Don't get me wrong. I love humor, especially black humor. Ranging from wry observations to slapstick situations, humor is important because it can lighten a book's mood. But you have to know when to be funny--and when not to. In the case I mentioned above, I suggested having the sleuth wait a couple of pages before she makes light of the situation. The author did so, and it made all the difference.
Today I'm pleased to welcome as a guest author my friend Sherry Harris, who knows all about writing humor, including the importance of timing. Sherry writes great books and takes edits like the pro she is. Sherry writes the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries about a woman in Massachusetts who runs garage sales for other people. Sherry's here today to expound on balancing comedy and tragedy in mysteries. Take it away, Sherry!
--Barb Goffman
Balancing Comedy and Tragedy
by Sherry Harris
I was sitting at the bar at Writers' Police Academy
(this sounds like the start of a bad joke) when I started talking to a
woman near me. I asked
her what she wrote and she told me. She then
asked what I wrote, so I told her I wrote a cozy series--the Sarah
Winston Garage Sale mysteries. She said, "Oh, well I write serious
books." I replied that I wrote serious books too. That I don't think
murder is funny, but that I did use humor in other parts
of my books.
I'm caught somewhere in between comedy and tragedy. In my most recent book,
Let's Fake a Deal, (published July 30th), there are two
parallel story lines. As the book opens Sarah is arrested for selling
stolen goods at a garage sale and a few chapters later a friend of hers
is arrested for murder. I was shocked when
someone who interviewed me said they thought the first chapter (where
Sarah is arrested) was one of the funniest scenes they've ever read.
When I wrote the scene my vision of Sarah was that she was really
scared. I guess that just proves humor is in the eye
of the beholder. After the interview was over, I reread the scene with a
different mind-set and saw how it could be interpreted that way.
Where do I add the humor? I'd like to tell you I
carefully plot it all out in advance but I don't. I'll make a decision
early in my writing process on how to add some humor. For Let's Fake a Deal, I tossed
around ideas with my independent editor, Barb Goffman. (Hi, Barb, thanks
for having me here today.) We came up with the idea that Sarah could do
a garage sale for a woman who was obsessed with
cats. Not a crazy cat woman who has twenty cats living with her, but a
woman who wants to make the front of her house look like the face of a
cat. To afford that she has to sell off her massive collection of
cat-morabilia.
So the cat-tastic garage sale was born.
 |
| Kishi Station in Japan was redesigned to resemble a cat in honor of a beloved local stray cat. (Can you see it?) This station isn't in the Sarah Winston books, but it's a great example of what a dedicated cat lover could do with enough funds. |
But the Sarah Winston books have more than funny situations. Each of my books is set partially on an Air Force base, and I weave in difficulties military families face.
In Let's Fake a Deal, one of Sarah's
friends, who has been selected for promotion to colonel, has an IG
(inspector general) complaint filed against her, which holds up her
promotion. I did a lengthy interview with a friend who served
as a Navy JAG for 23 years. We talked about the challenges of being a
woman in a male-dominated world. Then I interviewed other women I knew
who had served. The interviews fascinated and horrified me. Their
stories are woven into the book.
****
Sherry
Harris is the Agatha Award-nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage
Sale mystery series. She is the President of Sisters in Crime, a member
of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters
in Crime, the New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers
of America, and International Thriller Writers.
In her spare time Sherry loves reading and is a patent-holding inventor. Sherry, her husband, and her guard dog, Lily, are living in northern Virginia until they figure out where they want to move to next. (Barb here: That's what she thinks. I'm not letting her move away ever. No how. No way.)
Website: Sherryharrisauthor.com
Blog: Wickedcozyauthors.com
Twitter: @SHarrisAuthor
Interesting post, Sherry. And timing really IS everything, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI try to insert some humor into my fairly dark stories, and it's tricky.
I used to do lots of theater, too, and I still maintain that Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a comedy...at least for the first act. People look at me as though I've said something even crazier than usual, but with the right cast, it really is.
I do like the idea of a cat-tastic garage sale.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting!
Oh, that is a very interesting take on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I'm going to have to reread it with than mindset.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Janice! There are an amazing number of things that you can buy that with cats on them or that are cat shaped. From antiques to modern!
ReplyDeleteSherry, I probably have an old VHS tape of the performance when I directed the show back in the min-90s. The actor playing George and I had acted together and directed each other in several shows by then, and he had worked with our Martha several times, too, so their chemistry was terrific.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, I no longer have a working VHS player. One of these days I may invest in a converter and turn the thing into a DVD. Or not.
Very interesting, Steve!
ReplyDeleteAs I read your article, a friend glanced over my shoulder and said, "There's a writer named Sherry Harris who goes around solving yard sale signs." Whoops! Right place at the right time.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, Sherry! Barb helps many with their writing in her editing, but she needs decent writing to work with. You can't teach someone humor, nor good writing.I wish you all the best and continued success!
ReplyDelete