  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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...Suddenly, Frito's grinders jammed against a small hard object in the burger. Cursing under his breath, Frito reached into his throbbing mouth and extracted a tiny metal cylinder. Unscrewing the top, he removed a tinier strip of microvellum, on which he made out the words: Beware! You are in great danger. You are embarked on a long journey. You will soon meet a tall, dark Ranger. You weigh exactly fifty-nine pounds.
Frito drew in his breath with fright and his eyes sought the sender of this message. At last they came to rest on a tall, dark Ranger seated at the counter, a double root beer untouched before him. The lean figure was dressed entirely in gray, and his eyes were hidden by a black mask. Across his chest were crossed bandoleers of silver bullets, and a pearl-handled broadsword dangled ominously from one lean hip. As if feeling Frito's eyes upon him, he turned slowly on his stool and met them, putting a gloved finger to his lips for secrecy. He then pointed toward the door of the men's room and held out five fingers. FIVE MINUTES. He pointed toward Frito and then to himself. By this time, half the patrons had turned to watch, and thinking it was a game of charades, were encouraging him with shouts of "Famous saying?" and "Sounds like!"...
-Harvard Lampoon, Henry Beard, Douglas C. Kenney,
Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings |
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Comedic Fantasy
Hey folks! I'm Robert Waltz and I'll be your Guest Editor this week. Since I'm usually found picking my nose over at the Comedy newsletter about once a month (including an engagement this very week), I thought I'd spend my valuable Guest Editorial time discussing the serious subject of comedic fantasy!
As far as I can tell in the five minutes I took to research the subject, there are four basic types of comedic fantasy:
1. Parody, as in the book quoted in the "About this Newsletter" section above.
2. Stories that are not parodies of any particular work, but are intentionally funny.
3. Stories that are basically serious, but have elements of comedy.
4. Stories that are intended to be serious, but are so bad that you just have to laugh.
I think I've written quite a few of the fourth kind, myself.
Some examples of authors who write intentionally funny fantasy and science fiction include Piers Anthony, Terry Pratchett, Robert Asprin, Peter David, Spider Robinson and Douglas Adams. Some of their works can be considered to be parodies of the genres themselves, though it is, perhaps, more accurate to say that they take advantage of the styles, conventions and settings of the form and twist them to comic effect.
Obviously, not everybody can or should concentrate on comedic forms within the genres; if everything is a parody, what remains to be parodied? But a little humor interjected into an otherwise serious piece often works to lighten a mood, provide a contrast if the material gets overly heavy, and emphasize differences between characters. So I present:
The Robert Waltz Guide to Making Fantasy and Science Fiction Readers Laugh Sometimes While Reading Your Otherwise Serious Story!
 The Comic Relief Sidekick. This one's probably overdone, but surprisingly effective if handled right. The hero has a friend, companion or crew member who cracks wise at the slightest opportunity. Use this carefully, especially if your hero is the no-sense-of-humor type and would just as soon kill the jokester as the villain. The sidekick can't save the hero from the evil clutches of the villain if the hero's tied her to a tree back in the Forest of Tickling Shrubs because he couldn't take even one more of her puns.
The Random Pop Culture Reference. Fantasy and science fiction readers are, in general, fanatics. What we're fanatical about, though, isn't usually celebrities, mainstream sit-coms or romantic comedies, but things like Monty Python, Star Trek, comic books, and role-playing games. One of my favorite authors, Steven Brust, included in one of his books an exchange between two of his main characters that went something like: "What if she turns you into a newt?" "I'll get better." This exchange will be familiar to everyone who has seen the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail; i.e., 95% of your readers. They will see this and laugh out loud, which will be extra funny if they happen to be sneakily reading your story while, say, serving on a jury during a murder trial. Use this sparingly! If you overuse this device, your story becomes parody.
What Sense of Humor? The funniest parts of Star Trek occurred with characters who lacked an innate sense of humor: Spock, Data, Odo, Worf, and Picard when he was in a bad mood. The trick there is to take a scene that's only marginally amusing - which is the best most of us can manage, including myself - and supersize the laughs by playing them off of someone who Just Doesn't Get it. In fantasy, I find this works particularly well with dwarves, like the scene in LOTR where they're all on a battlement, waiting for the invading orcs, and all you see is the top of Gimli's helmet: "You could have picked a better spot." Unlike the Random Pop-Culture Reference, this type of comedy can be injected fairly often, so long as everyone stays in character.
Good Old-Fashioned Slapstick Having the villain slip on a banana peel every so often is good for the soul. Okay, no, it actually makes the villain a lot less effective, but it works wonderfully with the villain's minions.
Character-Driven Humor This one is probably the most effective, and it can serve the multiple purposes of illustrating character, moving the plot along, and making the reader laugh. There's no single way to do this. Usually, it involves a character who may or may not intend to be funny, but always seems to say the right thing at the right time - or, better, the exact wrong thing at the exact right time. One of my personal favorite examples of this kind of character is Jayne Cobb from the wonderful but short-lived Firefly television series and the movie based on it, Serenity. Another is Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Whatever the technique, even the most serious fantasy stories can benefit from the occasional moment of comic relief at just the right time. It's the tales that take themselves too seriously that find themselves ripe for parody. |
Rooting around the site, I found several examples of humorous fantasy. Here's but a few for your end-of-year perusal:
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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As a Guest Editor, I don't have any feedback to answer, but I will ask a question for you to ponder and maybe bug the regular editors with: How do you inject humor into your fantasy or science fiction stories? What techniques can you use to keep the story itself serious while providing moments of comic relief?
Write Well! Happy New Year! |
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Fantasy: December 26, 2007 Issue [#2138]
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