The Humour Club discussion

Am I in the right place? I am a fan of satirical humor with dark elements (i.e., Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland). I wrote a short story, White Belt and published it on Kindle and was torn between publishing it under the horror genre and humor genre. Is there such a thing as comedic horror or is it horror that happens to be funny?

Also, If you're interested, I'm giving away three FREE copies of my short story, White Belt on Kindle! It received a 4.8 rating on GoodReads and 4.9 on Amazon! Head on over my blog, http://www.fayemccray.com/2013/11/win... to enter to win :-).

I'm convinced no one knows what to do with humorous fiction. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett are in the sci-fi section. I guess the trick is to be categorized as anything but 'humor', where joke books go to die.

Haha, I think there is a little self preservation involved. If you don't admit you are trying to be funny, no one will blame you if they don't laugh :-). Maybe I shouldn't push the subject...

Joel wrote: "I'm convinced no one knows what to do with humorous fiction. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett are in the sci-fi section. I guess the trick is to be categorized as anything but 'humor', where jok..."

I usually think of Pratchett and Christopher Moore as comic fantasy, but it's not really a category, I suppose. I've been interested to see that my own comic fantasy, HELL'S SUPER, is getting some visibility under the category "satire." Heck, I'd rather it be called a satire than a fantasy, which lumps it in with LOTR and other such fare. I've noticed that many of Moore's books are also categorized as satire.

I always feel strange telling people that I write humor because if they don't think I'm funny, well, what then? On the other hand, there are plenty of people who don't think Dave Barry is funny, and he's doing just fine. I think that we have to take any advantage to pull in readers with indie books, so if your story is supposed to be funny as well as horror, say so. There are readers out there looking specifically for humor -- me, for example. :)

I write humour and categorise my books 'Humour'. Amazon allow you to categorise them under another genre as well, so I have Humour, Biograpy - Humour, Lads Lit - Humour, Sports etc. Classifying my book Stairlift to Heaven as Humour didn't seem to do it any harm - it got to a high of No4 in the Bestsellers list and was No1 in Humour for six months.

I added 'A comedy thriller' to the title of my own novel as I wanted potential readers to have a reasonably clear idea of what to expect. I'd toyed with the idea of describing it as a comic thriller, which, to me at least, implies that the book might not be as funny as a comedy thriller and therefore covering myself if nobody laughed very much! I decided against this in the end though as I thought comic might give the impression that the book was a graphic novel.

Of course, you can also add words and phrases like ‘humour’, ‘thriller’, etc. as keywords if you don’t want to be quite so up front about the comedy aspect, and the book will still show up in relevant searches.

I understand the problem having been left beaten and bloody (metaphorically, of course) after a comedy SF story of mine was published. It got great reader support on Critters, but reviewers in the SF magazines seemed offended that anyone should take a less-than-serious angle on the genre, or, perhaps it would be more pertinent to say, their genre. Gatekeepers can be a menace.

It is a huge problem for anyone who adds a little humour to their genre material. If you take Terry's approach that's great, but then your books had better be packed tight with laughs. That's not necessarily to everyone's taste when they're looking for a horror or thriller to read. Nor did a great like Westlake Donald take that approach with his comedy thrillers. It might also be relevant that he published his hard-boiled fiction under another name.

As others have said, I guess all you can do is publish it under both genre headings and make effective use of your keyword allocation.

I think for any of us who straddle genres it's harder to find an audience, you just have to be patient and keep plugging away.

Comedy is always a tough sell, I made sure I had some reviews from guest readers so that the blurb had "Funny, laugh out loud" n crap like that, so that there is no doubt. But, with comedy, it doesn't always land so you have to lean on the comedy bias. Mine is a very dark and offensive comedy and it got lucky in that it is getting turned into a film late 2014, but as said, it was all luck. Mine is 70% comedy, however well written horror with comedy elements or crime etc is just as valid.
You have to plug harder, as said above comedy is HARD, but worth it.

Publishers and readers never understand a genre until it happens, then they can't leave it alone. Dangerous book for boys." eh? imagine pitching that. Until my current comedy outing I did mostly science books and happened to make the pun "timely history of briefs" in a meeting. Imagine my suprise when they said they wanted it. If I'd pitched it... well.. no way. Comedy is hard in that people harden to it by default. I bet we've all had that tosser doing the buddum crash thing.

Om the other side, I'd say that a genuinely funny book will sell itself harder, people like spreading jokes in a way they may not spread a thriller say.

My novel is going to be tagged as a fantasy novel before it is tagged a comedy,pity as the fantasy aspect is a vehicle rather than a passion but hey, people love their tags. Will be on an ereader soon, looking forward to swapping nonsense with you all.

Interesting. Let us know when!

I should add that I work in publishing, and if anything makes me want to go the indie route, it's that.

T.J. wrote: "Publishers and readers never understand a genre until it happens, then they can't leave it alone. Dangerous book for boys." eh? imagine pitching that. Until my current comedy outing I did mostly sc..."

Look forward to finding out more about it.

oh the timely history of briefs came out in 2008, ironically of course after the publisher in their wisdom changed the title

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History...

a large part of the stock went into Woolworths and never came out. Now available for 1 pence.

the new thang is this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Unhappy-M...

viva indie!

I have the same problem defining my work. My debut piece of fiction "I Am Become Zombie" is primarily a comedy at heart (a crude, dark comedy at that), but it has enough of the classic elements of horror that I can't NOT call it at least half-horror (however unconventional it might be). Are you using comedic relief to capitalize on the scares...or is it "horrific relief" that's capitalizing on the laughs? o_O

I Am Become Zombie: http://www.amazon.com/Am-Become-Zombi...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't know what datgum category to put their book under.
Is there such a thing as a thriller-horror-lesbian-comedy?
Dibs on the name if it becomes a thing!

Sports?

My first marriage?

Will wrote: "My first marriage?"

Awesome.

Urgghsome actually ;-)

Will wrote: "Urgghsome actually ;-)"

You seem to have gotten a lot of material out of it in a builds-character-while-it-drains-your-wallet sort of way.

I suppose it's about time that I got something material from it.

Not that I'm bitter, more than 20 years later.

Believe it or not, there's a scented candle for that:

http://theflickingcandles.com/product...

Melki

That is fabulous - and it's sold out!


Will

It's amazing, and a little sad, that so many people want to be surrounded by the scent of failed marriage.

I wonder ... what exactly is the etiquette for using divorce paper-scented candles? I have to confess that I haven't given it much thought up to now.

Do you buy them as a present for someone? If a friend has got divorced do you buy them a candle to cheer them up?

Put them on a wedding list?

Do you buy them for yourself to cheer yourself up?

Or perhaps you buy them while you are still married as a threat to your other half about what will happen if he doesn't stop snoring or staring at the checkout girls in Tesco?

I really don't know. Someone must be buying these things if they've sold out.

Maybe ... just maybe ... you use them to make a macabre shrine of hate while you stick pins in an effigy of your recently exed ex.

Whatever next? Divorce flavoured perfume or aftershave perhaps? Eau de infidelity?

Helps remind you why you can no longer afford electricity.

Yeah, I wrote what I thought was a satire, albeit with murder in it, and of course, it's been categorised as crime. Quite a lot of 'crime' is humour though, really.
Hmm... thriller-horror-lesbian-comedy... thorror lescom? Anyway, of course that will be categorised as 'lgbt fiction' because it has a gay character in, no matter what ever else it is!

Comedic horror - A horde of Justin Bieber clones with clown makeup on.

R. wrote: "Comedic horror - A horde of Justin Bieber clones with clown makeup on."

Oh, thanks for that image. I won't sleep tonight.

R. wrote: "Comedic horror - A horde of Justin Bieber clones with clown makeup on."

And the Biebers crept closer, red paint slathered over their lips like blood. The leader reached up and gave one quick squeeze to his red nose, then smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth stained with specks of yellow.

"Beliebe," he croaked.

- Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

Jack wrote: "reviewers in the SF magazines seemed offended that anyone should take a less-than-serious angle on the genre, or, perhaps it would be more pertinent to say, their genre. ..."

I know what you mean. I wrote a comic novel that sets out to examine some of the most over-used cliches of the fantasy genre. Epic quests, Chosen Ones, fetishistic armour and elaborate lairs all come in for a bit of much-needed scrutiny but, in retrospect, submitting it for review by people who described themselves primarily as fans of fantasy probably wasn't the wisest of moves. I received some useful feedback, certainly, but one or two reviewers seemed to feel that the comedy 'got in the way' of the action. "More stabbing, less quipping" seemed to be their advice. I was surprised because I wasn't expecting the plot to be taken at all seriously; I had always taken the view that the action was basically just a vehicle for the comedy.

Leaving aside what are doubtless my many failings as a writer, I think the fundamental problem lies with classification. The absence of a clear, 'top level' comedy tag means that comedy readers can often struggle to find what they want, and comedy authors risk exposing their works to entirely the wrong market and being rated accordingly.

Keyword tags go some way to redressing the problem but I'd much prefer that comedy authors had a comfy little home of their own. As it is, comedy fans are often required to play a literary version of 'Where's Wally?' when they browse the bookstore shelves (virtual or otherwise) and - like unpopular relatives at a busy wedding reception - comedy writers are left to stare at the passing crowds, struggling to make a connection.

I'd support that although, ever the optimist, I'd be aiming for a full-on genre rather than a humble niche. Celebrity biography has its own shelf; vampire romances have another. Do we deserve any less? I say no. The odds may be against us but let us gird our loins, take to horse and start a brave new literary movement of our own.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to paint my face blue.

I think Ebola lends itself to comedic horror. Also, opportunities galore for political incorrectness and making fun of the government generally. Though, that last one doesn't exactly take much.

There actually is a "comedy horror" thing on Amazon. I went through the entire category the other night and found one of my books at Number 495. LOL. You're right, though, if the reader doesn't know what to call it, they don't have much of a prayer finding it there on Amazon.Bobbi A. Chukran

I was just digging through Amazon and realized that they don't even really have a "comedy" category--not like other ones, anyway. I think it's buried WAY deep in literary fiction.
bobbi c.
Cattywampus Christmas

Bobbi A, I think they have "humor" rather than comedy. But that's a very broad category, and not exactly the same thing, at least not in my somewhat pedantic mind.

And at least we could agree how to spell comedy!

I struggle with this all the time. You write a romantic comedy about zombies set in a fantasy landscape ... now where on Earth do you put that?

Hi Rebecca! Yes, they have "humor" but most of those are non-fiction books, I think. And you're right; it's not the same thing.

And Will--now THAT'S a hard one! I have a comedy that's a fairy tale mash-up (not for kids) that's also a detective spoof. I've had a very hard time selling that one. At first I decided to try it for kids, but that's not working well. It's really not a kid's book, anyway.

Bobbi A, I share your pain. None of my kids' books are really kids' books. But they do sell that way (at least locally. Not sure who does the buying on line, of course). But I'm pretty much left to convey the humor aspect (do the words "tall tales" even mean anything to people today?) through blurbs.

And the kids divisions seem to have fewer sub-categories on Amazon, so I mostly get lumped into very large groupings like "fiction." Though I have marked them for subgroups, they don't show up in the listings that way.

Talk about comedic horror, that pretty much sums up marketing as far as I'm concerned.

Hey Rebecca! YES! It's horrific how hard it is to market some of these books. I noticed that some humor books for adults, like those by A. Lee Martinez, are put into science-fiction comedy. And I think mystery has a comedy sub-category, but my MG book was more fantasy comedy/spoof/satire. LOL. I used the term "tall tales" for a while, but figured nobody paid attention to it.
Bobbi Ann Chukran

And Rob, if you use the word "comic" you'll sometimes get lumped in with the graphic novels. Which might be a good thing, depending on your audience. :-)