to take a different tack. If you're intent is to show how funny you as the author are, I'd avoid having the characters laugh at your jokes.

However what people find funny can reveal insights about a character. A tasteless joke can show how the character feels about a topic, and other people's reactions can show their relationships to another character. The reader doesn't need to find a joke funny to understand what it tells us about the characters and the context.

For example if there's a particularly powerful character, then people of a lower status may feel obligated to laugh at that person's jokes in order to curry favour, or for fear of upsetting someone, or invoking their wrath. If the person is of lower status, they may laugh at a joke to ridicule that person, even if the person thinks they're laughing at the joke.

A person who is sexually interested in another person may use humour to seduce them, or a character can use humour as a defence mechanism to insult or belittle other people in such a way as to subvert their status. Even terrible jokes or bad puns are often used amongst friends to bond them to each other.

Jokes can also be used to conceal, divert attention from, or to reveal quirks of character, obsessions and so on a character might have - a real life example is Louis CK's jokes revealing negative aspects of his character.

You can also use jokes as a form of dramatic irony to show how a character is oblivious to a situation, so the joke arises from the relationship between context and character. A writer might intend for the reader to be irritated by a character who constantly quips unfunny jokes.

There's all kinds of uses for humour that only require the reader to understand what it reveals about character and relationships.

Someone mentioned Joss Wheedon above. There's a trend since buffy to overuse humorous quips in action scenes or emotional scenes that I think comic and movie writers have extracted from Joss' writing style. Marvel is particularly bad for that. Whenever I hear it now it takes me right out of what I'm reading / watching, and it just calls attention to the artifice of the action or emotion transpiring, and robs it of any drama. It smacks too much of a self conscious author winking at the audience saying "Yeah, it's stupid, but I know it's stupid so it's alright." You get the impression of an invulnerable character drifting through the narrative, too far above it all to take it seriously. Literally, deadpool. It's a bit too synthetic and detached for me, if every single story uses it.

 

[JunkMonkey]

To be fair Joss Wheedon didn't invent this kind of tension-diffusing, in-the-face-of-adversity style of humour. I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the other day (for the first time in a couple of decades) and it's masterclass in keeping tension and humorous ironic undercutting. Right up until the end. Butch's last line: "Oh good, for a moment there I though we were in trouble..." is both funny and tragic at the same time. Genius writing.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

To be fair Joss Wheedon didn't invent this kind of tension-diffusing, in-the-face-of-adversity style of humour. I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the other day (for the first time in a couple of decades) and it's masterclass in keeping tension and humorous ironic undercutting. Right up until the end. Butch's last line: "Oh good, for a moment there I though we were in trouble..." is both funny and tragic at the same time. Genius writing.

Didn't mean to imply he came up with that making jokes in tense moments. The tough guy quip has been round forever, for sure, but it's particularly overused in Marvel type spectacle movies where they have to undercut any peril with an enormous quip to scene ratio.

 

[The Big Peat]

Someone mentioned Joss Wheedon above. There's a trend since buffy to overuse humorous quips in action scenes or emotional scenes that I think comic and movie writers have extracted from Joss' writing style. Marvel is particularly bad for that. Whenever I hear it now it takes me right out of what I'm reading / watching, and it just calls attention to the artifice of the action or emotion transpiring, and robs it of any drama. It smacks too much of a self conscious author winking at the audience saying "Yeah, it's stupid, but I know it's stupid so it's alright." You get the impression of an invulnerable character drifting through the narrative, too far above it all to take it seriously. Literally, deadpool. It's a bit too synthetic and detached for me, if every single story uses it.

I would add here that, much as I dislike some of Marvel's humour (in particular just how much they love bathos and how much that ruins some awesome moments for me), Marvel are immensely popular, so if anyone here loves Marvel humour, go for it. You'll find an audience.

Which is the great thing about humour. There's a lot of different audiences and ways to play it. Me, I view it as a bug of much of the MCU, but love Deadpool because there it's all integrated for me.

 

[wearywanderer64]

There's different types of humour. Laurel and Hardy, for example, are the best at it as they do the gags, slapstick and situation rolled into one. Fraser and Miles come close as they're always trying to compete with, or enter, the upper echelons of society. Then there's dad and Daphne who come out on top.