It's great when you're reading a novel and there's a passage of the writing that causes tears of laughter to stream from your eyes. From a writing perspective, however, such comic gold can be extremely difficult to mine. How, then, can the writer maximize his or her chances of producing a scene that will have people laughing rather than groaning? Well, in this article, I'll cover some hints and tips that I hope will prove useful.
Put your characters in awkward circumstances:
One instance where I cracked up with laughter was when reading the first novel in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. Butcher constantly heaps woes upon his central character, the wizard Harry Dresden. Poor Harry never seems to have a good day and this, in itself, will have you chuckling. There was a scene, however, where Butcher really hit gold. Harry had invited a woman over to his house for a first date and was having a shower to freshen up beforehand. At that moment, not only did his date arrive but so too did a toad demon who proceeded to rampage through Harry's apartment. Harry, with soap sods stinging his eyes and still naked, then has to try to use his wizard powers to fend off the demon whilst also trying to protect his bewildered date. Oh, and his date had also accidentally drank from a love potion that Harry had made (but not intended for her) so, whilst all this was going on, she was getting amorous towards him. It was brutally funny but it was the clever build up of events that made it so rather than just off-the-cuff humorous dialogue.
Heavy on dialogue and light on narrative:
It's better if the humour comes from your characters' mouths rather than you just trying to deliver it all through narrative. You can, of course, supplement the descriptive narrative. However, the best comedy scenes usually place a heavy emphasis on quick-fire dialogue exchanges between the protagonists.
Make your characters act in ways that are out of character:
Having a prim and proper character acting drunkenly after drinking just one glass of wine probably has more comedic potential than writing the same scene for a character who spends all his or her time in pubs.
Don't try to crack jokes or be too obvious:
Your job as a writer isn't to be a stand-up comic. When a novelist writes a comedy scene, it is usually funny because of the bizarre circumstances that characters find themselves in and the humour comes from the way that their predicaments are revealed. There is usually no need to throw in actual jokes. Equally, going for all-too obvious comic pay-offs usually doesn't work either. The best comedy has the readers laughing not only because of the way that the characters are acting but also because they hadn't seen the next ignominy coming.
Summary:
All writers have their own style and comedy will come more naturally to some than to other. Obviously, comedy is the lifeblood of some writers. For example, Terry Pratchett's novels are all about comedy and he wouldn't have sold the millions of novels that he has if he didn't have a very sharply attuned sense of what is funny. However, humour is an attribute that is valuable to all writers. Even in a horror novel, for example, there will be scenes where the writer can wring value from including a humorous scene.
When it comes to writing that comedy scene, then, it's worth trying to put your characters into awkward situations or finding a way to have them acting out of character. It's also usually best to deliver the comedic value through your characters' lips, via dialogue, rather than relying entirely on the strength of your narrative writing. And, finally, remember that the best comedy usually avoids the really obvious pay-offs. The reader will find the comedy much more powerful if they can't see every funny moment coming in advance.