Humor? What's That?

Let me begin by saying I hope you all have extraordinary Thanksgiving celebrations and that you come away with some funny stories. Sometimes holidays are the funniest times of the year.

 A few years ago I did a presentation at a library in California and when it was over a young college student approached me. He was a foreign student and I’m sure the idea of humor changes from country to country, and he had a question – a tough question. “What is humor? You say your stories are humorous, but what does that mean? What is humor?” What surprised me was that he was serious. Hadn’t anything ever made this young man laugh?

However, it was an excellent question, and I’m sure there are multiple answers, depending on who you ask. We sat down and had a chat. I’ve thought about his interest in humor for a long time.

To me humor means something that makes you laugh, or smile, or simply feel better than you did thirty seconds ago. It lifts you up and makes you feel good.

What may be humorous to one person might seem silly or corny to someone else. Actually, sometimes there’s no humor in what can make an individual laugh. I have a friend who laughs hysterically in an emergency, even knowing that what’s happening isn’t funny. She’ll react to the problem, but laugh until she cries while doing it. It’s nervous laughter and a release for her.

 I once saw my ex-husband walk into an orange tree and almost knock himself out because he wasn’t looking in the direction he was walking. He was too busy saying something sarcastic to me. Now that made me laugh until I cried. While is wasn’t really funny… Well, I guess you had to be there.

Some people find physical humor uproarious. Watch someone stumble down a step in a crowd and see how many people laugh. Have you seen a sitcom where someone walked into a door or a wall? Humor. Personally, I love a dry wit – the understated humor – and yet I thoroughly enjoy Abbott and Costello. Go figure.

Marley, of Marley and Me fame (John Grogan), had me falling off my seat while I read the book about his life. (For those who haven’t read the book, Marley was a dog; a Yellow Lab.) I have to admit I shed a tear a few times while reading the book. Even after reading about this incorrigible dog, what did my husband and I do? We brought two Yellow Labrador Retrievers into our home and family. They’ve created havoc from time to time, but in the end it’s easy to laugh about.

The one thing I can say for sure is that humor keeps me going. If at all possible, when something goes wrong I try to find a funny side to it. Sometimes it may be six months or more before I can see the humor in a bad situation, but it’s usually there if you look for it. And it’s in the telling. Some people are natural born comedians when telling a story.

In the telling? My books tell stories and they have some humor in them. Hopefully you’ll read one, and even more hopefully, it will brighten your day.

I’ve mentioned this before and I think it’s time to mention it again. There’s truly nothing funny about murder and I won’t write humor into the crime. However, the people solving the crime, and circumstances, can often lead to humor. A victim will just lie there, but the living character can create outrageous scenarios.

What makes you laugh? Anything in particular? The Labs make me laugh almost on a daily basis. My husband has his moments, too.

Until next time, I hope your week is silly and corny and full of laughter. You deserve to feel good about life from time to time and humor will send you in the right direction.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

A Well-Kept Family Secret (Sandi Webster Mystery) is now available in audio book format.

Marilyn Meredith, Guest Author

Today Marilyn Meredith is my guest author. This is a woman I consider a friend and whose books I thoroughly enjoy. What’s an author’s life like? Marilyn is about to tell you. Welcome, Marilyn!

The Author’s Life—Mine

If you are an aspiring author, don’t expect to hear what an exciting life I have, because for the most part it’s pretty normal.

In the beginning, the biggest milestone was getting published the first time. 

Long ago, when I knew mystery writing was the way I wanted to go, I went to a small mystery writing conference in northern California with many well-known mystery writers as instructors and attendees including Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton. Both were a big inspiration. 

For many years, hubby and I attended many big and small mystery conventions. We visited many parts of the country we’d never been to before, cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Texas, Virginia, and one of our favorites, Omaha, Nebraska. We also met many famous authors, made friends with some—and made friends with many not so famous authors.

Because I’m getting older, I’m not traveling quite as far as I used to, flying isn’t that much fun anymore.

I’ve had the privilege of being a presenter at other writing conferences and libraries, something I love doing. I’ve also been on many panels with other mystery writers at libraries.

I belong to the Public Safety Writers Association and served as the program chair for many years and now I’m the newsletter editor. Through this group I’ve met and become friends with many law enforcement professionals who’ve been great about answering questions and giving me ideas for plots.

I also belong to three chapters of Sisters in Crime. I’m most active with the nearest one, the San Joaquin chapter, though I do a lot of events with the Central Coast group. I’ve participated in the Los Angeles Times Book Festival with the L.A. chapter, and been on a couple of panels with members.

One thing I’ve learned is that as much of the author’s life is spent on promotion as on writing.

Hearing someone say, “I loved your book, when will the next one be out?” is one of the rewards of being a writer. 

Most of my relatives have never read any of my books. 

Though I sit in front of my computer for a large chunk of most days, I still have to do the laundry and cook most of our dinners. We have a big family and I love spending time with them. I have other jobs outside of the writing life. 

Being an author, is just one part of my life.

Blurb for River Spirits:

While filming a movie on the Bear Creek Indian Reservation, the film crew trespasses on sacred ground, threats are made against the female stars, a missing woman is found by the Hairy Man, an actor is murdered and Deputy Tempe Crabtree has no idea who is guilty. Once again, the elusive and legendary Hairy Man plays an important role in this newest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

Bio:

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty-five published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest River Spirits from Mundania Press. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Buy link:  CLICK HERE

Contest: The winner will be the person who comments on the most blog posts during the tour.

He or she can either have a character in my next book named after them, or choose an earlier book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series—either a paper book or e-book.

Tomorrow you can find me hanging out with Lesley Diehl at http://lesleyadiehl.com/blog

She wants to know how real Tempe and Hutch are.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Look Up, Look Down

Amy Reade won a copy of Susan Holmes audio book, and Jake won a copy of my audio book. Congratulations!

Recently I lost my glasses. I looked everywhere I’d been in the house. Nothing. I was frustrated and needed them, and I suddenly remembered some advice Pete gave Sandi Webster in Old Murders Never Die (The Sandi Webster Mysteries). “Look up, look down, look all around.” Actually, that was advice my husband gave me that he remembered from the Police Academy. I use a rather tall roll top desk. I stood up and there were my glasses, on top of the desk. Duh.

Actually, the advice we hear in real life often comes in handy in a mystery, or any other genre. The more realistic we can make our stories, the better they are. Even if someone offers bad advice, it can work in a book.

I said realistic stories, but that’s only partially correct. Fiction wouldn’t be fiction if it didn’t have the characters make some unrealistic mistakes. These errors often move a story along. So we have to find a good combination of reality and Uh Oh Moments.

Maybe Jane Doe hurries into the house, sets a bag of groceries on the kitchen table, drops her purse with everything spilling out, and the dog or cat immediately begins begging for food. (Let’s make that both a dog and a cat, and the dog is a Miniature Toy Poodle.) The phone starts ringing, and someone knocks on the front door. Jane grabs a cookie to tide her over until she can fix dinner, and as she races for the phone, the heel brakes off her shoe. In the process of trying to take care of everything, she forgets to lock the back door. Uh Oh Moment. The knocking on the front door stops and she remembers the unlocked back door just as she answers the phone and drops it in a sink full of cold dish water left from the morning.

She hears a noise at the back door and remembers it isn’t locked. She looks up, looks down and all around, trying to find something to defend herself with but when she races to the drawer with kitchen tools in it, the lights go out.

A dark figure quietly enters through the back door before she can lock it. Will the dog or cat save her?

In my other series, The Bogey Man Mysteries, Chris Cross had several Uh Oh Moments. He enjoys using 1940s slang, which can be fun, but he used slang words and phrases too often. Writers learn through their characters mistakes. The character has settled down and uses words like “bullet bait” (target) and “cheese it” (run away) less all the time.

By the way, Jane knows she may now be bullet bait and she’d better cheese it to the front door before the dark stranger can overtake her, but she trips over the dog and falls to the floor.

I’m sure glad my name isn’t Jane.

Listen to advice when people offer it. You can take it or not, your choice, but either way you might be able to use it in a fictional story. Sometimes being a good writer means practicing good listening skills.

We’ll talk about the skill of observation in another post. We need to listen to advice, opinions, and general conversation in order to hone our own writing skills. Needless to say, our characters should do the same thing, unless it will further the story to have them miss something.

By the way, Jane’s boyfriend will never let her forget this little adventure. He adds it to his list of Priceless Jane Stories.

Until next time, if you lose your glasses or your keys, now you know the best way to look for them.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com