I love to blog, although I rarely have anything profound, or even meaningful, to say. But that’s neither here nor there. Why should you bother to keep reading, you ask? I don’t know, but there usually is a point to my meandering mouth by the time I’m done, and you would miss my “aha” moment if you stopped now.

I’ll start (again) by saying that I have a new book out this month called The Trouble With Destiny. Writing it was quite a departure for me. I started it at a time when I needed to take a break from my current series, but silly me, I couldn’t just sit back and not write (screams of horror echo in the background). Instead, I wrote something a little different. Not wildly off the charts different because let’s face it, my voice is still my voice and I’ve learned that much. But different enough to let me have a little fun with it. My other books are part of an urban fantasy romance series called The Immortals, and compared to Trouble they are darker, edgier, definitely more angstier (sure it’s a real word), whereas Trouble is a little bit lighter, with a definitely saucy, sarcastic twist of humor.

It actually shocked me out of my socks to find this impertinent, snarky character starting to come out of me as I sat down with my initial idea. But I had to run with it. Isn’t that always the way it goes when the muse hits? But it also meant doing a little bit of research, because I wasn’t about to try and write funny...if I wasn’t funny.

So here are a few of the tips that I came across for us authors trying to write humor:

1. First, remember that humor is subjective. What is funny to one person may easily leave another rolling their eyes. So what do you do? There are probably lots of ways to approach it, but in my opinion, you could do one of two things: write what makes you laugh, because hopefully there’s someone out there with as sick a sense of humor as you. Or you could try a specific style of humor based on universal themes. I decided to go with the first approach, since it involved a lot less research. I’m still waiting to see how that turns out.

2. Also, remember that your reader should laugh with your characters. Even when taking your characters through embarrassing and unfortunate episodes, the reader should still be able to feel sympathetic toward your characters, at the same time they’re laughing their butts off. The characters (at least your main hero and heroine) should not be left looking like ridiculous buffoons who deserve finger pointing and behind-the-hand snickers.

3. Scott Adams is the author of the comic strip Dilbert. He says that in order for something to be funny, it should have at least two of the six elements of humor (those elements being: clever, cute, bizarre, cruel, naughty, recognizable). For example, a story about an alien running off to Vegas with Big Foot to get married at the Church of Elvis has the potential to be quite funny because not only is it bizarre, but it’s also probably cruel to force that kind of visual on a person. Alternatively, the reason why America’s Funniest Home Videos is still on the air after who knows how many dreadful years is because we can’t help but laugh at the combination of cute and cruel; the dog chasing its tail over and over again, or the baby throwing spinach across the room.

4. Mix things up a bit. Not every word and sentence can be hilarious. Bringing in scenes of tenderness and seriousness will add more dimension and will send your reader on an emotional rollercoaster ride. It will make your humor more potent, your tenderness more real. A story that goes from gag to gag endlessly will lack the highs and lows that are needed.

5. Another important thing to take into account when you’re writing funny is wording/timing. Surprise is one of the biggest elements of laughter. Our readers become accustomed to seeing things written a certain way and as a writer, you can surprise them by turning the tables on them when they least expect it. Here’s an example from my book The Trouble With Destiny:

He laughed again, showing straight, white teeth, while that dimple in his cheek deepened. The sound reverberated deep inside me, making my pulse jump madly. I could never have imagined that Dorian’s laughter would sound like that. Rich and deep, it soaked into me and lingered, igniting a warmth in my belly, a tingling in my breasts, a rush of liquid between my thighs. I almost moaned just from that gravely, delicious sound.

“You have chow mein noodles in your hair.”

So there you are. A few tips from a writer just looking to make it rich off another Elvis wedding story (still working on that manuscript). Anybody else got some not so fast and hard rules for writing humor? What is it that you find funny?

Before I go let me say thank you to everyone here at Love is an exploding Cigar for the opportunity to blog today!