Now That's Funny!

Comedic writing is a fascinating and important part of the writer’s craft, so I reached out to author Alex Mueck and asked him to blog about writing with humor.  He graciously accepted.

Alex - After writing 2 thrillers, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and write a comedy, one with a historical fiction bent, titled, Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus.  To frame the story I used the premise of a college student submitting a thesis paper to his Harvard professor.  The thesis paper takes place during the Civil War era, and specifically targets Jesse James and his gang of Bushwhackers.  Thus, the thesis paper is framed as if it came from an arrogant college student, where juvenile and adult humor is utilized.  

I learned very quickly that writing comedy was harder than I initially expected, and for me, a little more challenging than my other two novels. My goal was to use humor to tackle topics that are often uncomfortable and polarizing, such as racism and feminism.  In other words, use humor as the hammer against inequalities. 

Keeping a consistent comic angle was new to me.  So as I do in all my books, I try to get inside each character, and determine, what would he/she say that would be funny?  How would a certain character react to a certain situation that could provoke laughs?  What scenarios could be utilized that set the stage for humorous actions.  For example, there was a newspaper in the Civil War that went by the name, The Lexington Caucasian.  I am sure I do not have to expand on what side of the Civil War divide this newspaper stood for.  This newspaper was utilized in as a springboard for perhaps the most comic aspects of the novel.  Thus, the research I did prior to writing, helped me scope out scenarios to successfully tell the story I wanted. 

My poor wife is a victim to all my mad ramblings and jokes, and every time I wrote the parts between the main character and his love interest, I would imagine, the two characters were us as a couple, and then I found it easier to keep the laughs coming.  As a side note, I am not certain my wife found this source of inspiration as splendid as I did.

Thanks Alex.  His outstanding and consistently funny novel, Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus, can be found on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Jesse-Secret-Legend-Captain-Coytus/dp/1491710489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qi...

By Jeff Altabef author of the political thriller Fourteenth Colony.