Hi to you who is reading this post,
I was working on an outline for my novel and came across a character that had shown me a cause for concern. The problem I'm talking about is that he is a humorous character and likes to joke around, he is also a leader to an organisation so he is vital to my story. Except I am no good at writing humour, in fact I would say I'm not that humorous at all. So how should I tackle this issue?
Hi DC.
I would suggest you first decide how the character is going to use humour. For example, if he is a bit of a bully in some cases, he could be very sarcastic to his own people. Alternately, he could save such comments for his opponents, thereby making his own people laugh and building the bond with them.
Satire is not really a leader's tool, and unless he is really secure in his position, neither would self-deprecation be. And a leader who is constantly telling jokes doesn't have their mind focused on the job. A leader would joke sparingly.
Agree with Lorraine and the commentor who suggests not imposing the humour on your character. Therefore, you probably only want to use it very sparingly. Put maybe a sarcastic comment against a rival/opponent, in front of both their 'tribes', thereby demonstrating his confidence and the spirit of his team.
Good luck and keep on doing.
PabloJ.
Hi Ellen
I have only done an outline of the book so I haven't gotten down to the first draft of the story yet. He is one of those characters that sticks to you and you can't seem to shake him off, he must be in this story. But I have took in everyone's helpful advise and I've decided to just go with what every this character says on the page, let it come naturally I suppose :)
Can we see an excerpt of your humorous character? :)
~Ellen