The Pen & The Sword: A Discussion Book

|Discussion Article| Comic Relief Characters

Before we begin...

About the Authors!

_lavendertee : Hey, I'm Tee! I've been on Wattpad since 2013 and I've been an admin at The Fae Folk for (almost, but not quite) 2 years. I love fantasy, historical fiction, and fairytales. Despite being here for some time, we're both new to these articles. We're super excited for the journey ahead. I know this will be a great experience-- and I hope you guys will get something out of it!

AnnabethC : Hi, I'm Lin, Captain of the Guard of The Fae Folk. I've been on Wattpad for six years and I've been with The Fae Folk for 2 ½-3-ish years. I love fantasy above all other genres, and I especially love mythology, folktales, legends, etc. I'm super excited to work on these discussion articles with Tee, because a) literary analysis is something I do for fun anyway, so I might as well make use of it and b) Tee's super fun to work with.If you have any questions involving mythical/fantastical creatures or myths and legends, hit me up! I'd be more than happy to help!

Now, on to what's important...

Lin

Ah, yes, the infamous comic relief character. A good or bad comic relief character can make or break a story. First, what is a comic relief character? Well, in more serious writing, it's the humorous character that is there to soothe the tension of the work. They tend to have a quick wit and lighten up the situation with a joke. They know how to make readers laugh, for sure. They are that one person everyone in the group tends to turn to when they need cheering up or to just forget how crazy their lives are for even just a moment. In a lot of ways, the comic relief character can be just as important to the story as the protagonist--or, heck, they can even be the protagonist.

But writing a comic relief character is not as easy as some would think. You want to make the character funny (duh), zany, and relatable without making them annoying or even just plain stupid. And then there's the ever-frustrating challenge of making your comic relief character relevant to the narrative beyond the occasional one-liner or witty comeback. But how is this done? How do you write a comic relief character that's actually important to the story and not annoying? Well, I'm no expert, but I have a few tips that might help.

Flesh Out the Character

One of the main issues I personally have with some comic relief characters is that beyond the jokes and bumbling around from time to time, the characters have no substance to them; they have no personality. It's like the author created them with only comic relief in mind. If this is how you approach comic relief characters, you will fail in making a good one every time. Give your character a backstory. Why are they so funny? Was he/she bullied at school and used humor as a survival technique because if he/she could make the bullies laugh they would leave him/her alone? Is he/she actually depressed and uses humor as a shield? Does making jokes feel like therapy in stressful situations to him/her? Is he/she afraid of his/her emotions and turns everything into a joke because it's easier to handle that way? Giving your comic relief character some depth will make them all the more real and relatable, and, fun fact, people tend to find people they can relate to funnier!