Tragedy and Comedy are the exact same thing, perhaps with a diferent set of rules — They are ways to deal with the misfortunes of others.

Farces (which i don’t like) are pointing out the flaws of someone’s ideas. Slapstick is reactions to pain. Romantic comedies are really about the errors in starting new relationships. Etc. etc.

Think about your villain insulting your protag… Could your protag use the exact same insult on the villain and wouldn’t that be a form of comedy?

For me the crew of “jackass” are the perfect example of my likes and hatreds of misery and misfortune. When they make others look foolish, I find their sense of humor disgusting but when they hurt each other i find it funny. But Both situations could be turned on its head and be made into Tragedies, if people did not laugh at every stupid thing they did but cried instead.

Its the way we look at the world. My Mother was forced out of her country in WW2 at the age of 16. She got captured put into a Displaced persons camp in Nazi territory and then was freed to end up in the United States a country of foreign Language and foreign ideologies… And she never once talked badly about any of her situations, more often she made humor of the entire thing.

With all that in my head, I can say that I’ve never thought my comedy pieces had any difference to my more tragic scenes. Though I admit my 2nd book was with the idea of being “light” read and was comical in the way of Asprin’s “Myth Adventures”. But my third book was more Noir wit and crazed humor during tragic moments…

Comical situations are easier for me to write But my true wish is to write a Happy scene that makes people cry! To me that is the ultimate in emotional/psychy humor.

It’s the humor that I’m starting to value.

I’m just finishing a project that I’ve spent the last two years on– a serious intrigue with a bittersweet ending (a little akin to Swan Lake). My best friend still hasn’t forgiven me. Now I’m changing it up with a light steampunk with lots of humor. I think the steampunk is just a better book– there is a lot of freedom when you don’t take yourself so seriously, and it can make for deeper, more heartfelt writing.

One of the things I’ve run into with this list is trying to clarify what does and doesn’t qualify as a “humorous” book. Does it have to be a full-fledged, pun-packed Robert Asprin style book, or does a book that just happens to have substantial humor qualify too? For the moment, I’m going for inclusive rather than exclusive.