Humor Is Not an Official Literary Genre
Humor Is Not an Official Literary Genre by Vanessa A. Newman, M.S.
Hogwash to that, I say emphatically!
Can’t the written word engender laughter? Or would opponents argue that eliciting guffaws is simply a function of entertainment and thus not literary in nature. Psychology Today claims laughter is fundamental, but the setting is critical. In a 2000 article, “The Science of Laughter,” researcher, Robert Provine, notes that the act of laughing and making hee-hee or ha-ha sounds is not simply cathartic or mood-elevating but binding (in the humanity sense, not the sexually intimate or thread and needle interpretations.)
Everyone has a sense of humor, but what triggers it and are there any fundamentally universal elements? It disappoints me to say that jokes, puns, and being deftly (not daftly) clever are not what typically make people laugh even if I enjoy them immensely. Jabs, nicknames, and innuendo more so. Yet, social interaction provides the necessary key to unlock the chains that bind. Laughing alone; unlikely. In a group; resounding.
So, what does this mean for us writers? Can we make readers “laugh out loud,” when they are under the covers reading one of our creations? Yes. But it takes skill, practice, no fear of rejection, and Saran wrap (not the latter, but it does bind especially to anything you were not planning on sealing up.) And do not tell readers that your work is “laugh out loud funny,” I have been warned by many a literary agent and publisher.
To initiate the socially motivated response, I must create characters so realistic that readers believe they are in the same room with them. Or I must write essays explaining funny situations so vividly that most imagine themselves in these scenarios with at least one other person present. Otherwise, I might get a smile but not an eye-tearer or an all-out snorting release.
In between writing satirical and humorous novels, I have been writing comedic essays of late. They can spark creativity when I am slogging through novels or feeling morose rather than hilarious. And they may get published faster. Dan Zevin (danzevin.com), author of Dan Geta a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad and Very Modern Mantras: Daily Affirmations for Daily Aggravations,” reminded me, in a workshop at the virtual 2020 Erma Bombeck conference, to keep a journal or notebook of “funny”.
I had been doing this, but I upgraded and digitalized my work. Creating a file folder on my computer, I started capturing essay titles that I would come back to later or write off the cuff. Examples include, “I Put out a Bird Feeder and a Deer Came,” which is about how my life and the outcomes resemble a bad case of synesthesia. “Mom, You Suck!” is about an interaction I had with my teenage son at the Car Wash.
But do not give up on the notebook(s) because it is best to keep many close so when you have a flash of funny, you capture it. There are silly situations everywhere when you are looking consistently. My Essay entitled, “The Lonely Saga of the Single Sock,” was inspired by a pile of mismatched ones left for me to organize. Funny is an ability, not a state of being or a given. It is an aptitude that can be coaxed out from behind the door if you bring treats. That is what happened in my essay, “I Was Attacked in Bed, Sort of,” inspired by one heck of a jelly donut and some great coffee the morning after the situational inspiration for the piece occurred.
What can you do with your comedic essays? There are several places to submit them for anthologies or online publication. Ones that specifically deal with funny are:
Humor Outcasts – https://humoroutcasts.com/about/
The Daily Drunk – https://thedailydrunk.com/submit
Boomer Café – https://www.boomercafe.com/story-submissions/
Sammichespyschmeds – https://www.sammichespsychmeds.com/write-for-sammiches-psych-meds/ The Syndrome Mag – https://thesyndromemag.com/
Chicken Soup for the Soul – https://www.chickensoup.com/
Kaleidoscope for Women – https://www.kaleidoscopewojo.com/
You can also fight to be funny on platforms not necessarily asking for humor. When I wrote about getting the groove back in my pelvis at 52 for a health column, I had my work published in nextavenue.org. The words and phrases removed by the editor were the humorous ones, but I made a case for putting them back into the story.
Overall, I see my quest unlike Don Quixote’s, but similar to Shakespeare’s. He knew that both intellectual and scatological humor gets laughs and both are important for a functioning society. My latest book, Croissants, Caramel Clusters & Catastrophes, is an attempt to offers both. Yet, humor is more appreciated in a society that is not feeling fearful or on edge. People laugh after the tiger has almost eaten them not during the scare. I might need to be patient for big book sales.
Go forth, write, and let all your puns hang out there! The world will judge, but it is still a noble cause and one I am willing to scrap for on paper and in life.
Vanessa Newman began her writing career at the age of eight when she penciled her first 26-page novel. Unfortunately, it received neither parental nor peer approval. She dared to write again after attending Bradford College where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Human Studies. At that time, she wrote health and education articles published in IDEA Fitness magazine, The Teaching Professor, Rocky Mountain Fitness magazine and Women’s Edition. She also commenced an online writing career creating web-based courses for companies like SkillSoft and Anheuser-Busch. Vanessa later earned a Master of Science degree and focused on health-related writing. Yet, her creative writing did not take priority until 2015 when she received 2nd prize in a short-story contest and wrote her first children’s story and first novel.
Croissants, Caramel Clusters & Catastrophes 
It’s 1998 and women are wearing skorts, listening to the Spice Girls, and Tatiana’s addicted to chocolate croissants. She used to be a Cardio Queen with fans and an even more fan-tastic ass. But ever since her mind-blowing, attitude-altering, and deeply detoxifying adventure at an Ashram in Boulder, she gave up aerobics, fame and most of her dignity. Two years later, enlightenment is in the rear-view mirror. But she does have an inner guru named Phil and her tall, dark and yummy eye-candy boyfriend Blake encouraging her to move forward. But face-planting in life was her signature. So, take two.
She is reinventing herself as a pet-sitting, pet-training extraordinaire starting with Crumbs – an overweight Tabby Cat from the CardioCarnivale DVD. But the pussies are multiplying. And she is getting shoved up the corporate ladder by a femme-fatale pet-owner and entrepreneur. If caught with her pants down, she will lose Bake, her new career, and land in the cat house!
The whole situation catapults her to an island to escape while Blake is back home in the middle of a Tatiana-style catastrophe. No man, real or imaginary, will be able to get her out of this epic feline cluster. If she can admit life is like herding cats and trust other women, then she has a chance at professional and personal satiation yummier than croissants. Felines, food, and frivolity prevail in the second book in the Cardio Chronicles series!
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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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