How can I write humor as character trait?
I have a character that likes to make humor, puns and jokes.
Humor should work here as a character trait; something really peculiar to this particular char. He says a lot of puns because he find them amusing on an intellectual level. Some people like riddles, some like puzzle games, and some others play sudoku. My character fascination for wordplay and humor follows the same rules.
It doesn't have to be funny for the reader too, nor for the other characters (or at least not always). Being a person who enjoys puns, I know that what makes me snicker will probably make someone else roll up his eyes in annoyance. This is somehow part of comedy, since not everyone likes the same things.
What I want to avoid at all cost is writing a comic-relief character. It wouldn't work, both because I don't believe that comic-relief only props aren't a good way to go, and because it would feel completely out of place with the grim setting he's in. And moreover, I don't want the humor feel forced. Jokes are allowed to land flat; but they shouldn't be annoying for the readers.
So, how do incorporate humor organically as a character trait?
Additional info:
- The character is not the protagonist.
- The character may have his PoV for few chapters.
- I'm not sure about the previous statement. If possible, for the sake of answering, assume he hasn't.
- The setting is a sci-fi with cyberpunk themes, like oppression of the masses, mindless extermination, general diregard for life, vast areas of the world left in decay and disrepair ...
- The main character is a young girl who experienced several losses in the story. So, it's pretty grim.
Related:
2 answers
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You prevent writing a comic-relief character by making them essential to the mission. And not shallow or dumb.
Give him a skill (besides punning) that the others value, or even a trait: Perhaps he likes punning because he is also extremely inventive in a good way, for solving problems, for anticipating the enemy, for thinking around corners. Maybe puns, bad and good, are just signs of an always active mind looking at everything from six sides at once.
So his friends put up with the puns, because his insights and strategies save their butt more often than not, and they can actually be grateful to have him. Even if they don't find his puns funny, the gratitude they have for his contributions far outweigh any irritation they have at dumb puns; so they don't resent them. They just ignore 90% of them, and laugh at 10% of them. And he can be fine with that, he made them laugh.
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For me, the annoying thing about "funny" characters is where that the humour gets injected artificially, and for some reason they decide they have to tell a joke out of nowhere. That's great for a stand-up routine, but it doesn't make for a good story. In real life, what you want to be emulating is not being a comedian but being witty. Often this has a large element of snark included as well.
Tyrion Lannister is a great example of this. Even when he's arguing for his life, he's witty.
Tyrion Lannister : Wait. WAIT! Wait, wait! Wait, you can't just hand a dried cock to a merchant and expect him to pay for it! He has to know it came from a dwarf! And how could he know unless he sees the dwarf?
Slaver : It will be a dwarf-sized cock.
Tyrion Lannister : Guess again!
Or the interplay between Jean Tannen and Locke Lamora.
One of the odder services the Villa Candessa provided for its long-term guests was its “likeness cakes”—little frosted simulacra fashioned after the guests by the inn’s Camorr-trained pastry sculptor. On a silver tray beside the looking glass, a little sweetbread Locke (with raisin eyes and almond-butter blond hair) sat beside a rounder Jean with dark chocolate hair and beard. The baked Jean’s legs were already missing. A few moments later, Jean was brushing the last buttery crumbs from the front of his coat.
“Alas, poor Locke and Jean.”
“They died of consumption,” said Locke.
Wit flows naturally from the situation. For all normal mortals, it's hard to be witty, and we often only think of the best comeback an hour later. Your characters are in luck though - they (you) can think about it for as long as it takes. Sometimes we'll also chuck in a comment we thought was witty, but turns out to be a total mood-killer. Your characters are in luck again - they can unsay those comments if it turns out not to work.
Scott Lynch's writing of the Gentlemen Bastards is exquisite for this, by the way. Of course they're conmen so by definition they're quick-witted. But Lynch's writing doesn't just set up for a Terry Pratchett one-liner. He's writing a small group of close friends who are all highly intelligent, so one witticism sparks another character saying something, and so on, as actual conversations do. Oh, and he can probably out-grimdark your grimdark...
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