Humor? Are you sure?

One of my critique partners and I have been slinging names at each other’s main characters for the last week or so. I called his MC an ass and he called mine a buzzkill. To be fair, I started it; to be honest, we’re both right. His MC is trying to be funny and charming, but comes off as a jerk. My MC is always brooding, dark and gloomy, and reminds me of Angel in Angel. Any Whedonites out there? Anyone remember how annoying Angel was? Or was that just me?

I helped my CP by pointing out where his MC went wrong and why it bothered me so much. He’s made changes since then and his character comes across better, though sometimes his humor and thoughts still border on ass-ish. I told him I like it this way. It makes me laugh, and that’s good thing.

As for my buzzkill MC, my CP suggested I add some humor. It’s funny that he said this. A Pitch Wars mentor told me she didn’t pick my MS because it didn’t have any humor in it; another of my CPs has a ton of humor in her MS; and, few days ago I finished reading Mindy McGinnis’s NOT A DROP TO DRINK and I remember she mentioned in her acknowledgments how one of her CPs helped her add emotional accessibility to her MC. That’s part of what my CP was trying to tell me—my MC wasn’t likeable as she was. She needed to have more depth, which will help readers connect to her and enjoy the story more. Therein lies my CP’s request for humor.

Problem is, I don’t do humor. Seriously. (Sorry about this adverb, CP!) For those of you that read my blog, have you laughed at anything I’ve written? I’m horrible at telling a joke—whenever I try, it falls flat and anyone listening stares at me. If I’m not trying to tell a joke but if I’m trying to be funny, my words come out tainted with sarcasm, which also kills the humor. Then there are the times when I don’t mean to tell a joke or be funny, but everyone laughs at me anyway even though I have no idea why.

I also have trouble getting into comedy on TV and in movies. There are very few comedy TV shows that I like because most of them just aren’t funny to me. The exceptions are The Big Bang Theory, Friends, and…well, I can’t come up with anything else off the top of my head. As for movies, a huge example is that I don’t find Will Farrell funny, which I think is a rare thing. The only movie I like him in is Stranger than Fiction, though I think this is more because of his interactions with Emma Thompson than because of his humor. Other than that, I don’t laugh at Will Farrell, not in Talladega Nights, not in Elf, not in The Anchorman. The same is true for a lot of comedic actors—Will Farrell’s just the first one that came to mind.

This isn’t to say no movies or TV shows are funny to me. My humor’s darker than average and I prefer serious subjects. Still, there’s no denying that there are entertaining lines in movies like Love Actually or The Avengers (Whedonites!) and in TV shows like The Vampire Diaries and (more for fellow Whedonites!) Firefly.

So maybe after all of this, you can see why when my CP told me to add humor to my book and main character I wanted to say, “Humor? Are you sure? Don’t you know me at all?” Thing is, he doesn’t really know me. We met online and we email back and forth, but we live hours apart so it’s not like we’ve ever met for drinks or anything.

Still, my CP has got a point. My MC needs to be more accessible. I’ve started to dig through my MS, searching for opportunities for something funny. I’m hoping that what I’m adding comes off as funny and not something awkward that doesn’t at least make readers smile. I’ve found several scenes that might work. I’ll find more. After, I’ll email my MS to the CP who pointed out this flaw, as well as to the one who excels at making her MC funny. And after that, my MS will be that much better and will have a better chance of catching agents’ attention.