7 Tips to Putting Physical Comedy in Your Story

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Marx Brothers

Slapstick or physical comedy is more of a visual medium, so it’s very difficult to have it in a book.  So, some of these tips will need some ingenuity if you plan on going with this type of humor.  That doesn’t mean it’s impossible.  Just have to depend on creative description of acts and reactions as well as the reader’s imagination.  If they have an even slightly immature sense of humor, you have a shot.

  1. One of the most important factors in slapstick is that there is pain, but rarely injury or blood.  Even an arrow hitting some will just be stuck in them with no spurting.  The person will usually stop for a bit, look down, and then have a delayed freak out over the pain.  Once you include blood and true injury, the comedy is erased because the person isn’t going to walk it off that easily.  I will say the only time you can get away with this is if you’ve established that the character can regenerate or is immortal.  Hence why I was able to do more violent slapstick with my vampires in War of Nytefall.
  2. Exaggeration can help in making it clear that this is being done for comedy and not to cause real damage.  Just look at any Three Stooges skit and you’ll see how cartoonish the slapstick is.  Hit in the head with a hammer?  That should kill Curly, but it just hurts with no visual damage.  The reaction to the slapstick should be over the top as well.  A great example would be Chris Farley who would throw himself into physical comedy . . . literally.  His voice would become loud, sharp, and impossible to ignore, which enhanced the effect.
  3. Physical comedy doesn’t always need two people.  A person simply has to go through a painful experience, which is exaggerated.  They could fall off a house, get in a fight with an automatic door, or be stuck under a bus.  Again, the whole concept revolves around ridiculousness even if a situation is totally believable.
  4. Surprise can be an important factor here.  Shock of seeing someone hit in the groin without warning or falling off a cliff even you didn’t see means your guard was down at the time.  People are more likely to laugh when they aren’t guarded.  Of course, there needs to be some hint that this is possible.  Can’t have a cliff in the middle of a big city, but you could have an open manhole.  Surprsie to the character also makes the exaggerated reaction more believable.
  5. Slapstick from one character to another loses some of the humor when hatred is involved.  Sudden anger is one thing because it means the character has lost their temper like Moe Howard.  If there is true hatred behind the violence then the tone is much different.  It means true damage is intended.
  6. THE TONE OF YOUR STORY NEEDS TO MATCH PHYSICAL COMEDY FOR IT TO WORK!  Seriously, it doesn’t really match with anything serious.  Those kinds of tones put the readers in a different mindset, so they’ll be thrown off and maybe even horrified by the incident.  It won’t appear comical.  Just painful.
  7. Groin shots . . . For some reason, they still get laughs.
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Calling All Beta Readers – The Last Book in the Eternal Road Series

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

This is a call for beta readers for the final book in the Eternal Road series. The working title is Another Look – At the Eternal Road. I ask readers…

Calling All Beta Readers – The Last Book in the Eternal Road Series
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Seeking Feedback for Your Writing Project

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Critique Groups As I began to write my first book, The Bloody Shoe Affair, the characters and story flowed like a river. I loved it, but I didn’t …

Seeking Feedback for Your Writing Project
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Questions 3 and Looking Back at War of Nytefall: Eradication

Posted on July 23, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

Eradication is probably the hardest book to really go into details about.  It isn’t that it’s complicated or confusing.  The crazy plans of various villains in War of Nytefall are in every other volume.  This one is actually fairly straightforward.  So, we’ll see what I can do without using spoilers.

The vampire civil war has been on a two year truce, which has given Clyde and Mab time to enjoy their relationship.  Now, the Dawn Fangs have a problem with a Duragian priest named Leo Kandrel.  He is wielding a weapon called the Fist of Durag, which is a powerful sun magic weapon.  It’s being used to destroy Dawn Fangs, so they are facing both exposure and extermination as Leo’s army grows.  One of the worries is that the rumors of it being strong enough to kill Clyde is true, which means he could be defenseless against this enemy.  Part of his time buried underground is revealed since the Fist of Durag was created in the same accident.  The story also ends with the Dawn Fangs suffering two major losses.

A major plot point is that early on it’s revealed that Mab is pregnant.  She tries to keep it a secret after Lost telepathically gleans it and Chastity just knows.  With a big battle on the horizon, Mab doesn’t want Clyde to be distracted.  Makes sense, but it also means she is routinely diving into combat to keep up appearances.  Not a smart move since Dawn Fangs aren’t immune to miscarriages and other birth problems.  This is another aspect that shows they can be very human even with their monstrous abilities.  In fact, I felt that this gave the species a level of vulnerability that you don’t typically see in immortals.

Eradication did allow me to highlight more of the Dawn Fang team since I had most of Xavier’s people stay out of the situation.  After all, the threat was primarily to Clyde, so why bother getting involved before one side takes out the other?  Anyway, I got to use Bob and Luther more often as well as establishing Lost as a Vengeance Hound.  This made up for Mab and Titus overshadowing the rest during the previous volume.  Those two are still involved, but they were no longer sucking the energy from every scene.  Definitely learned how to balance such a massive cast with this book.

As for the main villain, Leo Kandrel kept changing personalities on me.  I never had the tightest grasp of him even when doing his character bio and seeing what tidbits would appear.  Sometimes he would be confident and sure of himself, but then he would be on the verge of panicking.  His wisdom and cunning weren’t consistent, which I realized depended on his stress levels.  This is what led me to questioning if Leo Kandrel was in charge or the Fist of Durag was calling the shots.  I liked how this made his fluidity part of his mystery and even had me guessing as I kept adding clues for both answers.  He’s still the first villain to deliver a major blow to Clyde’s side though.  So, the squirmy priest has that going for him.

What would I change in Eradication?  This comes down to the one thing I was trying to push, but failed.  I wanted Clyde to be more scared of the Fist of Durag than he was.  It was an unknown weapon that might be the one thing that could truly kill him.  I wanted Clyde to be afraid for his life, but I had made him both confident and cautious at this point.  He wasn’t emotional enough for what I wanted to do and I didn’t try very hard.  Makes sense since I established that he was careful with his emotions to make sure he doesn’t lose control and go full monster.  My own character development arc undid my plan for this book, which is why I could only give him moments of doubt.  Part of me wonders if I should have shed the whole issue and left him utterly confident.

Question time!

  1. Should fiction, including fantasy, broach sensitive, personal topics?
  2. Why do you think people get sucked into cults?
  3. If you could say one object is your weakness, what would it be?
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The Dwindling Fun of Slapstick Comedy?

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Three Stooges

Growing up, I remember a lot of ‘violent’ shows and movies.  The ones where you have characters getting hurt, but in a comedic way.  This would be slapstick or physical comedy, which, obviously, involves a lot of physicality.  Examples are Three Stooges, Marx Brothers (to some degree), Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and the list keeps going.  A big part of comedy back then seemed to be someone getting hurt.  I mean, stuff like this video were hilarious:

Nowadays, I don’t see a lot of slapstick comedy on TV or even in movies.  To be fair, I haven’t been drawn to any comedies in years.  Probably because I’m older, but I do see less slapstick these days.  Even the Looney Tunes are more normal in more recent incarnations, so you don’t see them getting blown up and being fine the next seen.  For real people, I haven’t seen anythin like the Stooges did.  That’s why I wonder if it’s become an archaic and abandoned genre.  Modern audiences might not like seeing people get hurt even for comedy and in extreme measures.

Then again, my son nearly falls off the bed whenever there is slapstick.  We occasionally watch an old show called ‘Most Extreme Elimination Challenge’, which has people running through obstacle courses and some get totaled.  They get up and walk away, but the sound effects and dramatic narration makes it funny.  This was the first episode scene that had him laughing for 5 minutes:

Now, I’m guessing the art of slapstick revolves around the incident being so outlandish that it shocks the audience.  You also don’t see any blood, bruising, broken bones, or anything that would signify injury when it’s a real person.  For cartoons, they say somethign funny and are back either in the next scene or next episode.  It’s made clear that the person being hurt isn’t going to end up in the hospital or dead.  Once it hits that point, you have an action or drama scene on your hands.

You might notice that I have to use videoes for examples.  That’s because I think slapstick is easier to do with a visual medium.  That doesn’t mean I don’t try to have some of it in my stories.  Having grown up on the stuff, I can’t stop myself from taking an opportunity to have a character get knocked off something by a branch or hit in the groin then try to waddle it off.  It’s funny for me since I clearly see it in my head, but I’m never sure if it translates to the audience.  Fairly hit or miss with it since comedy is subjective and even verbal jokes will get missed.  Still, I think it’s worth trying to put it into my stories since it fits the tone.

Slapstick comedy also has a weird way of working better for present tense, which I’ll admit is a personal opinion.  With past tense, it talks about it already having happened, so I feel like I’m being told about something that I had to be there for.  Present tense is right there and I’m seeing it unfold along with all consequences. As an author, the present tense also makes me carry the residual pain and embarrasment throughout the entire chapter since it’s happening ‘live’.  Of course, this depends entirely on my imagination, which differs from person to person.

I know I’m a fan of slapstick/physical comedy, but not everybody is.  Like everything, it’s got fans and haters.  So, what do other people think of the genre?  Do you feel like it isn’t used very often these days?

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words that pack a punch – part 6

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Greetings, friends! It’s Jan here again with another word list that I hope you’ll find helpful in your writing endeavors. Today’s common word is ‘…

words that pack a punch – part 6
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Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Posted on July 21, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

As if I would pass up on making a post about this holiday.  It’s summer, so go enjoy any type of ice cream you wish.  No judging on flavor, toppings, or method this day.

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Goal Post: Exhausted By the Heat

Posted on July 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Sadly, I didn’t get to type in a lot of edits this week.  Got through two sections of chapter 1 and that was me pushing through a lot of lethargy.  All of the appointments and events didn’t help much either.  So, what went wrong?

It all started last weekend with Pokemon Go-Fest, which was a lot of fun.  It was two days of catching Pokemon and being in a huge group of people.  There was excitement and conversations.  Unfortunately, it was also REALLY hot and humid, which I thought I had handled with a hat and 3 bottles of water on day one.  Since I had to stop earlier than other people, I tried to push through a little extra instead of resting.  Made it 5.5 hours and began feeling dizzy.  Had to retreat to my nearby car and rest in the air conditioning until I could go home.  Went back out on Sunday with a better mindset, but I was still worn down pretty quickly.  This became the theme of the week.

I will add that I had a block party to go to Saturday night, which wasn’t high activity, but I was outside.  Throughout the week, I had work and that was high activity even though it was mostly indoors.  The exception was Thursday when we spent the day at an amusement park, which was rough on my body.  By the time I got home from that one, I was feeling like I was about to die.  Of course, I had an appointment that evening too and had to drag myself there.  The daily Pokemon Go outings were done at the mall or kept to 20 minutes just to do a few things.  It still wore me down.

Let’s be honest. It’s clear I got heat exhaustion and wasn’t able to let my body fully recover.  I’d like to say this weekend will be different, but I’m taking my son to mini-golf with two of his friends for his birthday.  It’s next weekend, but I don’t have him then, so I’m celebrating it now.  We’re going to do Pokemon Go at the mall and a park on the coast where there’s a breeze and lots of benches.  If I feel too out of it, we’ll come home to play games instead.  Don’t think I’ll be able to touch Darwin & the Avenging Elf until Wednesday if I’m lucky.  Just so hard to focus even on typing in edits for more than 30 minutes when I’m drained.

The only progress I’m making is on the Lego Gotham City set because that’s easier to tinker with before bed.  Not sure if I should be proud of this since it means I’m not getting anywhere with my writing.  Finished the general notes for the thief group idea, so I’m letting that simmer.  I really thought I’d be able to type in 243 pages of edits by this time and dive into Darwin & the Demon Game.  Guess that’s going to be a post-Oswego trip project since I won’t be taking it with me.  I think I’m just going to focus on the notebook stuff like ‘Phi Beta Files’ and maybe preparing the thief group one.  I might take time to reorganize all of my ideas, which I haven’t touched in about 5 years.  Let’s see which ones still possess a spark.

Emotionally, this week has been a real beating.  Tempers have run high in a few arenas and I’m getting tired of bullshit.  Too many people think I’m stupid and unaware of what’s going on, but I’ve just been shrugging it off because confrontation would cost me way too much.  Hypocrisy is a pain to deal with because you can never get the hypocrite to realize what they are.  (Pretty sure I know someone who will agree with me wholeheartedly in the comments since he’s said all of this almost verbatim.)  Anyway, I’ve spent my life playing nice and keeping my head down to avoid messy situations.  Yet, they still find me and stress me out, but with me being more defenseless.  I’m always in a position where I can’t fight back because I’d lose something precious even if I won the ensuing battle.  It just isn’t worth it.

Another source of emotional twitchiness is someone asking me what I could do to sell my books.  I explained that I need money, connections, and time to properly promote.  They asked why I couldn’t just go out and at least find the connections, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.  Even if I could do that now, I wouldn’t have the money and time to do much more than talk shop.  Lack of time definitely means I’m barely able to even writing something much less promote my books and those of other people.  I said this feels like writing is a rich person’s hobby these days, which made my heart hurt because I didn’t say it as a joke.  Maybe things will change down the road, but it certainly seems I’m never going to get anywhere since I have so much else to deal with.  People say my time will come or I can publish more when I retire, but I have to live that long and have enough money to stop working.  Jury is out on either one considering how brutal modern society seems to be.

This week is going to be fairly busy like before with appointments on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I’m going to be trying hard to type in at least a chapter section of edits on the nights I don’t have my son.  Wednesday might see even more progress since the Pokemon Go event is only from 6-7 and I get home around 2:30.  Next weekend is going to be shaky since that Saturday has a ‘big’ Pokemon Go event on Saturday, but I don’t think I have to be out there for more than an hour or two.  Then, I have birthday time with my son on Sunday.  I’ll type in edits around all of that and maybe I’ll get further than I expected.

Goals of the week?

  1. Recover from heat exhaustion.
  2. Birthday outings with my son.
  3. Type in as many edits for Darwin & the Avenging Elf as possible.
  4. Continue working on Lego Gotham City when too tired to edit.
  5. You know what . . . I’m organizing my story ideas this week.  Found all of my old lists and the stuff I never put into notebooks is only the superheroes of Windemere stuff AND a bunch of stand alone things.  I should be able to sort through the mess and reorganize.  Anything I can’t remember will be junked.
  6. Get extra sleep and hydrate.
  7. Catch more Pokemon when possible.
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7 Tips to Being a Fictional Spy

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Loid Forger

I felt like it was only right to do a post on Loid Forger from ‘Spy x Family’.  I already did Yor (assassin) and Anya (telepath).  Loid is the spy whose mission to stop a bad guy requires he pretend to make a fake family.  So, the main plot of story revolves around this guy who is the greatest spy around.  That must mean the character demonstrates a lot of traits that one would want to give their own fictional spy.  Not like this show is a comedy, which requires some exaggeration and character flaws . . . Let’s go.

  1. Caution is great, but overanalyzing mundane situations is even better.  Sure, you should be looking out for danger and risks to your cover.  Those can come from anywhere, including your allies who have no idea you’re a spy in the first place.  If they do anything that you aren’t sure of, you must investigate to the point where you might expose your true identity.  After all, you were raised to be a spy and not a person who understands daily life.
  2. Be really quick with a lie and have proof to support that lie.  If you don’t have time to get proof then keep on lying until only a telepath could figure you out.  Do it with a straight face and steady voice unless you have to appear nervous.  There might be a time where your lie creates another issue, but you’ll just have to lie to get out of that too.  Eventually, things will even out and problems won’t carry on to the next episode of your life.
  3. A spy must be a master of disguise, which involves many skills.  Learn how to change your voice, posture, face, height, weight, and even gender within seconds.  Knowledge about fashion is very important too.  With the proper training, you can look like anybody except children unless you stay on your knees or stand in a trap door situation.  If you’re a male spy, you should figure out how high heels, bras, pantyhose, makeup, and walking around with a different body weight dispersion.
  4. Always have a backup plan no matter how ridiculous it would be to pull one out.  If you must break the laws of physics or reality then do so.  Pretend it is entirely normal and everyone else will go along with it.
  5. Exhaustion is an occupational hazard since you might get side missions along with your main one.  The spy world isn’t filled with employees, so you might have to do double or triple duty at times.  Depend entirely on adrenaline to strike at the most dramatic moment.  You’ll collapse like a marionette with its strings cut right after, but you’ll get the job done.  Pretty sure there aren’t any long-lasting effects on the mind and body from that.
  6. Women will be very important to your job.  Some will be useful in getting information or maintaining cover.  Others will be terrifying when angry, which will hopefully be the ones on your side.  At least one will be your superior in some way and swiftly be tired of your shit.  The rest will be plain confusing to you and make you realize that you don’t understand the opposite sex as much as you thought.  Too late to get a refund on that sketchy ‘Women 101’ course you took in New Jersey as a teenager.
  7. Carry a gun . . . What?  You’d be surprised how often spies forget to bring a weapon with them.
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Do We Need to Teach Children How to Read Online?

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

We are writers. Naturally, most of the topics covered in this blog are aimed at us. What about readers, though? I spent the first 30 years of my life…

Do We Need to Teach Children How to Read Online?
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