Ask An Author: "How do you bring humor into tense scenes without making light of a serious issue?"

Each week, a new author will serve as your Camp Counselor, answering your writing questions. Michael David Lukas, our final counselor, previously wrote for our blog about throwing a wrench into your revision routine, and is the author of historical novel The Oracle of Stamboul.

How do you bring humor into tense scenes without making light of a serious issue? — Anonymous

Humor can be a great tool in novel writing. And, as the question implies, it can be especially useful as a way to break the ice in a scene with a lot of tension. Also, because humor relies on tension and the confounding of expectations, a middling to weak joke can pack an extra punch when delivered in a tense situation. But, before you go sprinkling jokes throughout all the serious conversations and violent confrontations in your novel, consider these three questions.

Is it funny? Seems like a no brainer, but I often hold onto a bit of humor for sentimental reasons, even if it isn’t funny. Try reading the moment aloud to a friend (or even better a stranger) to see how they react.
Does it serve the novel? Humor can move the plot forward, it can build a character’s personality, or it can relieve tension. But you want to make sure that you’re not just throwing a joke in there for no reason, even if it is funny.
Is it consistent? If your character is making a joke, does the joke (and the context of the telling) fit the character’s personality? If the humor is situational (i.e. a clumsy detective fumbling with her gun in a standoff with the villain) does the humor fit the narrative voice? If the narrative voice is usually somber and serious, a joke at a tense moment might draw the reader out of the spell you’ve cast.

Humor is a great tool. But it’s important to think about how your humorous moments fit into the larger narrative arc, character building and/or narrative voice. If you can check all these boxes, you can be pretty sure you won’t be making light of a serious situation.

Don’t miss our #AskCampNaNo tweetchat with Michael and last week’s counselor, Patricia C. Wrede, this Thursday, 4/24/14, at 4 PM PST!