Sense of humor in your sci-fi stories [closed]

Humor in fiction, sci-fi or not, needs to feel organic and natural occurring, like something that might actually happen or be said spontaneously in real life. If it is a joke, it must fit the character telling the joke. If it is just a humorous situation, it needs to seem likely or probable that the character might get into that situation.

We have all heard straight up jokes, in stand up comedy, or children's interactive jokes or riddles, knock-knock jokes, "What do you call ..." jokes, etc.

The place for those in fiction is with characters playing those roles: A stand-up comedian, a night-show host, or kids interacting with adults or each other.

Humor in fiction is wonderful if you can make people laugh (besides yourself). It IS part of the experience of life that once in a while someone will spontaneously say something so funny you double over laughing.

But as always, you don't want to break the reader's story immersion by having somebody say something entirely out of character, or referring to some current real-life phenomenon outside their time line. If your reader laughs, you want it to be because they felt like they were there when a person they know said something hilarious.

posted over 5 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

Amadeus‭

3156 reputation 2 1399 613 37

My question has been provoked by the fact that I have a very spicy joke for a specific situation in a sci-fi story and I'm not sure how readers would react to that.

I'll stick to this specific situation. A discussion about what is funny, and how humor works is way too broad.

"No movie is worth a scene, no scene is worth a line."

In other words, this joke can't be the payoff to the situation. The scene has to stand on its own. It can't appear to be working towards this punchline.

An inappropriate joke might slip at an inappropriate time. It's funnier, and probably more believable if it's completely out of left field.

Text and Subtext

It's unclear whether the spicy joke is something said by a character, or by the narrator/author.

Either way there is the text of the joke itself, and the subtext that gives it meaning in the situation. Subtext isn't a hidden meaning, it's the context and tone in the moment that changes how we interpret the literal text.

A sarcastic comment that breaks tension reads differently from a sarcastic comment after a defeat – same line, but very different effect. That's the subtext.

I'm assuming "spicy" joke is something sexual. There is one character (or narrator) saying the line at another character's expense, or maybe a demographic in general. Someone is the butt of this sexual joke – present or not. Jokes that "punch up" feel less hateful than jokes that "punch down". There are narrative aspects about the status of the people involved. Maybe an uptight character needs to be taken down a peg. Maybe a little old lady suddenly has a potty mouth. Maybe one character is pushing another character's boundaries, or sex is actually all they really think about and it indicates they are becoming more comfortable (if inappropriate).

All of this context will bleed onto your subtext to change the reading of the joke. It won't just be an encapsulated off-color moment, it will be shaded by everything else in the scene and authorial intent. Construction workers sharing a rude joke at the expense of a "rich bitch" has character implications (judging her authenticity? Sour grapes? Boundary-testing?), verses high school teachers making sexual jokes at the expense of students, or corporate executives preying on the interns, which will never stop being gross and creepy.

posted over 5 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

wetcircuit‭

523 reputation 24 58 96 0