Bringing the Funny-How to Add Humor in Novels Guest blog and Giveaway

Bringing the Funny-How to Add Humor in Novels

If you read my blurb for First Visions, you probably wouldn’t think there’s much room for humor in the novel. The basic plot is a psychic is enlisted to help on a case to find an abducted child. Not exactly knee slapping material. However, I think adding some levity to a novel can really diffuse the tension and prevent a book from becoming overly melodramatic.

Here are a few tips:

1) Create a character that says basically everything you wish you could. The character of Kate in First Visions is an uncensored version of me. My sense of humor leans towards the snarky and sarcastic side, but since I actually want to keep my friends, I never say half the things I’m thinking.

2) Find inspiration in the people around you. Although I try not to base too many of my characters off of people I know (you know how many friends swear they are the bitchy girlfriend in First Visions?), I do add their quirks for some laughs in my stories.

3) Decide on the type of humor you want to add into your novel. Some people may find toilet humor the highest level of hilarity while others find comedy in parody and satire. Kate is sarcastic which may not endear her to all readers, but I found it worked best for the story and the character. Kate’s best friend has a boyfriend Gage who is more a fan of low brow humor since it worked with his characterization.

4) Make the situations you place the characters in funny. I think my strength lies in funny dialogue, but situational humor can also be great for a story. One instance in my book occurs when the detective tries to have a moment with Kate and takes her to feed the ducks. The geese end up charging her for the bag of bread and she has to run for cover. Other examples of situational humor in stories I’ve scene is mistaken identity (art professor thinks the handsome cop is at her studio for the nude model audition) or physical comedy (the princess makes her grand entrance into the ball by falling flat on her face).

Thanks for letting me stop by your blog!    

First Visions 

by Heather Topham Wood

Second Sight Book One

Two years ago, 21-year-old Kate Edwards became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. While unconscious, she crept into the mind of a missing boy and awoke with the knowledge of his location. Friends and family were skeptical and wary of her new ability to see into the minds of others. Their fears prompted Kate to keep her psychic powers a secret. Feeling alienated, she dropped out of college and spent most of her days holed up at her mother's home.

Now another child has been abducted. Police detective Jared Corbett seeks out Kate for her help in solving the case. Reluctantly, Kate agrees and they must work together to bring 8-year-old Cori Preston home to her family. Although attracted to one another, Jared has a girlfriend with ties to the abduction case and Kate is sarcastic and guarded since her coma. With visions she can't control and an uncontrollable attraction to the detective, she wonders if she can leave the past behind and finally stop hiding from the world. Otherwise, Cori may be lost forever.  

Author bio

Heather Topham Wood graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Working full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine, she writes fiction novels in her spare time. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.
First Visions is the first book in the Second Sight series.

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