Expectations are important in writing any kind of book or story, but especially important in humorous novels. Let me give you an example of how this works.
I like to go to parties.
Free food, lovely people, a chance to talk about my favorite
subject—me. What could be better? But I’m often treated differently, due to expectations.
Suppose, no one knows me at the party. It's raining outside, I'm soaked, and I enter the room where it's held. A very handsome man with perfect hair comes up to me.
HIM--“Bit of a storm outside eh?”
ME--“Yeah, I tried to run so I wouldn’t get all wet.”
HIM--“Hope it clears up soon."
Me--"Me too. I have some places I have to go."
Pretty exciting eh?
Now, let’s say that people know me at this party, or have heard that I write, and
perform humor. Then the conversation might go something like this.
HIM--“Bit of a storm outside eh?”
ME--“Yeah, I tried to run so I wouldn’t get all wet.”
HIM--“Right,” he says laughing. "I hope, it..." He's laughing more forcefully. He can barely get the next words out. "clears up soon."
ME--"Me too. I have some places I have to go."
HIM--He holds up a hand, still laughing. "Stop it, stop it, you're killing me."
He then goes into a laughing fit for which the paramedics have to be called.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit here. But I did this to illustrate a principle.
I said the same thing in both cases, yet in the second one, the reaction
was different because he knew I did humor. He expected me to be funny.
And for him, I was, even though the lines I was saying were not especially amusing.
It’s the same way with books. When we pick up a book by an author, who
is known to write in a funny way, we will expect the book to be funny. We
will probably laugh, or smile, at lines that may not be all that humorous.
This is true of everything that’s meant to be fun—books, comedy performers, comedy movies etc.
However, at a certain point in a book, it could be one chapter or two or more, if the humor isn't actually there, (or up to our standards) we may decide to stop reading.
It did not fulfill our expectations.
Have fun every day!
Steve
I like to go to parties.
Free food, lovely people, a chance to talk about my favorite
subject—me. What could be better? But I’m often treated differently, due to expectations.
Suppose, no one knows me at the party. It's raining outside, I'm soaked, and I enter the room where it's held. A very handsome man with perfect hair comes up to me.
HIM--“Bit of a storm outside eh?”
ME--“Yeah, I tried to run so I wouldn’t get all wet.”
HIM--“Hope it clears up soon."
Me--"Me too. I have some places I have to go."
Pretty exciting eh?
Now, let’s say that people know me at this party, or have heard that I write, and
perform humor. Then the conversation might go something like this.
HIM--“Bit of a storm outside eh?”
ME--“Yeah, I tried to run so I wouldn’t get all wet.”
HIM--“Right,” he says laughing. "I hope, it..." He's laughing more forcefully. He can barely get the next words out. "clears up soon."
ME--"Me too. I have some places I have to go."
HIM--He holds up a hand, still laughing. "Stop it, stop it, you're killing me."
He then goes into a laughing fit for which the paramedics have to be called.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit here. But I did this to illustrate a principle.
I said the same thing in both cases, yet in the second one, the reaction
was different because he knew I did humor. He expected me to be funny.
And for him, I was, even though the lines I was saying were not especially amusing.
It’s the same way with books. When we pick up a book by an author, who
is known to write in a funny way, we will expect the book to be funny. We
will probably laugh, or smile, at lines that may not be all that humorous.
This is true of everything that’s meant to be fun—books, comedy performers, comedy movies etc.
However, at a certain point in a book, it could be one chapter or two or more, if the humor isn't actually there, (or up to our standards) we may decide to stop reading.
It did not fulfill our expectations.
Have fun every day!
Steve