There are many elements used to make a novel a fun ride. However, I generally classify them into two categories--character humor and situation humor. Some people include a third one—joke humor. But since that can be used in both of the other categories, I don't list it separately.
"Character humor," and "situation humor" can, of course, be combined, but they don't have to be. In the movie, "Saving Mr. Banks," there were some funny situations. But a lot of the fun came from the "angry at the world," character of P.L. Traverse confronting Walt Disney. In some cases jokes were involved, but many times, it was just her attitude that made us laugh.
Near the beginning of most of Janet Evanovich's books, she has the characters talking to one another and creating humor just using their various idiosyncrasies (which she establishes early.) Generally, what makes the characters funny is their flaws. They may have many, but usually, it's one that predominates and is cause for most of the laughter. It can be confidence where there's no reason for it, or a nosy personality etc.
Once you have a funny character established, the story throws them into funny situations. Perhaps, a man is caught wearing spanx or a woman is wearing the same dress as another woman at a wedding (which has happened in many movies and TV shows.)
Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel's novel, "Lunatics," starts off showing the character of the two main leads, but as the story goes on, the funny situations get more and more ludicrous and funny.
So how you do you learn how to do this? I would suggest you start by figuring out who your characters are, and the basic idea of your story. Then sketch out a few funny situations your charactors can get into. Finally, the fun part--using that material to write your novel or short story!
Have fun every day!
Steve
"Character humor," and "situation humor" can, of course, be combined, but they don't have to be. In the movie, "Saving Mr. Banks," there were some funny situations. But a lot of the fun came from the "angry at the world," character of P.L. Traverse confronting Walt Disney. In some cases jokes were involved, but many times, it was just her attitude that made us laugh.
Near the beginning of most of Janet Evanovich's books, she has the characters talking to one another and creating humor just using their various idiosyncrasies (which she establishes early.) Generally, what makes the characters funny is their flaws. They may have many, but usually, it's one that predominates and is cause for most of the laughter. It can be confidence where there's no reason for it, or a nosy personality etc.
Once you have a funny character established, the story throws them into funny situations. Perhaps, a man is caught wearing spanx or a woman is wearing the same dress as another woman at a wedding (which has happened in many movies and TV shows.)
Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel's novel, "Lunatics," starts off showing the character of the two main leads, but as the story goes on, the funny situations get more and more ludicrous and funny.
So how you do you learn how to do this? I would suggest you start by figuring out who your characters are, and the basic idea of your story. Then sketch out a few funny situations your charactors can get into. Finally, the fun part--using that material to write your novel or short story!
Have fun every day!
Steve