That Writing Thing, And The Balance Of Humour

The curious thing about writing is that, when you want to do it, you can't; and when you can't do it, you want to. It's a bit like peeing in a public gents you've never been to before, and you're stood at the urinal with strangers to either side of you. Try as you might, it isn't going to happen ...

However, in recent days the flow has been magnificent. I wrote a huge amount on The Fourth Rewrite, and it's still coming. Each stage in the story is a crucial one right now; each encounter, every scene, something vital. So I've been writing in these events as though they have actually been happening, with myself looking through the eyes of a witness at the scene,

I've had to balance the need for humour in the story - some elements of the tale are intentionally put in to make the reader laugh - with the need to push The Fourth Rewrite, my "Blue Harvest" title for the novel, as a serious story. Humour may appear in a tale, but its aspect is balanced between something the readers find funny, something the characters in the story find funny, and something that both the readers and the characters find funny.

And still, the overall intent of the novel is serious, not humourous. I've seen how they typecast humour authors - fantasy, science fiction, mainstream - and it seems infinitely harder for an author from the humour shelves to write a serious story, than it is for a writer of serious stories to come up with a funny story (that is not a parody or satire).

I'll get this thing sorted out and written up. When it does eventually get published, even if it's self-published, I hope that it will be perceived as a serious book with humourous moments, as I intend, rather than a humourous book with some serious bits.

Also, people have spoken to me about crowdsourcing and a Kickstarter - funded book release, and going to POD via something like Lulu or whatever.

I will let you know what happens. But first ... this novel. Come what may, the writing of The Fourth Rewrite must come to an end before a week this Friday. Hopefully, much earlier than that time.