Friday, March 28, 2008

Conversations part 6, in which I'm redundant...again...

I hope you all are enjoying our Conversations. I know Diana and I had a blast discussing our approachs to writing...and a myriad of other things. Tonight you get a two-for-one special, since I inadvertantly missed yesterday's post. To make it up to you, I've posted both my email, and Diana's reply. Enjoy!
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I was the one getting acupuncture, not him. But I was a little worried the doc would wander in to ask why I was talking to myself. I like the idea of keeping your theme in mind with a sticky note. Sometimes that's the hardest part about not having it all filled out for me, I can easily get distracted by a great scene, but not realize that it really has nothing to do with anything else.
Oh, and I realized I didn't address the romantic comedy statement you made earlier. For me the biggest part of making it funny is if you can have a sense of humor about it. I tend to use a lot of physical comedy in my stories, something that's hard to write, since it's visual. A perfect example is that in my latest book, one of the opening scenes if of my character watch her shoes bounce down the highway behind her car as she drives. it came out of a real event from when I was a child, and sets the stage perfectly for the way her life is going at that point. I also use a lot of what I consider a sarcastic sense of humor. Of course, humor is such a personal thing, you really have to go with, "Does it make me laugh?" If it makes you laugh you're on to a great start in my opinion. From there you can worry about if it translates or not. Of course, as most of my blog readers know, I crack myself up, so I might be a bit scewed on this topic.
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Ok! There's a perfect example of what's funny. A misunderstanding. I really thought you were wringing the truth out of your hero by threatening him with those long needles. (Not sure what that assumption says about me. Hmmmm.)
I attended a comedy workshop by Mary Janice Davidson last year at the Romantic Times Convention. She is wickedly funny and has some definite ideas about it. She says she usually aims for a smile. If you make your reader shoot coke out their nose, you risk pulling them out of the story.
That said, I really like to go for the snort. A couple weeks ago I took a copy of DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS to the RWA meeting here in Massachusetts. While the chapter president was opening the session and taking care of all her parliamentary stuff, I was sending the DUCHESS around the room. I tried to use comedy as a hook for the this story and it seemed to work. As the book made the rounds and the women read the first sentence, the giggles and nose noises followed like a wave in a football stadium.
The chapter president was not amused.
It's great when the humor accomplishes two things at once. Your shoes flying down the highway are not only a good humorous visual, but it says something about your heroine's life. Not just gone to the dogs, but doggone!
We're having way too much fun here. I need to get busy. VEXING THE VISCOUNT will not write itself.

Warmly,
Diana or Emily (whatever)

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