Putting Humor Into Your Story When You Aren't Funny

Humor is one of the most important writing tools there is and even if you have no interest in writing a comedy having a few chuckles or at least making your reader smile from time to time is useful for breaking tension and creating connections between readers and characters. But while I am aware of this, I know also that my natural style of humor doesn’t translate all that well into written humor. So how do those of us who aren’t naturally funny on the written page still use that vital writing tool?

The first step is to understand why humor is important. Laughter is one of the oldest ways in which humans bond. It likely predates human speech and is one of the few things we know is entirely natural. Babies laugh, blind and deaf people laugh. And more than that when someone who laughs with you is part of your tribe. Making your readers part of your character’s tribe, or part of your tribe as a writer, is a worthwhile bond.

Just like anything else in writing, the first step is to understand the basic elements. Humor is too broad a subject to fit into a single theory, but there a few theories that are useful because even if they aren’t technically correct they typically can help us understand types of jokes.

The first is relief theory. That is to say that laughter exists to help release tension. This is why you might laugh in an awkward social situation and why my reaction to life and death situations is to laugh. It’s also why humor defuses tense situations. A lot of jokes use this, creating a dangerous situation with the setup of the joke and then releasing the tension with the punch line. A broad example of this might be a joke that appears to be dangerously inappropriate with a punchline that reveals it is not. In a book, this might be the sudden revelation that the seemingly dangerous situation that the protagonist is in is actually not dangerous at all.

Another theory is the superiority theory. This is schadenfreude, or laughter at the misfortunes of others. It’s simple. You laugh at someone slipping on a banana peel because of the superiority theory. In writing this is most often the comic relief. A seemingly or helpless character who bumbles and fumbles his way through the story making the reader laugh, just make sure they have some personality and reason to be in the story. It can also be useful to make the seemingly powerful protagonist more human by making them look silly.

Third is the incongruous juxtaposition theory. Basically, it’s laughing at something so bizarre that there is nothing else to do but laugh. Typically, the laughter comes when you understand what is happening. You assumed that something made no sense, but then suddenly you understood why it happened or have some shift in perspective that clarifies that you had misinterpreted what was being said. In the case of the written joke, this is often intentional.

But while understanding that is fairly useful, that doesn’t help you craft a joke or make a character funny. Hitting your character in the face with a pie might technically be a joke, but it’s probably not going to seem like one to a reader unless the context is right.

That is where we move onto a few basic tricks that humor writers often used to make these things easier. Perhaps the most famous of these is the rule of three. The idea being that three events are more satisfying or in this case funnier than other numbers. The reason for this at its most basic because three of something is the smallest amount you can use to create a pattern. So by creating an obvious pattern in the first two, you can disrupt that pattern in the third. The reason that three is better than four, five or ninety-six leads into the next point.

Brevity is the soul of wit. If you’ve ever heard someone tell a joke, you know why this is vital to humor. So while it may not be vital to itself, getting to the point is vital.

Also worthwhile is to remember that unless you're specifically writing a comedy that it’s probably worth keeping your humor both subtle and not to put in too much. Your goal need not be to make someone fall out of their chair laughing. A smile is enough, and it is far less likely to disrupt the story.

As a fiction writer, I think it’s important to consider the type of humor that your character uses. Different people are funny in different ways. You can do the same with your characters. Having everyone in your book throw out terrible puns will not make them interesting, even if your readers laugh. But if you have one character who does that while the others roll their eyes, then you’ve hopefully made your readers laugh in two different ways. You can build up characters through humors in a lot of ways. Being clumsy can be funny and create valuable character information that can become useful later in the plot. A character who makes fun of another character differs greatly from one who makes fun of himself.

There is far more to this subject than can be found in a single blog post. But I’ll leave you with a few minor points that might be useful. Specificity is generally funnier than generalities. Also, according to more than one source, the k sound is funny. I don’t know why k is funny, but I am assured it is, and if you’re aiming for humor, you might as well grease the wheels.

Finally, put the punchline at the end. This is important in most writing, but even more so in writing humor. Consider the difference between these two lines. “Please, take my wife,” and “Take my wife, please.” by putting please at the end you create tension and have a surprise reversal. People also remember the last thing best.

I will never create a book that sits in a comedy section of a bookshelf. It’s just not how I’m wired. My first thought in a situation isn’t how is this is funny, but how is this dramatic, or how does it move forward the plot. But if you keep an eye out, you’ll sometimes stumble into a situation that is funny or remember some tidbit from your research that made you laugh and you can share that with your reader.

10 Writing Lessons from Batman

You could be written on the lessons on writing that could be drawn out of the Batman character. Whether the movies, the comics, the cartoons or the TV shows each of them has plenty that can be learned from any of them. I plan to focus not on any of those stories, but the character himself. One of the most famous characters in the world.

Character Voice

Say what you want about some decisions made by writers it regards to Batman’s voice Batman talks whether is is calling a teenage boy he just kidnapped names or talking like he’s been gargling gravel it is never a question who has spoken. This isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be all that hard. A few commonly used words can not only make it easy for you to create dialog but to get a feel for the voice of the character. A character who says “Because, I’m Batman” will speak differently than someone who says dude and it’s probably not going to take a lot of effort for you as a writer to find the difference.

Character Interactions

Almost as important as character voice is the interplay between different characters. I first noticed this with Batman in a video game, but it exists in many places. Just think about the way Batman talks to Alfred and compare it to how he talks to Commissioner Gordon or The Joker. You can hear the respect for a father figure, a friend, and the exasperation of dealing with an insane person. But it goes further than that. Victor Freeze falls somewhere else. A person who Batman might save and can understand but still has to stop. And then there is Catwoman, Robin, Batgirl, The Riddler, Batwoman, Azrael and of course Superman. If you know the character well, you can almost hear the difference in his tone and wording.

Finding this is largely a result of time with Batman. He has had hundreds or thousands of interactions with every one of the listed characters, but it doesn’t have to take that long. If you know that characters will interact then spending a few minutes thinking about their relationship will help considerably. Are they friends, mentor and student or enemies? Do they have a friendly competition or do they cooperate completely? Whatever the answer mixing this into the character's voice will give the reader information on both characters and even if only one of them is vital to your story, it’s worth the effort. Which leads to the next writing lesson.

No Batman is an Island

Batman is known to be a loner. Watch any Justice League cartoon or even the movie (if you have to) and you’ll find a Batman who doesn’t like other people. And it makes perfect sense to make him a loner since it’s just him against the world. And Alfred. And you can’t forget Dick Grayson, or Tim Drake, or even Jason Todd. And of then there is the Gothem PD with Commissioner Gordon and several other honest cops he regularly works with. And on the other side he has fairly strong bonds with both Catwoman and Talia, the latter of which led to Damian Wayne. Oh, and he’s been working with Clayface recently. And Barbara Gordon, Batwoman, the other Batwoman and his best friend, even if he won’t admit it, Superman along with fairly regularly working with the Justice League and its individual members, and that isn’t mentioning any of the characters who show up in the future in the comics and cartoons. 

The obvious point is that characters need other characters to interact with. And if your character is a loner, the key isn’t to make him interact with fewer people but to make the people he interacts with so important to him it seems obvious he or she would have to deal with them. Whether that is a father figure, a child, a coworker or the friend who doesn’t care If you push him away they show up. So the writing lesson is think about the people your character has no choice but to deal with and if there aren’t any, then this writing lesson is that you probably need to create a few.

Know a Batman by Knowing his Enemies

There is another group of people with whom Batman regularly interacts. That is the antagonist and as Batman easily shows they often have more influence and can be more interesting than the protagonist. Everyone knows that a Riddler story will differ from a Catwoman story, which is entirely different from a Mr. Freeze story or a Poison Ivy story. And most all of them are better understood characters than many characters from major movie or book franchises. Mostly because they’ve been around for decades, but also because the writers of Batman understand how important a good side character is.

And that isn’t even mentioning the most famous of Batman’s antagonists a character who has almost as many fans as Batman and entire movies made about him. The writing lesson here is to put more effort into your protagonist. Every character is the hero of his or her own story is one point, but even if they are just an insane clown people can be drawn in if you put some effort into the character.

A Batman for all Seasons

Batman is a dark brooding character who might be insane. He is a broken man who fights a never ending war on crime. Unless he is wearing blue and yellow and dancing in nightclubs and making silly puns.

I am of course referring to the 1960s Batman. And not just Adam West. Batman was a much more fun character in the comics at times as well. That is because different times and different audiences want and need different character and different tones and it’s worth thinking about.

What makes a Batman

A good character needs to have a core. Often people assume that the core of a character covers far more than it does. The writing lesson you can learn from Batman is how little it takes to define a character. Batman is rich, his parents were killed, he’s a detective, and he fights crime dressed like a bat. That is the core, and the rich part isn’t vital. Even the detective part of the story is often ignored. Yet no one would question that a character who does these things is Batman, even if almost nothing else is the same.

You can have a Russian Batman, a batman who uses guns, one who is funny and one who wears a giant robot suit and surround him by friends and family. You can make him poor, break his back or send him through time and he remains Batman. That is because he has a solid core. So the writing lesson is boil your character down to his most important points and then build up from there.

We all are Batmen, in our own natures frail, and capable of our flesh; few are Superman.

Batman is an absurdly skilled character. He’s the greatest detective in the world, a master martial artist, a ninja, he runs a multi-billion-dollar corporation and far more. Yet it isn’t any of those things that makes him interesting. One thing that makes an interesting character is his or her flaws and how they fail or succeed because of those flaws.

One of the classic Batman stories is that of his paranoia which creates massive problems when someone discovers that he has planned to defeat every member of the Justice League and uses it. And even though this costs him the trust of many friends others understand that it is important.

But the biggest flaw Batman has is that he can’t move on from loss. This makes him Batman. He is obsessed with a war on crime because of childhood trauma and while that has allowed him to do a lot of good it has kept him from really being happy or at peace.

I Am Not What Happened To Me.

I Am What I Choose To Become.

I am Batman

Batman is one of the most popular characters in history in part because of his pain. We empathize with him from the beginning and because of that we’re willing to overlook far more than we should. This is true of any character. If there is one shortcut to making people care about a character it is hurting them, then kick them while they are down. Then when they get up shove them down again. Then when they finally turn the tables, the reader will be entirely on their side.

This writing lesson can even work with a villain. People may not like the Joker or pull for him, but, when he is given a history, it’s typically of someone who lost everything and was broken by it. A mirror of Batman to be certain, but understanding makes him a much more interesting and bittersweet character. You may still enjoy seeing him get punched in the face by Batman, but you might even pull for some type of redemption, though that is unlikely.

If you really want to understand a Batman, don’t just listen to what he says, but watch what he does.

Batman is obsessed with justice, he hates crime and has dedicated his life to fighting it, but that doesn’t mean he will do anything. We all know the most basic part of his code which is that he doesn’t kill. But there is more to Batman than that. When written well he has put a great deal of limitation on himself and requires a great deal from himself.

Good characters have a code even if it’s not as codified as Batman’s. You know where their lines are. A useful piece of information for any character if for no other reason that if people know what their limits are, they know just how important when they cross that line. So when you’re making a character it’s worth considering what is their code.

Everyone Loves an Underdog

People call Batman a superhero because he wears a costume and fights crime, but by the strictest definition of the word he isn’t one. Yet he regularly fights side by side with virtual gods. More than that people regularly ask a question of whether he could beat one of the most powerful superheros in existence in a fight. And many people argue he would. Why, because it’s a lot more fun to think about how Batman could win. He would have to be creative and smart, where Superman would just have to be Superman.

The writing lesson is simple. Always make the path hard for your protagonist. Give your antagonist the high ground, the position of power and the superpowers. Then tie your protagonist’s shoelaces together and make them think their way out. It will be a lot more satisfying than if they were in a fair fight.

Conclusion

Batman is an enduring character for many reasons. His adaptability, his relatability, his power and his weakness. He is a loner and the heart of a huge family of characters, the weakest member of the Justice League and the one who usually saves the day. He is a simple character and yet there are a hundred more lesson you could take from this character and adapt to your own writing. But then that draws me to writing. You can improve forever and still learn something new from almost anything.