Can we have a serious discussion on

i'm not the person to ask about this stuff, ed, but it seems to me that if you are telling the story to get a laugh - that would be humor

if you're telling a story and happen to get a laugh but really your main focus is telling the story,...well, then it is something other than humor.

*insert that shrug guy here*

I always picture "humor" books as more essays, ala Dave Barry, but I've never really explored that section of the bookstore. But you find funny books shelved all over the Barnes and Noble. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett are SFF, but humor is a huge element of their work. Come to think of it, I've laughed at more than a few urban fantasies. I'd say keep plugging at agents interested in urban fantasy, especially if you can find one that represents other funny fantasy books.

Your book sounds really fun though, something I'd read. Good luck!

Ed, sell it as "humorous paranormal" or "humorous science fiction". That's what I did with my Alien series, and it worked. The agent/publisher may CHANGE that designation, but you can query on it and it works quite well.

By putting the humorous before the main category, you advise that there will be wisecracks and witticisms and therefore set the agent's mind into the right frame.

BTW, I thought your excerpt was really good and definitely funny.

it may be a matter of percentage. If your work is 5% humorous it may still be considered traditional fiction in whatever genre you're writing in. If your work exceeds the 10% mark, where every other chapter has a humorous scenario in it, then the work would probably be considered to be a work of humor and should be marketed as such. There's humor in lots of regular fiction these days, though, so a story really has to have a substantial amount for it to fall into the humor category, I'd say.

Humor should happen naturally in writing. That clip does feel like a forced or deliberate effort; in a 'telling' instead of 'showing' kind of way. The references to pea soup and head-spinning took me out of the moment and are part of why the humor felt "old" and forced. I'd also omit the phrase "a good one" as unnecessary, unless it's part of how your character would speak.

It's also written in a passive voice. "His pink hide took on a deeper shade of red." (Also part of the telling, not showing.) Try coming up with a new, original metaphor/description for getting embarrassed.

Humor can be involved in any genre. It just has to be written well and that's difficult to do. Good luck!

There are plenty of books that are humorous throughout. These books have jokes after jokes. The characters are all humorous. The situations are all humorous. Generally if your book is humor, you've stressed out about all these things since the get go.

There are many, many more books that are a regular story that has humorous parts. Conversations or situations that are funny. Little breathes of fresh air for the reader. Many times these just happen, just like humor often just happens in real life.

If your book is in column B, I'd just say something along the lines of your work having humorous undertones, or trying to maintain a sense of humor throughout.

I'd think it would be better to tell someone you wrote an adventure book and have them think that it's funny than to tell someone you wrote a humor book and have them think that it isn't.

Better safe than sorry.

Although, technically funny is subjective. Humor is less so. I think you could point to a piece of humor writing and say "This is humor. It may not be humorous, but it is humor."

I think we've all read stuff that we would be willing to call humor, but wouldn't dare call funny.

Or do you guys think I'm way off on this?

Shadow_Ferret said:

Well, humor is very subjective. So it seems the consensus is that better to call it offbeat or quirky rather than outright branding it as humor and the expectations that come with that.

Right?

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I like "offbeat urban fantasy" for query letter purposes. An agent should be able to tell from the letter, based on the writing and premise, that it's going to be a funny book. (this seems like common sense, but I learned the hard way. I had an MG novel that I thought was pretty darn funny, but my query letter was serious and boring and didn't reflect that at all. When I changed the letter to more match the tone of the book, I got a lot more requests).

Shadow_Ferret said:

I don't know. When confronted by something that's supposed to be funny and I find it decidedly UNfunny, I often say, "That's not humor. I don't know what it is, but I know it's not humor."

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But, by that token, if an agent DIDN'T find your book funny, then they aren't the agent for you.

I don't find Larry the Cable Guy all that hilarious, but he has a huge following. He's not "bad" and his fans aren't "wrong"...just not MY kind of humor. So, if I were an agent, I'd take Bill Engvall but not Larry...unless I could tell that Larry would have a ton of fans, and then I'd find someone who liked his style of humor and have them vet his stuff.

Shadow_Ferret said:

There's the rub. I have trouble being funny on command, which is what you have to be when you write a query or synopsis about a humorous piece. I tend to... get tight and forced. It doesn't flow naturally. I think I get the point across in the query, but I don't think the query actually captures the MOOD of the piece.

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I go back to saying what worked for me, in a live situation, was saying "humorous paranormal" and "humorous science fiction]. Humorous doesn't mean every line has to be hilarious, it means light and frothy or whatever.

If your main category is science fiction, don't try to sell it as a humor book. Humor shelves with Dave Barry. Science fiction and fantasy shelves with Terry Pratchett. And you can't get more continuously humorous than the Discworld novels.

I want to foster all kinds of humor here. Just because that is not my chosen field of endeavor does not mean that this forum is not meant to focus on quirky new urban humor.


Make [us] laugh.






remember...in the beginning of time... the trickster took all of the stories.

Can we have a serious discussion

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nope.

*staggers back to the cabaret*

Oh, all right!

Shadow_Ferret said:

and before I can say, 'Mephistopheles,' he banishes me here!"

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At first, I thought your excerpt smacked of Douglas Adams. But I was wrong, it only had the faintest bouquet of Mr Adams.
I think it's more Terry Pratchett meets Dogma.

The quoted segment is funny, But I'd hate to classify your piece without reading the whole thing.

Shadow_Ferret said:

What's a dogma?



there's a straight line, the answer is, a real bitch.

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Only if she's already had puppies...

On a more serious note, I'd definitely market the piece as "humourous urban fantasy." And if I were in your shoes, now that the novel's written, I'd pick up Pratchett and Adams (especially Pratchett, in your case) and read a few. It may be that unintentionally you've come too close to some things Pratchett's written (Good Omens?) and that's why the agents are backing off.

If you find your work is similar in tone, but is still markedly original, you can say in the query that your work would appeal to fans of those authors, so the agent has an indication of who might be the market for the book.

To me, the snippet that you posted has the same tone and feeling of the works of both Terry Pratchet and Robert Aspirin. It even feels a bit like Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover series. So, I think what the other people have suggested is your best bet ie labeling it a quirky/offbeat/humorous (pick whatever adjective works for you) urban fantasy.

I write screenplays so even before you start - you must pigeonhole the genre. That's the way Hollywood wants it. I have tidy little bits of humor in the Western and in the Murder Mystery, but the Comedy? I jammed it up with Funny. Whether anyone will laugh at it is unknown, but the thrust of the entire picture is comedy.