For memoir month, I am thrilled to introduce you to one of my personal heroes, the amazing Marti MacGibbon. We met one day when she and her husband knocked on our door with a petition to keep a self-storage facility from being built next to the elementary school. We happily signed. They had moved in a few houses down and my husband and I were thrilled to find kindred spirits.  When I mentioned I wrote books, Marti told me about her self-published memoir Never Give In To Fear: Laughing All the Way Up from Rock Bottom . Memoir is not my usual jam, but I purchased it and loved it. With her gallows humor, Marti wrote about her move to California to work in comedy which soon turned into a nightmare of homelessness, addiction, and being sex trafficked to the Japanese Yakuza. Marti not only survived but thrived, using her experiences to help others. She gained professional certifications in ACRPS, (Advanced Certified Relapse Prevention Specialist, and the CAPMS (Certified Addiction-Free ...

I am a lover of most things comedy: stories, movies, and TV shows. For me, comedic writing is one of the toughest genres to write. So many of us (new and old writers) try too hard to be funny, and in the end, it sounds forced and… well, just plain not funny. Comedies entertain me, and they also make me think. Slapstick, ridiculous comedies (sometimes fused with drama) like Psych ; genre-shifting, parody-laden, bawdy comedies like Archer  (my fave show on TV); and comedies that speak harsh truths to social issues, such as Chappelle's Show all speak to my funny bone. As a writer, I like thinking about the comedic writers' ability to make comedy integral to a story, not forced but fluid. The biggest takeaway I get from good comedic writing is TIMING, and to that end, comedy has a lot to do with music; it, too, has rhythm, tempo, beat. Those stories, movies, and TV shows that infuse comedy in a fluid way, making it integral to the storyline, have a rhythm to the sto...

You don't have to write a Comedy to take advantage of humor in your fiction. Whether reading Young Adult fiction or murder mysteries, I love reading a passage that tickles my funny bone. People do tend to look at me as if I am crazy when I laugh out loud while sitting in an airport or in a physician's waiting room. However, a well-written passage can leave a smile on my face for days. So what are some ways to inject comedy into your story? 1. Colorful Characters No matter the genre, you can insert fun secondary characters. They are often the most memorable. Don't insert them for just for color (every character should serve a purpose) and avoid clich é s. 2. Playful Banter There have to be resting beats between tense or emotional crises in a story. Injecting a little clever back and forth dialogue can provide that relief. 3. Absurdities There are funny things in daily life readers relate to. From pet humor to dealing with toddlers, we can all appreciate life...

Do you enjoy April Fool's Day? I admit, prank humor isn't my favorite. But I do love to laugh, and I particularly enjoy reading books of any genre that, somewhere in the course of the novel, make me shed a tear and make me laugh out loud. The best story characters will do that to you. I'm currently working my way through all the J.D. Robb In Death books, and every single title has dialogue between characters that makes me chuckle. Here's an example: "I vote the classic crime of passion." Peabody, once again wrapped up like a woman facing the Ice Age, walked out of the building with Eve. "Jewelry, cash, credits, plastic, electronics, fancy sports equipment still on premises, no sign of break-in, obvious signs of hanky-panky." "How does hanky-panky translate to sex? Who comes up with words like that?"  What are some books you enjoy for their touch of humor? Name an author who excels at comedy writing. Is there a certain type of hu...