Behind the Scenes of Effortlessness - Whitney Braun

I was standing at the stove stirring what would be dinner when it happened. I told my husband about the day’s events—a normal occurrence at the end of a work day. But as I summarized the dailies, including filling him in on the latest events of a few friends of mine, Drake and Anna, my husband got this odd look on his face.

“Who are Drake and Anna?” he asked me.

At first, I was appalled that he couldn’t recall such dear friends, but not a moment later, my confusion morphed into mortification.

You see, Drake and Anna were characters in my current work in progress at the time. They were fictional. I had just told my husband about the happenings of my imaginary friends. But, bless his soul, instead of scheduling a doctor’s appointment, he laughed it off. As did I.

Not only is there humour inside of a story but also, outside of it too. That was the only time I’ve chattered on about my characters accidentally, but I foresee that mistake happening on occasion. And boy, did it ever lighten the mood as I trudged my way through the thickest part of the manuscript’s conflict! A much needed, humourous reprieve. Us writers should never discredit the benefit of these types of events.

Although embarrassing, I found this instance much easier to laugh about then when I actually find myself trying to incorporate humour into my stories. It’s no easy feat. In fact, often I find humour one of the hardest elements to perfect when drafting a novel.

I recently sat down with a high school student who wanted to meet with me to discuss novel writing. She asked me how to incorporate humour into a story. There was no easy answer, but it got me thinking…

Often, the humour in my stories comes through dialogue. My husband and I love to laugh. We joke around a lot. Most of that comes from conversation, so that’s when humour tends to shine through in my work. As I thought about how I actually wrote funny happenings, I realized it most often occurred when I was writing a scene that was primarily an exchange between characters. This way, I could not only write what they were saying, but also, add in bits of action to carry on the conversation. It could be as simple as a busy mom looking for her phone while talking on it, or a child mispronouncing a silly word to his or her parent. Easy ways to lighten the mood.

Humour should be effortless for the reader. They shouldn’t have to think too hard about the punch line. It shouldn’t be a chore to envision the scene on the page. But in order to achieve such effortlessness, it does, indeed, take a great amount of effort.

Whitney Braun is a Christian romance author with five published novels. She resides near Fort St John, BC with her husband, son, and crazy cat, Nacho. Chat with her on Facebook, @authorwhitneybraun, or visit her website, authorwhitneybraun.webs.com.