How to lose a reader in 10 pages: The Visual Disadvantage

I LOVE a good movie.

And I'll be honest, my favorites are romantic comedies. My husband teases me that we always get to watch MY movies when we go to the theaters... and okay, that's right. But really, who wants to see KungFu crud any how? Not me, I say!

So he is sweet and indulges me and either sees his movies with guy friends or waits for it to come out in Red Box.

Maybe I should be ashamed at this, but I'm not ashamed enough to sit through one of his movies:-) He loves me anyway thankfully!

Here is the thing about comedies though, romantic or otherwise.

They are funny. (I know, shocker!)

But sometimes, a wee bit unrealistic. But, that's what makes it funny! Much of comedy is something happening that is exactly opposite of what you would normally expect. Two opposite things colliding and insanity, aka comedy, ensues.

Movie Examples:

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: She is a magazine writer for a fashion/trash magazine but wants to write about politics. He is in advertising for manly stuff. She has to write a column about how to make a man hate a woman, and must role-play this for real by attracting a guy, then doing things that push him away. He has to make a woman fall in love with him in order to lead an important account.

There are similarities. They both love Baseball, but again that isn't something you would "suppose", and she uses it against him in trying to make him "hate" her.

I laughed pretty much the whole movie.

You've Got Mail: She owns a small, independent bookstore. He owns a huge, mega-bookstore set on squashing all the independent bookstores into dust. Not the most likely couple. They meet on a chatroom, but don't know who each other is. They both live in New York, and meet unknowingly, but she doesn't know he is the mega-store owner OR that he is her online beau. He, however, finds out and falls in love with her. She hates him, especially when she finds out who he really is.

Some good opposites happening here.

So here is the thing.

We NEED to have this in our books. We must have clashing characters. We need to have those funny moments that make our side ache from laughing.

But it's harder in books.

Because Seeing is Believing.

When we are in a movie, if it is done right, it is easier to believe these scenerios, because we are seeing them.

A while back, I watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop with my family. We laughed the whole time and loved it, but while we watched it, the reality of movies vs. books hit me. I'm not sure I could ever write a Paul Blart book. It was TOO funny. All the reviews would have been about how unrealistic the book was.

Can you imagine trying to write the scene pictured here? I can hear the judges comments and reviews now...

What does that mean for us as authors?

We need to write better. We need to make our characters SO realistic that even though the goals completely clash and the picture they see in their head is not normal, they can believe it.

It takes...

• Believable dialogue.
• Narrative that describes characters and setting well, but in a way that is natural and real, not stilted and forced.
• Actions the reader can see in their head.
• Goals... reasons that makes the characters how they are

Because we are at a big disadvantage over movies. Readers are forced to create an image in their own heads, and when that image goes against what is "normal", it will be hard to swallow unless done with skill. In a movie, they can see a facial expression instead of having to read one persons opinion on how that facial expression looks. So it's a combination of all 4 of those things that will make or break a funny book.

I just finished reading "Restless in Carolina," Tamara Leigh's 3rd installment of her Southern Discomfort Series. LOVED it by the way! But in it her heroine is a tree-hugging, dreadlock wearing, opossum-pet-having widow who once claimed that aliens had landed in her cornfield, creating a big circle (which she'd done herself) in order to save a deer.

NOT your typical heroine, especially when you find out she comes from an old traditional Southern family.

Tamara did a WONDERFUL job of weaving in the REASONS Bridget was like she was, and while it was hilarious (as all of Tamara's books are), it was realistic as well. I felt like I knew Bridget. I could see her, not just her physical appearance, but going through the motions of the story. Her actions.

Discussion: Favorite funny books/movies? What do you think makes for good "comedy" in books?