LOL by Kimberley Payne

Laughing Out Loud

My list of favourite authors keeps growing as I open myself to read across genres in both fiction and non-fiction. However, my all-time favourites remain those who can make me laugh out loud including Erma Bombeck, Phil Callaway, Stephen Leacock and John Mortimer.

In an attempt to emulate these greats, I’ve added such how-to books as Comedy Writing Secrets – the best-selling book on how to think funny, write funny, act funny, and get paid for it by Mel Helitzer with Mark Shatz, and How to Write Funny –Add humor to every kind of writing edited by John B. Kachuba.

But, as I suspected, writing humour is more difficult than I had hoped. My novel is a contemporary story about a separated mother dealing with her daughter’s recent disclosed secret. The tone is serious and contemplative. The subject is dark and ugly. Because of this it was difficult to add in laughter.

I reworked my protagonist so her thoughts reflected a sense of humour. I tried to add humour in my descriptions of characters (She looked like a tackle box), and in unlikely places like church signs (Don’t let worries kill you. Let the church help)

It’s a tough job to add humour to a serious story. You can read my novel Tooth for Tooth online and let me know if I succeeded in my attempts.

Kimberley Payne