Subjectivity (Or Why You Don't Get My Humor)

Currently reading - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I'm still toiling away on my AVT edits. It doesn't have the humor some of my other books have had, though I do have a sarcastic side-kick. In fact, there's a couple of plot points that still make me bawl, which is why I hide in an out-of-the-way table at my favorite writing cafe' while working on the manuscript.

Tragedy is often one thing every human will agree on, whether it be the Haiti earthquake or an abandoned puppy killed on the road. Pain and grief are universal conditions.

So is humor, but the odd thing is what makes one person laugh may be something that makes his companion shake her head in disbelief. The Three Stoodges come to mind. This subjectivity can make a humorous novel a hard sell.

Even if a writer evades the gauntlets of agents and editors, she has to consider how her readers will perceive her humor. Is she too quirky or too snarky? Will the heroine be perceived as mean-spirited or a kook?

Yet, another balancing act on the way to publication.