I wouldn’t even have dared tell myself I was going to write comedy until I went ahead and wrote it. Working on my first novel, as I became more comfortable in the story-telling, humour became an inherent part of the mix. Initially, I didn’t think about trying to make my readers smile. I saw it as a way to make the writing more enjoyable for myself. And, at that point, technically, I didn’t actually have any readers, so I could be as silly as I liked, without worrying if I was the only one who found it funny.

From a young age, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by opinionated, and often hilarious, women. I found grown-ups fascinating. I enjoyed listening to their conversations, and discovered how they provided each other with detailed narratives of their lives. Opinions flew back-and-forth. Voices raised, or slightly lowered, to indicate secret drama. Jokes, some revealing a deeper, inside knowledge, traded with relish.

There was a lot of humour in my family. I didn’t realise, growing up, that not every household communicated by incident and anecdote. Life was viewed through a slightly satirical lens, sometimes to soften the blow or cushion the fall. Spending a lot of time with my characters, sharing humour became part of getting to know them, along with a sense of confiding in the reader. We became friends. While there are darker issues in my books, some characters have a slightly irreverent take on their lives, while others are unaware of their comedic traits.

There’s a lot of discussion about ‘Finding your Voice’ as a writer. I only fully realised what that meant when I became more light-hearted. That’s my voice. My take on the world. Humour is my default setting, it makes complex situations bearable, ambitions achievable, and doubt, merely fleeting. The giddy-stuff can be pretty potent stuff.

By the time I was working on my next novel, hearing how people laughed, cared, and forgot themselves while reading Awful By Comparison, I gained confidence in typing up a more mischievous serving with Girlfriend, Interrupted. Putting a smile on somebody’s face is the best feeling in the world. I want my readers to be thoroughly entertained, and always welcome.

* Article first published by Jane Craddock @weheartwriting (USA)