Using the panel discussions of the most
recent World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, August 2015, I will jump
off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION
given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. This is event #4198. The link is
provided below…
Humor in Teen and
Middle Grade Fiction Humor within young adult and middle grade fiction is
abundant. What is it about the bending of these genres with humor that works so
well? Why are we drawn to tales that make us laugh? Our panelists take a walk
on the lighter side of speculative fiction for children and teens as they dish
about their favorite authors, books, and stories. Frog Jones (m), Gail
Carriger, Kaja Foglio, Nichole Giles
First of all, what
do the participants know about humor in YA/MG speculative fiction?
Frog & Esther
Jones – authors of the Grace series. Check
Gail Carriger –
author of the Parasol Protectorate series. Check.
Kaja Foglio –
author of the Agatha Heterodyne and the… series. Check. (She also does the art
for Magic: The Gathering cards!)
Nicole Giles – YA writer,
but as far as I can see, nothing funny…she’ll get a check, too.
So these folks
know what they’re talking about.
I still can’t pull
off written humor. I CAN make people laugh, though I’m not what you’d call a
funny guy (get it?). I get laughs by doing word play, funny voices, physical
humor, and timing comments – none of these seems to translate well into
writing. If you think about it, The Three Stooges, or Jim Carey in LIAR, LIAR
would have been hard to put into words. Though I suppose they were written
somewhere – or were they “extemporaneous”?
As a guidance
counselor at a near-inner-city (ie: 10% of our students are bussed in from a
major metropolitan inner city district; poverty rate as measured by recipients
of free or reduced lunches is about 45%) I KNOW my kids love to laugh. Race
doesn’t matter when it comes to teens laughing. If you can get them to smile,
even in a bad situation, they tend to feel better. I’m good at that.
But I suck at
writing humor. I CAN do one or two funny situations, but on balance, my writing
is pretty serious.
OTOH, I know humor
writer Gordon Korman. His books are ALL funny! But he’s never won a major award
– let me amend that: he’s never won a major award from ADULTS. Kids pick him
all the time. What does that say? (He does write speculative fiction, too – the
Nosepickers From Outer Space are right up there!) I could guess, but I’ll leave
that action to you.
I have a COMEDY
WRITING SECRETS (https://www.amazon.com/Comedy-Writing-Secrets-Best-Selling-Think/dp/1582973571/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468770151&sr=1-3&keywords=How+To+Write+Comedy)
book; I read THE HUMOR CODE (https://www.amazon.com/Humor-Code-Global-Search-Things/dp/1451665423/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468770086&sr=1-3&keywords=international+humor+study);
and like I said, I’m a funny guy. I’ve read collections of science fiction
humor, too like ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact’s THE FUNNY SIDE (an old
collection) and the Kelvin Throop III stories. Spider Robinson’s CALLAHAN’S
CROSS TIME SALOON books.
But I can’t seem
to make it work. Why? Am I not funny enough?
Did these people
reveal the formula for writing speculative humor novels for teens and middle
grade readers.
Probably – it’s
just that I wasn’t there.
What does the
internet say? Lots of things, so I’ll leave you with this – and I’ll start working
with it as well and update you in the future. Accordingly: “J. K. Rowling,
Stephenie Meyer, and Suzanne Collins all use a mix of:
1) One-liners
2) Awkward
situations
3) Fainting scenes
“…to lighten the
mood.”
So there you go.
What do you think?
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