Writing Romantic Comedy: How To Judge What Is and Isn’t Funny

Jan 20, 2010 by A Be My Guest Author

This Be My Guest Author Article is by Robin Kaye, Author of Breakfast in Bed.


What is and isn’t funny is very subjective. I have people tell me they read my books and laugh-out-loud to the point of embarrassment, that they learned never to eat or drink while reading my books, or that they find themselves imitating my characters, Brooklyn accents and all. I consider these the highest of compliments. But I have also been told that my books weren’t funny, that the characters were unrealistic, and too stereotypical. Happily, the first group of readers greatly outnumbers the second. My point is: not everyone is going to think you’re funny, even if you are.

My advice to you is written with the understanding that you are funny. But, don’t confuse the skills needed to write romantic comedy with those required to write stand-up. You’re not trying to be amusing, you’re not after the perfect punch line. Gags aren’t the star of the show; romance is. Romance has to be central to your story. So allow your characters to say and do outrageously funny things but make sure your plot holds up and romance remains the main event.

The one thing that I’ve learned is that comedy comes about organically. If my editor wants me to make a manuscript funnier, I try to make what is already working, work better. I sharpen the writing, make it more active, play it up a little more. You shouldn’t throw a funny scene into a book just to make it funnier. I try to treat a comic scene the same way I would treat a sex/love scene (or any other scene). If the scene doesn’t move the plot forward, no matter how hysterical, it must come out. I would not want a reader to think that the only reason I wrote a particular scene was to get a laugh.

I’ve been told that you don’t need to be funny to write comedy, but I’ve never known a writer of romantic comedy that isn’t a lot of fun to have around. Funny people have unique ways of seeing the world around them. Frankly, I do my best to try and find humor in every aspect of my life. Like my characters, I would rather chuckle through the trials and tribulations than wallow in misery. It’s much more fun laughing at myself and everything else around me. Laughter helps get us all through the day. So does a little romance.

So, when one asks how I know what is and isn’t funny, all I can say is that if I laugh, it’s funny. If my friends laugh, it’s even funnier. Now, as I said in the first paragraph, humor is subjective so I tend to surround myself with funny people and people that can appreciate humor even if they don’t necessarily create it.

Writing romantic comedies is not for sissies. You’re going to get panned by those who don’t enjoy your style of humor. It happens, it will continue to happen, but with any luck, you’ll have more good reviews than bad.

About The Book

Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye—in stores January 2010
The third funny, sexy, contemporary romance from a fresh new voice in romance fiction

Rich, the epitome of “anti-domestic,” can’t cook to save his life, and his idea of cleaning his apartment is to invite his mother over. But he’s ready to settle down, and he can’t stop thinking about the ex-girlfriend who got away. When he notices that his soon-to-be-married friends cooked and cleaned their way into their women’s hearts, he asks his friend Becca to help transform him into a nurturing man to win back his ex.

Rich is the only guy who’s taken the time to know Becca for herself. She decides she’ll give him the makeover he’s asking for, though she’ll be damned if she’s going to turn him into a domestic god for another woman. She wants Rich for herself, but how can she convince him that her kitchen and her bedroom are the only domestic locales he desires?

About the Author
Award-winning author Robin Kaye is a professional writer and winner of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award for her first novel, Romeo, Romeo. Once it was published, Romeo, Romeo won the 2008 Best Contemporary itRom (Italian Romance) Award by Romance B(u)y the Book, the 2009 HOLT Medallion Contest First Place Winner for Best Romantic Comedy and the 2009 NJRW Golden Leaf Award Winner for Best Single Title. Her romantic comedies feature sexy, nurturing heroes and feisty, independent heroines. She lives with her husband and three children in Mt. Airy, Maryland. For more information, please visit http://www.robinkayewrites.com/