Something to Laugh About: Six Ways to Add Humor to Your Novel
By Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Author of Lift and Separate and Husbands and Other Sharp Objects
1. Start with a sense of humor.
No joke. Seriously. You either have a sense of humor—or you don’t. If you rarely laugh—or see the amusing side in anything, you should not force humor into your work. This includes any joke you know that is older than a saddle shoe.
Now for the people I want to spend time with in a foxhole—consider this: Novelists are people who are keen observers and enjoy observation. To be funny, you need to see what most people don’t even notice and bring it to the world’s attention by finding the humor in it. In short, truth can be hilarious. And, nothing is funnier than the truth when others can relate to it.
2. Laugh through the tears and the sorrow.
Use humor to express all kinds of emotions. Was your character feeling depressed? Or, was she so obliterated after her husband left her, she cried one tear? Because now, even her tears were alone.
3. Utilize humor to describe people.
There’s a character in one of my books who is a sophisticated scam artist. In high school, he was voted Most Likely to Go to a White-Collar Prison.
Here’s a story that tells you a lot about my mother: After college graduation, my sister Debbie moved out of my parent’s home, a brick ranch in Queens. The Chevy was packed and Debbie was about to drive off. My mother of blessed memory, in a sleeveless shirt dress and flats, her hair fresh from the beauty parlor, came out of the house, onto the sidewalk wielding a wooden rolling pin. My sister got out of the car. My mother said, “This is for you. Take it.” Debbie said, “A rolling pin? I don’t bake. I don’t even cook.” My mother said, “It’s not for baking. Leave it in the car. In case you need to defend yourself.”
4. Locate the humor.
All locations are perfect fodder for humor—especially if the place can be described in a way that causes the reader to smile in recognition. Think about Walmart, your local coffeeshop, your town. Do you know how you welcome someone to my town? Drive by and look in. Is there humor in being housebound during the pandemic? Yes. I just don’t want to hear that humor for another forty years. I will be 108 by then and probably unable to hear at all.
5. Eliminate extraneous humor.
In a novel, humor must be part of the story. It cannot sit there all by itself like a Jewish mother. Humor has to be there for a reason. Is it moving the story forward? Highlighting a personality trait? Helping to build a relationship? Describing a place? Take time rolling out a laugh. Set it up slowly. Surround it with actions and descriptions. Pace yourself. Continuous chuckles pale and subtracts from the seriousness of your writing. A novel is not a standup comedy act–too many chuckles and your reader won’t invest in your characters.
6. Read your work to a writer’s group.
How can you tell if you have written something that will make people laugh? Bring your work to a writer’s group. What if you don’t have a writer’s group? I recommend finding one—pronto. Almost everything they say will be good for a laugh.
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Marilyn Simon Rothstein is the author of Lift and Separate as well as Husbands and Other Sharp Objects. For more than 25 years, Marilyn owned an advertising agency in Connecticut, but then she realized she could make a lot less money by becoming a novelist.
LIFT AND SEPARATE, Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Marcy Hammer’s life has been turned upside down. Her husband, the head of a global brassiere empire, didn’t think twice about leaving her after thirty-three years of marriage for a 32DD lingerie model. Now Harvey the Home-Wrecker is missing in action, but Marcy’s through thinking about what a cliché he is. What she needs now is a party-size bag of potato chips, a good support system, and a new dress.
Striking out on her own is difficult at first, but Marcy manages to find traces of humor in her heartbreak. Even while devastated by Harvey’s departure, she still has her indomitable spirit and her self-respect. She has no intention of falling apart, either, even when her adult children drop a few bombshells of their own and she discovers a secret about her new, once-in-a-lifetime friend. Life may be full of setbacks, but by lifting herself up by her own lacy straps, Marcy just may be able to handle them all.
Winner of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Outstanding Debut
“Lift And Separate is a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming story that begs to be a blockbuster starring Nicholson and Keaton and shares the vulnerability, wisdom, and brilliance of Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.” —Jennifer Belle, bestselling author of High Maintenance
“Lift and Separate takes us on a funny but moving journey through heartbreak, hilarity, betrayal, and healing. Marcy Hammer is a hammer indeed! Rooting for her all the way, one is exhilarated by the journey Marilyn Simon Rothstein gives her without ever burning a single bra! Hip-hip hurrah!” —Lanie Robertson, writer of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, the Tony Award–winning play for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play and Best Sound Design of a Play
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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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