Maybe I’m just too serious, but I have trouble writing humor. I can be ironic, biting, wry, and cynical, but it’s hard for me to sustain a long, humorous story. No novels, just some short fiction.

The Secret Lab (it has a second edition, rewritten and reedited by A.B. Carolan) contains some funny moments, if only for Mr. Paws, the mutant feline mathematician who relates a lot of the tale. Other than that, I don’t have another novel that has sustained humor. And Mr. Paws’s story is for young adults, so it’s not as long as my adult-oriented books.

I’m now revisiting my short story “The Apprentice.” You can find it most easily in Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape, Volume Two—see the list of free PDF downloads on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page of this website. It’s a serious presentation of my views about time travel, but I believe I maintained the humor all the way through. I’m thinking about extending it to a full novel. That should be challenging. Stay tuned.

They say humor is the hardest thing to do on stage. If it’s like writing a humorous novel, I can understand that. Maybe my problem is that I don’t want slapstick, food fights, or absurd, sexual situations. I want a story with a serious foundation—The Secret Lab has it—with a frothy, humorous covering, something like a huge brownie with a whipped cream smiley on top.

Hiaasen seems to have mastered this kind of story. In Skinny Dip, for example, a husband tries to murder his wife by pushing her overboard on an ocean cruise. Not funny per se, but the wife’s revenge is funny as hell. That combines humor with mystery—or call it a humorous thriller. I like Hiaasen’s writing all the more because I can’t do it!

So I thought I might try some humorous sci-fi. Now all I have to do is see if I can write the story. The characters are good ones. I first have to figure out more of the science—that old dentist’s chair is a bit too limited right now, considering where the short story ended. I need to make Jeff a better foil to Gail too. Then comes the critical question: can I sustain the humor?

I went through a similar process when embarking on mystery and YA stories. Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder was the first Chen and Castilblanco novel that was more mystery than thriller, although The Midas Bomb, #1 in that series, has a lot of mystery elements. That evolution took a few years.

Before starting on The Secret Lab, I studied the YA genre in general. I’d always admired Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars, a YA sci-fi thriller, as well as Asimov’s Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun, both sci-fi mysteries. So my YA novel became a sci-fi mystery, and A.B. has continued with that tradition.

I’m always looking to try something new. I don’t know if I can do humor, but I’ll try that before romance or erotica—I’m certain that I can’t write in those genres. But who knows? The question I always ask myself: Is there a good story to be had there that might entertain my readers? That’s what it’s all about!

***

Comments are always welcome.

A.B. Carolan’s Mind Games. “I found Ferdie when I returned from my internship. I’d entered our secure niche in the Dark Domes and stood frozen staring at his body. My mentor, my confidant, my foster father, and best friend was dead.” ESP and androids. What could go wrong? If you’ve enjoyed The Secret Lab and The Secret of the Urns, or even if you haven’t–all the books are stand-alones, you will enjoy this sci-fi mystery for young adults and adults who are young at heart as it follows a young girl’s search for her adopted father’s killer. Her father told her to never use her special powers, but she has to use them to solve the mystery. Fortunately she finds many friends as she searches for the truth on her home planet Sanctuary, Earth, and New Haven, the seat of ITUIP (Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets). Available in print and ebook format on Amazon and ebook format on Smashwords and all its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019 at 3:26 am and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.