Humor

Humor is existent in one form or another in almost every story I've ever read that was longer than a few pages. It is important, not only to be able to write humor, but to be able to write several different kinds of humor, and to know what kinds of humor to use in what situations.

Just to be clear, I do not consider this to be a comprehensive lesson on humor, simply a discussion of several different kinds of humor and ways that I've found useful to express them.

So how do we break down humor? Well, in as many ways as I can think to:

I. Wit based humor/Physical humor/Narrator humor
A. Wit based humor
1. Useful for establishing character.
a. What does the character find funny? Are the laughing with people or at them? Do they mock themselves or others?
b. Intellect and quick thinking can be established making later mental accomplishments more believable.
c. Useful in establishing other characters. Can they keep up? Do they understand the jokes?
2. How to pull it off
a. Wit based comedy is largely about timing. The jokes are best when placed in contrast to a serious situation.
b. Witty characters work best with straight laced characters to play off of.
c. Avoid making all of your characters witty. One or two are funny, much more than that, and it isn't a story, it's a bad comedy skit.
B. Physical humor
1. Physical humor is about contrast. The more serious the situation, the more humorous the physical mistake. Tripping over your own feet in a back alley, not so funny. Tripping over your own feet as you're on your way to get married, hilarious.
2. Physical humor is about buildup. 'She walked off the curb and stepped into a pile of horse crap.' That's mildly funny. 'It was a new day, a new beginning. She was going places, and she was going to be somebody. She could feel the eyes of the world upon her as she stepped off the curb. And right into a giant pile of horse crap.' is a bit funnier.
C. Narrator humor
1. First person narrator
a. Stay in character. Remember that you are letting the character who is telling the story speak through you.
b. Avoid too much foreshadowing through humor. There is the temptation to have the character laugh at their follies before the reader becomes aware that they are follies: 'I told her it wouldn't be a problem. Just goes to show how optimistic I was.' Tread carefully, warning the reader of things to come too overtly can make the story less powerful.
2. Third person narrator
a. BE CAREFUL. Oh, and be subtle, too. While there are certain exceptions, the third person narrator usually wants to remain as invisible as possible. It's impossible to write without a voice, but the more voice you allow yourself, the more you'll find that you're overshadowing your own story.
b. The major exception to the 'be careful, be subtle' note is a satirical book, whether you are satiring the real world, or satiring other books of a particular genre, when your main goal is to point out the ridiculous, feel free to interject your own voice throughout.
II. Character based humor/World based humor/Situational humor
A. Character based humor
1. Interactions
a. A comedy of misunderstandings
i. In order to pull of a comedy of misunderstandings, you have to create a situation wherein the reader knows more than the characters involved. The hard part about that, is pulling it off smoothly. You need to create a situation where information is ambiguous, but in such a way as the reader can understand both sides of it. That involves showing each of the characters separately so the reader can understand where they're coming from. It's a tricky thing to pull off, good luck.
ii. The root of a comedy of misunderstandings is that both characters should be absolutely certain that what they're doing is right and logical.
iii. Use sparingly. a comedy of misunderstandings is hard to pull off, and outside of a farce, your reader will have trouble buying into it if you use it often.
b. Clashing natures
i. Typically used between a central character and a minor character, a contrast of intellects, values, or loyalties, where one party is simply mocking the other is a standard approach.
ii. If you use this often in a book, I recommend assigning the role of 'clever mocker' to one of your main characters. Having multiple main characters play the funny man isn't particularly believable. I also recommend having your clever fellow be outwitted at some point, as people who talk smack occasionally find themselves out-smack-talked in real life. Plus it satisfies the reader that you are not making every non-central character into a witless fool.
c. Banter
i. If a comedy of misunderstandings is basically two fools talking, and clashing natures is a fool and a clever bloke, banter is two clever blokes.
ii. Banter is useful for establishing character intellect, which lets you show a villain to be more intelligent than the average thug, thus making him a greater challenge.
iii. The two main uses of banter are between a main character and a 'worthy adversary,' and, if you have two central characters of the right level of intellect, you can use recurring banter to soften the middle section of your book, and control the mood of the reader.
2. Personality based humor
a. Charicature characters
i. Charicature characters usually work best if they are amalgamations of real people. In many cases the reader can believe in them because they've known people with many of those same extreme characteristics.
ii. Charicature characters are generally two dimensional. They do not grow or change, and they are capable of surprising the reader only in their ability to remain constant, no matter what happens around them.
b. Wry characters
i. Use sparingly. Though the world weary, unflappable character can be very funny, at times, the temptation to turn all of your characters into reluctant heroes will reduce your story to one long running gag interspersed with action. Not an easy read.
ii. An effective wry character works best by having responses that contradict the situation. The more bizarre the situation, the less surprised the character. The more dangerous the situation, the less concerned.
B. World based humor
1. Reflection of the real world
a. As depressing as the real world can be, sometimes we have to take a step back to laugh at it. Or conversely, creating a representation of the real world can separate people from the debate enough to see an opposing point of view without getting defensive about it.
b. Taking particular aspects of our world and applying them to places where they clearly shouldn't apply, such as having a king tied up in the beauracracy of a modern corporation, creates a contrast of expectations, without subjecting the reader to a new and unfamiliar system. Essentially we lay our world over the established world, giving the reader a feeling of insight and a connection to the characters.
2. NOT our world
a. You can use the nature of the world itself to set the tone of your story. A prime example of this is the discworld series, which takes place on a world that is on the back of a giant turtle. Part of the purpose of the turtle is to inform the reader that, in point of fact, this is not the world we know and are comfortable with. This is discworld. The rules are different, the world is alien, anything goes.
b. Creating a world that is distinctly and specifically not the same as the world we live in allows for a reversal of logic. People that we would consider normal and rational, may in fact be completely insane in this new and strange landscape. Beliefs we hold dear, might very well be proven wrong here.
C. Situational humor
1. Surreal Premise
a. A surreal premise is when your entire story is based on a conflict or pursuit that seems ridiculous. For example, if you're writing a story where the main character is forced to travel to the ends of the earth to find a perfectly round stone, in order to prevent a war.
b. A surreal premise is useful for establishing the tone of your story, and the level of suspension of disbelief. Once you've explained that it is traditional for one king to give another a perfectly round stone as a symbol of friendship, but if that stone is remotely flawed it becomes an insult, then the reader knows, this is a world where people's behaviors aren't always going to make sense.
c. Surreal premises can also serve for character development. Contrasting characters who question stupidity versus those who blindly accept it helps the reader know which characters to sympathize with, and which characters are there to take up space.
2. Ironic situations
a. Technically, ironic situations are simply those situations where the outcome of a situation is in distinct contrast to the expectations, in an unfair and humorous way. What I am referring to, however, is more specifically those situations wherein a character's behavior in attempting to avoid a specific situation causes that situation to arise
b. Ironic situations can serve to lighten the reader's mood through humor, or to create tension, by showing a situation wherein the protagonists goals are unfairly, unreasonably, and unexpectedly blocked. It also can serve as forshadowing that those things which the protagonist most wishes to avoid will find him/her anyway.
III. Laughing with/Laughing at
A. Laughing with a protagonist requires, specifically, that the protagonist sees the humor in their situation
B. Laughing at, conversely, is simply when the protagonist either doesn't see the humor in their situation, or doesn't find it funny
IV. Dark humor/Light humor/Silly humor
A. Dark humor
1. Humor based on the suffering of the characters
2. Often useful in showing a main character as jaded or uncaring, as they either cause, or ignore the suffering of those around them
B. Light humor
1. Usually centered around minor characters or sidekicks. Used to lighten tension
2. Often centered around incompetence, or poor luck
C. Silly humor
1. As a rule silly humor should be avoided or used sparsely unless the book as a whole is silly-humorous
2. Mostly consists of situations, people, and actions that seem incredibly unlikely in the real world. Physical harm is almost always avoided, sometimes through unrealistic good fortune, sometimes through apparent invulnerability. Silly humor toes the line on dark humor, often involving a malicious figure who, for various reasons, is unable to cause the harm they wish to cause
V. Long range jokes/Short range jokes/running jokes
A. Long range jokes
1. Long range jokes are when you set something up early in a book, but the payoff doesn't come until several chapters later. If a character avoids a particular food in chapter three because it gives the terrible gas, then in chapter sixteen, while trapped with three other people in an enclosed space for a long period of time, that the meal they just ate had a lot of that kind of food, that's long range joke.
2. Often the most effective kind of joke because it can be very hard for the reader to anticipate a joke that requires them to remember some small detail for five chapters earlier. The number of these jokes should usually be limited, though, otherwise you have to put a lot of seemingly meaningless information in the first several chapters.
B. Short range jokes
1. The trick for shortrange jokes is that the reader can usually see them coming.
2. Great for reducing tension.
C. Running jokes
1. The reader learns to see these coming, but it doesn't matter. A running joke becomes an inside joke between the reader and the writer and can create a kind of intimacy in the reading, where the reader feels that the story was made specifically for them.
2. Often works best when the joke is explained early on, then referenced in a way that would be meaningless without the explanation later. For example, in chapter two the protagonist might say 'According to chaos theory, a butterfly flapping its wings in asia could cause weather patterns here. With the weather we've been having, I'm thinking about finding that butterfly, and ripping its wings off.' Several chapters later, as it starts to rain cats and dogs outside at an inconvenient time, the protagonist might say, 'I need to book a flight to china. I have a butterfly to kill.' Then at the end of the book, when some other weather anomoly disrupts the reader's life, 'stupid butterfly.'
3. Have a limited number of running jokes. Too many and it becomes obvious to the reader that you're trying to prove how clever you are.