We fall in love, and everything is wonderful. But let’s be honest, the world intrudes. Sometimes things get hard. But we still have that hope that love can endure?
Or as Shakespeare wrote:
. . . Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
That’s the dream in real life. Even if we don’t get that dream, or get to keep that dream, that’s the ideal, the wish, the hope. And that’s what we want in our romance books, isn’t it? A love we can believe will endure.
In a chest of tools that might build that kind of lasting love, the ability to laugh has to be included. Humor allows us to live with the little idiosyncrasies in our partner. It allows us to weather those tempests of life. It builds common experiences and a common language.
On top of all that, it is healthy to laugh. I won’t list the research, but we must laugh more.
Believing this, I try to include some humorous situations or dialogue in each of my novels and novellas. While I’m writing those parts, I am chuckling, or smirking, or laughing out loud. But humor is such a subjective thing. Every time I write something I think is funny, I ask myself: But will that reader laugh?
So, I’d love to hear what you think is funny. When was the last time you just guffawed, in real life or in response to a book, movie, or show? What situations in your life make you roll your eyes and chuckle? What ironies make you shake your head with a helpless titter? What did someone say that surprised a laugh out of you?
I’d love you to share. You never know, you may find a similar situation, conversation, or experience in one of my romance novels in the future.