Valkyrie Diaries writing gudie for fanfiction: part 9

9. Humour is serious business:

Nothing is more physically painful to read than forced humour. Trust me on this one. If I had a penny for all the bad 'Allo 'Allo fanfics I have read I would have... a quarter. But still!

Humour should, and must in many ways, flow naturally into the story, through the characters. If it doesn't, it obviously breaks flow. And as timing is the essence of comedy, breaking the flow of the story essentially kicks timing in the 'nads. You as the author must be invisible as far as humour is concerned. This goes double for fanfiction based on comedy-shows like Black Adder, Red Dwarf, most cartoons and so on. It goes without saying, I guess, but there is always going to be dense people out there that need it written on the face.

A better way to go about things rather than just writing something with the goal of being as funny as possible (which incdentially is the reason the Scary Movie movies suck), is to write the story as being serious but where the characters' actions or reactions, either to each other or the setting, lead to humorous consequences. It's harder than it sounds, but this is the core of many Brit-coms. Take the setting of, say, Yes, Minister: It is about a Minister of Parliament and his State Secretary. Doesn't sound so funny, but because of the characteristics and the consequences of the actions and interactions of these people, you get comedy gold. If you have the chance, pick up Yes, Minister and the follow-up series Yes, Prime Minister.

Not everyone is an Eddie Izzard waiting to happen, though. Yet, the sooner you realise your own limitations, the better your fiction will become. As said, don't force humour on people because there must be humour in the fic.
Don't force humour on people. Thw old adage "show, don't tell" applies to humour in writing as well. Nobody laughs at the clown who laughs at his own jokes.