How to Write a Funny Romance Novel

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Writing a funny book can be a fun personal project or a challenging assignment for a class. You may struggle with how to "write funny," especially if humor does not come naturally to you. You can write a book that is considered funny by your readers by creating a story idea that is humorous and by writing your book with the rules of humor in mind. You should then polish your book by showing it to others to see if it gets any laughs, and revise it until it's as funny as it can be.

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   Come up with a funny idea for your story. To write a funny book, you need a story idea that could come across as funny to your readers. You may create a story idea that is so absurd, it's funny. Or you may place your characters in a situation that is humorous. Crafting a funny story idea should be a fun, silly exercise where you consider what you find funny and try to use these elements in your book.^[1]

   • For example, you may use your own funny experiences to write a story that is funny. Maybe you had a humorous entrance into the world, complete with a premature birth in the back of a moving bus and a mother who didn't know what to name you, so your name was "Baby" for the first few weeks. Use funny moments in your life as inspiration for an original funny book.
   • You can also create a situation that is so absurd it is funny, forcing your characters to deal with a funny situation in your book. For example, maybe your book is set in a dystopian future where people cannot lie. This situation can come across as absurd to your reader and force your characters to deal with being honest all the time.

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   Make your main character funny. You can also imbue your main character with funny attributes or a funny perspective on the world. This could then help your book come across as humorous to your readers. Perhaps your main character is quirky and strange, with a funny perspective on life. Or maybe your main character always seems to land in absurd situations, leading to moments of humor.^[2]

   • For example, maybe your main character is socially awkward and does not know how to approach others, especially at parties. But they always seem to end up going to parties anyway.

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   Put a funny twist on a classic story. You can come up with a story idea that is funny and entertaining by taking a classic story and twisting it around. Think of your favorite fairy tale, for example, and then add a humorous twist to it so it becomes funny or absurd. Consider a plot line you have read before and adjust it or add to it so it becomes fresh and new to readers.^[3]

   • For example, you may take the fairy tale about sleeping beauty and twist it so it becomes more humorous. You may make the sleeping beauty a hyperactive beauty who cannot get to sleep, no matter how much her prince kisses her. Or you may have the sleeping beauty actually turn out to be an old maid who has been waiting so long for the prince, she has aged several centuries.

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   Read examples of funny books. You can generate funny story ideas and funny character ideas by reading books that are considered humorous. Reading books marketed in the humor genre can also allow you to get a sense of the types of stories that are considered funny by publishers and editors. You may read several examples, including:^[4]

   • Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
   • Bossypants by Tina Fey
   • Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
   • The Sellout by Paul Beatty

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   Use humor with intent and purpose. To write humor effectively, you should be selective about how you use humor in your writing. Try not to have every line in a passage or a chapter be a joke. Instead, put humor in your writing with intent and purpose. Be specific so your reader is pleasantly surprised by a joke. This will ensure your humorous writing does not come off as formulaic or predictable.^[5]

   • For example, you may try to keep the number of jokes in your writing to one to two a page so your reader has time to enjoy the other aspects of your writing besides just the humor. You do not want to come across as a comedian to your reader, especially if you are writing fiction that is supposed to be funny but also tragic and poignant.
   • You may also vary the types of jokes you use in your writing so the reader feels you are writing with intent and purpose. You may play with cliches in one passage, and then use humorous language in another passage so your reader is constantly surprised and amused.

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   Play with cliches. One way to add humor to your writing is to play around with cliches, or phrases that have become so familiar they have lost their meaning. You may take a cliche and adjust the ending of it so it is not what your reader expected. Or you may invert or twist around a cliche so it comes across as new and fresh to your reader.^[6]

   • For example, you may take the cliche, "Where there's smoke…" and then adjust the ending so it is funny and strange. You may write, "Where there's smoke, there's our protagonist, Sandra Dee." You could then continue to play with cliches in your story about Sandra Dee, the budding arsonist.
   • You can also expand a cliche so it has more depth and humor to it. For example, you may take a cliche about "a mother's life is her children" and discuss how protective you really are as a mother. You may use parallels to a mother lion in the jungle protecting her cubs and your tendency to bite at anyone who insults you or your children in any way.

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   Follow the rule of three. Comedy tends to follow the rule of three, where you set up a pattern and then misdirect readers so they are surprised and amused. The rule of three requires pairing two like ideas together and then adding a third, off the wall idea. This allows you to set up your reader with certain expectations and then throw them off with something strange and funny.^[7]

   • For example, you may have the sentence: "Being happy is simple: Eat well, fall in love, and take happy pills when it all comes crashing down." This sentence uses the rule of three, where you have two ideas that are entirely expected and a third idea that is not at all what one would expect.

4. 4

   Use language in a humorous way. You can give your writing more personality by using language in a funny way. Embellish a story so it is funny and over the top on the page. Use language that surprises your reader so they are always kept on their toes, unsure of when the next laugh will hit. Do not be afraid to go for the big joke in your writing, as this can lead to big laughs.^[8]

   • You can use language to get your reader laughing by putting funny words in your writing. Many people find words that have a "k" sound to be pretty funny, from "Cadillac" to "quintuplet" as well as words that have a hard "g" sound, such as "guacamole" and "gargantuan."
   • You can also use language that is over the top and embellished so your reader realizes the absurdity of a situation.
   • For example, if you are telling a story about how you almost crashed into your parent's house, you may use describe it as, "I flew through the sleepy, suburban streets at a record breaking pace. I was way past my curfew and so worried about the pissed off look on my mother's face when I bounded through the front door that I didn't realize I had already arrived at my parent's house. Headlights first into the rose garden."

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   Give your characters funny dialogue. You can also write a funny book by giving your characters dialogue that is funny and snappy. To do this, you can include comparison jokes in your dialogue, particularly in the dialogue of your main character or characters. Having your characters trade jokes back and forth can lead to some funny passages for your reader.^[9]

   • For example, you may go for the funniest metaphors you can think of. You may try to compare a feeling or a situation to the most absurd image and then put it in your character's dialogue.
   • You may have your character say, "I would rather floss your cat's teeth than go out with you." And you may have another character respond, "Great! My cat has abnormally large molars so make sure you get those while you're at it."

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   Read the book out loud. Once you have finished a draft of your book, you should read it out loud. Read it out loud to yourself and notice if you crack up at your own writing. This may be a good indication that your book might be funny to others.^[10]

   • You can also read the book out loud to others, such as a friend or a family member to see if they laugh or find your writing funny.

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   Show the book to others. Perhaps you bring your funny book to a writing group and get feedback from others on whether it is funny or if it needs some work to get there. Or maybe you have a writing partner that you exchange work with so you can both critique each other and make your writing that much funnier.^[11]

   • Accept feedback from others on how you can make your book funnier and push the humor a little more. It will only make your book stronger.

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   Revise the book. Once you have received feedback on your book, you may be ready to revise it and polish it until it is at its best. Adjust any dialogue that comes across as forced or awkward instead of funny. Add in language that is more embellished and humorous so your writing comes across as funny. Remove any sentences that do not add to the humor in your book.^[12]

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