076: The trouble with writing romcoms (plus 3 tips for writing humour)

For today's episode of Indie Author Weekly, I want to talk about the trouble with writing romcoms, and also 3 things you can do if you’re writing humour; I’ve got 3 tips for you when it comes to writing humour into your stories. When I first started writing romance novels a couple years ago, I didn’t really know what the subgenre was. I referred to them as “contemporary romances” and “new adult romance.” Sometimes it takes a while to hone in on our niche. I didn’t even know that “romantic comedy” was a genre of novels, in fact! About a year ago, I happened to be reading a book by an indie author who calls her stories “romantic comedies,” and I realized that my style could totally be considered romantic comedy. At the same time, I also wasn’t sure if I was funny enough to write romcoms. I mean, I certainly amuse myself, but it’s tricky to know whether your sense of humour is going to be well-received by readers. And that’s what leads to today’s episode topic: the trouble with writing romcoms. Because the most challenging part that I’ve found with writing this particular genre is that there’s a delicate balance between writing jokes that are obvious enough that your reader will understand the humour, and also subtle enough that you’re not over-the-top with them. At least, assuming that you’re going for witty humour, rather than slap-sticky humour. This gets even more difficult to assess, the more rewrites and edits you do on your own book: you KNOW the joke, since you wrote it... so, trying to take a step back and figure out how it will “land” for your reader is a lot trickier. Resources & links mentioned in this episode:Learn more about how to be more productive in Productivity Powerhouse: SaganMorrow.com/powerhouse .Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .Grab your copy of Her Bad Idea at SaganMorrow.com/books . Grab your copy of Her Bad Idea on Amazon .Grab your copy of Her Bad Idea on Kobo .Grab your copy of Her Bad Idea on Barnes & Noble .Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .Read sample chapters of the books at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast . Subscribe, rate & review this podcast on Apple Podcasts .Let's chat about this episode:  @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .Email [email protected] .Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.Support the show