Comic Relief - Tumblr Posts

Spice Girls with Jennifer Saunders daughters during the filming of the ‘Who do you think you are?’ Comic Relief Video, 1997 🇬🇧

How to write comic relief

I got an ask from @therska about this, and it turned into a larger post.

First of all, it’s called comic relief because it relieves the tension. I can’t talk about comic relief without talking about tension.

1. A note about tension

Why would you want to relieve the tension? Research showed that if you write your tension as a steady line (horizontal but also upwards), it feels as if there is no tension at all. If you push your tension up and let it fall back again and again, the reader is on the edge of his seat, eager to know what will happen next.

Comic relief is a literary device you can use to create that breathing space that momentarily brings the tension back down.

This is a simple graph I made. In reality, I use comic relief not four but probably closer to a hundred times in a book, and the instances are not that long. Sometimes the comic relief is only one sentence long. It doesn’t have to be a whole comedic scene in between the thrilling ones. It can be, though.

2. A character created for comic relief

The easiest strategy is to write a character you can use again and again for the comic relief. A well-known example is the squirrel from Ice Age.

This character can be clumsy, be a goofball, have bad luck, spew funny one-liners, anything. You can use any kind of humor technique for your comic relief character. Characters like the squirrel serve no other function but comic relief, which makes them one-dimensional.

The downside of a specific comic relief character is that once readers realise it doesn’t have any other function, the relief becomes less effective. Another downside can be that it’s difficult to justify why this clumsy goofball stays part of your gang. Why do they take him along on this adventure when he keeps screwing up?

3. Comic relief ingrained in your story

A more difficult but more rewarding strategy to write comic relief is to use your existing characters or the situation in which your scene is set to momentarily bring breathing room. Again, you can use any type of humor strategy.

The advantage is that your character is well-rounded, and you don’t have to justify why the character is there. This form of comic relief makes it harder for your readers to realise what you’re doing, and if they do, they don’t feel cheated.

For example: the essence of Deadpool is his comic relief. His deadpan remarks, silly poses and sarcasm defuse the tension again and again. This results into a film that’s not an just action movie, despite all the fighting.

4. Comic relief as distraction

You can use comic relief as a strategy to distract the reader from what you’re doing. Did you just drop a big clue, or threw in some foreshadowing? Do you want to plant a red herring without making it too obvious? Throw in some comic relief immediately afterward.

J.K. Rowling does this often in her Harry Potter series. For example, when Ron and Harry are in Divination class and Harry is told his tea leaves predict the appearance of the Grim, a death omen who looks like a big dog, this foreshadows the appearance of his godfather, who takes the shape of a big dog. Immediately after that, Ron says something ridiculous he sees in his tea leaves, which deflects the readers’ attention.

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below the cut, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Lees verder

I can’t stop laughing 

I was out with a friend tonight doing one of my fave things. Reading the backs of romance novels aloud. Found this gem.

This is honestly the most wild sounding romance novel I have ever seen and thought it might brighten someone’s day.

 My schools doing a fun run for comic relief and I volunteered to do it, but we can dress up (and I want to) but I don’t know what to go as :/

Hate it when a show's "comic relief character" is literally just a nice dude that gets bullied

Especially when it's their family being assholes like why don't you like your kid? Why is everyone okay with it?

It's always in kids shows and there's always some kind of "do you guys actually like me" moment where everyone just looks at eachother like 😂😬 and I don't get why

1. We put that shit in kids shows? And get shocked when kids are mean to eachother?

2. That's such a popular troupe? Like it can be a good storyline but they never treat it like it actually is bullying

3. Whenever they stand up for themselves they either get laughed at for it or they take it back like "okay nevermind we're fine 😊"

So I made a thingie,

i’m creasing too hard at this…. mandip pushing the sonic out of jodie’s hand <3 <3