Corn

by Courtney Pierce

A serious case of corny humor makes me laugh. A snappy retort or a play on words can take me down that path too.  My sense of humor is . . . well . . . a bit off from the norm.  It’s why I inject a dose of humor in all of books. Life is serious enough, so I like to think of my stories as an escape from the traffic, fake news, and the Bickerson's on social media. Forget that yahoo in the Lincoln Navigator who butts in at the merge every dang day. I wouldn’t dare flip the bird at that guy, though, but one of my fictional characters just might.

To my selfish delight, I save up snippets of funny stuff I hear in passing. They go into my reserve tank, and then I let them loose like spit balls from the mouths of my characters. Dialogue is an excellent vehicle for this sneaky, quite satisfying trick. Protagonists and antagonists alike get to say and do things that I, myself, wouldn’t dare to in real life.

Another great vehicle for making readers smile–and me too—is to infuse something ridiculous into a dire situation. This lightens the mood and breaks the tension. I especially like to do this with an animal, because they’re so well-meaning and pure. It’s like an Art Linkletter moment on Kids Say the Darndest Things. In my latest book, Indigo Legacy (due out in late summer), I use a therapy dog to play out this type of craft. A standard poodle named Pogo picks up on my protagonist’s most hurtful, emotional moment after she learns something terrible about her dead husband. Among his effects is a police report. The dog snatches it and chomps on it like Popeye’s spinach. The vision is intended to be funny, but the emotion behind the dog's bad behavior is not. As a result, my character’s grief is completely re-calibrated.  In an instant, the mood of the scene changes.

Pain is so much easier to write than humor. Whether psychological or physical, pain is pain, but not everything is universally funny. A laugh is the result of the reader's taste and experiences. As an example, take the 2007 novel Sideways by Rex Pickett. Among the backdrop of the California wine country, a raucous boys-will-be-boys story unfolds. Two grown men take a last-hurrah trip before one of them gets married. The premise alone is a total set-up for fun. For me, the debauchery, bathroom humor, and sharp dialogue are hilarious and right on point.  And just when you think these guys couldn’t make one more bonehead move, they top themselves. Every page yanked me forward with one laugh-out-loud scene after another. Of course, some people thought the book (and also the movie) was stupid and immature. Duhhh . . . yeah, that was the whole point!

Unlike authors of thrillers or crime dramas, the recipe for tickling a reader’s funny bone requires their complete trust in the author. But as the author, I'm going to write what makes me laugh, not the reader. A prediction of that magnitude is destined to fall flat because it wouldn't be genuine. How the heck could I possibly know what makes others laugh unless I know them?

Some of the best chuckles are rooted in a character’s struggle. How I get her out of it usually sticks her deeper in fresh mud. It’s a crap shoot, for sure, but when you hit that F-bone just right, then everyone wins.

Go ahead and pick your smile poison: subtle, bathroom, corny, snarky, ironic, or caustic. All forms of humor are accepted here, even encouraged. We can all come up with the flash of something both tragic and funny that really has happened. You know, a real you-can't-make-this-stuff-up moment. How about a character whispering self-barbed dialogue in the women’s restroom after she's already wet her pants? That situation could be dumb or brilliant, depending on what the author does with the scene. 

In truth, it only takes the description of my character's expression in the mirror's reflection to make it funny. 

And on that note, I know a good exit line when I see one. 

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her new family. She writes for baby boomers. By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, she is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books at:

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com. Both print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, due out in summer, 2018. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will their family history get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. Will the Dushane sisters finally get the answers they've been seeking about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Summer Giggles

Ahh, summer. Vacations. Time off. A chance to escape work-a-day worries and lose yourself in a good book. Given that our blog is “Romancing the Genres,” it’s not surprising that several of my fellow genre-istas have named spicy romances as favorite summer reads. And I wholeheartedly agree that a hot novel is très apropos for lounging on a sunny beach. Yet what’s summer without laughter? That’s why humor is a must for my top-of-the-list escapist reads.   

Even better, I can have my cake and eat it, too, since romance and humor co-exist quite nicel. My favorite escapist reads add supense/thrills to the humor, romance combo. Janet Evanovich has the formula down pat with her Stephanie Plum series. How can you not laugh at the image of Stephanie’s sidekick Lulu on the Atkins diet, her pockets stuffed with pork chops (I think I remember that correctly) being chased down the street by dogs? Along with the giggles Evanovich delivers not one but two hunks—the mysterious Ranger and the sexy Joe Morelli—and ample suspense.

Other romance authors with comedic gifts include Cindy Sample, Ann Charles and Jennifer Cruisie. Sample’s Dying for a Date features a single soccer mom with a knack for going on blind dates with men who soon become stiffs (not in a good way). Charles' debut Nearly Dead in Deadwood is a hoot, again with a single mom trying to make a living and manage romance despite dead bodies and ghosts. Sample and Charles both have continued the hijinks with fun follow-up titles. Cruisie’s Faking It is another of my favorites. It features a hero and heroine who meet in a closet while breaking into a house to steal (for noble reasons, of course). I also need to put in a plug for Blue Ridge Fear by Robin Weaver, scheduled for release later this year. I had an opportunity to read an advance copy and loved Weaver’s ability to blend her main character’s witty observations with real suspense.

I need to tip my hat to some male authors as well. Carl Hiaasen, Donald Westlake, and Dave Barry know how to make me chuckle every time.

So what books do you pick up when you want a summer pick-me-up that includes laughs? I want to keep as many of those authors around as possible.