What's So Funny? by Lori Roberts Herbst

 

An examination of my book reviews reveals positive comments (we’ll discuss negative comments another time…lol) that fall into four general categories:

1. Readers who love the cute and smart animals
2. Readers who have bonded with the characters
3. Readers who become immersed in the clues and plot twists
4. Readers who say the books make them laugh

The first three categories of comments were the result of intentionality on my part. I created animals, the family-like characters, and the twisty plots on purpose. But when readers found humor in the books, it caught me by surprise.

In retrospect, humor is one of my favorite elements as a reader, but I didn’t aspire to writing “funny” books. My books are murder mysteries, albeit cozy ones. I wasn’t sure what readers found so amusing. That’s why I’ve been giving so much thought to what factors add laughs to stories that deal with murder, betrayal, and deception. Here are a few things I’ve come up with:

Witty Repartee

Dialogue and character interactions are a prime place in which to incorporate humor. This can occur between people who like each other (teasing), as well as people who don’t (sarcasm and snark). Both can make the reader chuckle.

In my Callie Cassidy series, such repartee often occurs between Callie and her best friend, Tonya. It’s one way in which they express affection for each other. Other characters tease, too, and doing so helps them display the depth of the relationship and the bonds between them, as well as providing a lighthearted moment or two.

In his Prey series, John Sandford is an absolute master of laugh-out-loud dialogue, even amid very dark plot circumstances. The good-natured razzing made me fall in love with the two of them. The plots are solid in these books, but the witty repartee makes me keep coming back for more.

People Acting AGAINST Stereotype

As readers, we tend to find it funny when someone is dropped into a role that doesn’t seem to fit them, either physically or temperamentally.

My readers say they are amused by Mrs. Finney, a stocky, elderly, quirky woman who wears a short chiffon skirt and low-cut bodice as she ice dances. Though she was originally intended to be a one-book character, she quickly wove herself into Rock Creek Village, largely because she makes townsfolk, as well as readers, laugh.

The Thursday Murder Club series, in which an unlikely group of pensioners living in a retirement village band together to solve murders, offers a textbook illustration of placing typecast characters in unexpected roles. We laugh at their intelligent, clever conversations, but also at the element of surprise that occurs at the sight of octogenarians traipsing into a cemetery in the dark of night. The premise is done so well that readers clamor to revisit the group. The series is one of my all-time favorites.

People Acting IN Stereotype

When a likable character observes, whether internally, vocally, or even with a simple eye roll, someone else’s annoying stereotypical behavior, it’s funny because as readers, we can identify.

I rarely go in for the clichéd bumbling law enforcement types, but in my fourth book, PHOTO FINISHED, the local sheriff is just such an oaf. I think it works partly because he’s only a temporary addition to the series, but also because Callie and her friends snarkily call him out.

A great example of humor through stereotype can be found in Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series. Meg’s wealthy, eccentric family members provide comic relief because of their adherence to clichés, as does her boyfriend-later-husband’s mother.

Physical Humor

I don’t use this technique much in my books, perhaps because of my personal…um…coordination issues. But though I may experience a twinge of guilt about it, I do often find other people’s physical plights funny, at least fictionally speaking.

For example, I can’t count the number of laugh-out-loud moments I’ve had reading about Stephanie Plum maneuvering herself into yet another slapstick circumstance.

I know I’ve barely skimmed the surface here, so help me out. What situations do you find funny? What books make you laugh, and why?

The Callie Cassidy Mystery series is available on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

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Lori Roberts Herbst writes the Callie Cassidy Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in Rock Creek Village, Colorado, and the soon-to-be-released Seahorse Bay Mysteries, set in a Texas cruise port town. To find out more and to sign up for her newsletter, go to www.lorirobertsherbst.com