Incorporating Humor Into Serious Writing

How many times have you become engrossed in a good book, only to find that the action, suspense, and hearbreaking scenes are just too intense for you to endure? In many ways, books are even more engaging than movies because they invite the reader to immerse themselves into the situations of the characters, and to allow imaginations to run wild. You can”t visibly see the settings and events, but they are no less real to the reader.

In the case of a hearwrenching or consistently suspenseful plot, humor can be used to give the reader a break. Holding one emotion for an extended period of time can be exhausting, and a good laugh will break up the monotony. Humor used for this purpose is called comic relief, and if used effectively, will add even more personalization to your work.

There are a variety of ways in which you can use comic relief to your advantage, but if used incorrectly, it can be detrimental to your story. It is important not to spoil the overall mood of your plot; placing comic relief in an inappropriate scene will probably anger your readers. For example, if you are writing a love story set during World War II, and suddenly the man is drafted, you don’t want to place a joke in the middle of the lovers”goodbye scene. Instead, wait until after the soldier has caught his train or bus, and then let something funny happen.

There are three main types of comic relief: situational, conversational, and ongoing. These three types of humor are employed to invoke different emotions in your reader, and should be placed carefully among your more serious scenes.

1. Situational

This means very much what the name implies: in the middle of or directly following a serious scene, something happens that is funny or ridiculous. It usually doesn’t have much to do with what a character does or says, but rather with the setting or an extraneous force.

For instance, let’s say your characters have been running for fifteen minutes from a blood-crazed vampire. They’ve leapt over cars, jogged through forests, and muddled through creeks. Finally, they decide that they”e put enough distance between themselves and the vampire, so they reduce their speed to a walk. One of the characters, breathles from running, turns to look behind him, and falls over a small rock in the road.

This is situational comic relief because he has been running for fifteen minutes, managing to stay on his feet, and as soon as he stops, he falls down. It will give your readers a moment to laugh before you continue on to the next harrowing chase or fight scene.

2. Conversational

Again, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what this type entails: dialogue. Because you are the master of your own universe as a writer, your characters can be as round or as flat as you would like. A round character has his own little quirks, idiosyncrasies, and mannerisms that make him leap off the page and become real to your readers. This type of character is the one who inspires anger, tears, sympathy, and laughter. Using your more dynamic characters to create comic relief works phenominally in most intense plots.

This type of comic relief is typically used immediately following a very intense scene. Let’s say, for example, that your story involves two characters who are being haunted by ghosts in their 17th century house. The plot will be dark, ominous, and full of plot twists, but you can use your characters to make certain parts funny. Perhaps, while they are searching the house for the source of noises during the night, when everything is quiet and flashlight beams are bouncing in and out of shadowy corners, one of the characters starts whispering a joke he heard at work about ghosts. It will be funny if the joke is funny, but it will also provide comic relief in that it isn’t something you’d expect someone to do in that situation.

3. Ongoing

This is, by far, my favorite kind of comic relief. It involves a joke, quip, or anecdote that is continually brought up from the beginning of the story to the end. Each time it is used, it will draw the reader back to the beginning of the plot, reminding them of whatever funny scene to which it refers, and will inspire a fit of laughter if it is amusing enough.

This should be done with care, because if you overuse it enough, it will become annoying to your readers. It should appear only once every three or four chapters, and in a scene during which it makes sense and blends in. It can even be incorporated into the ending; maybe the subject of the joke is the resolution to the plot, which will entertain your readers even further.

Comic relief is one of the most difficult writing feats to master, but it will be well worth it to your readers. They don’t want to consistently be bombarded with scene after scene of violence, suspense, or pain without any source of humor or light-hearted fun.