Writing Quickie: Comic Relief
Comic relief is a technique used in fiction to relieve, highlight, or contrast the otherwise steady seriousness of a piece. It may take the form of a character, dialogue, or entire scene.
Sometimes comic relief is used to great effect (Shakespeare’s tragedies), and sometimes it’s the kind of entertainment you’d expect in the lowest pit of Hell (honestly, was there a single soul that liked Jar-Jar Binks?).
Comic relief characters are notorious in fantasy as the dopey sidekicks of the heroes. Nearly always flat and lifeless beyond their unfunny antics, they often become the kind of character you wish the villain would kill. Use with caution.
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characters, comic relief, fantasy, Jar-Jar Binks, On Writing, Shakespeare, writing quickie
Oh you got my vote on Jar-Jar… one has to wonder what Lucas was doing when he thought that character up.
Ugh. I never like comic relief characters for the sake of being comic relief characters. If you need comedy, an off situation or a twist on someone’s actions can be done with amazing effect.
I’ve been reading ‘The Name of the Wind’ for two days now (fantastic read so far– go check it out). I’m still laughing at a scene where a character returns from a self appointed solo mission and his friend is waiting, waving around a piece of paper at him, demanding to know why he thought he could get away with sneaking off and leaving a note. “It’s not even a good note! ‘Bast, if you’re reading this, I’m probably dead.’ What kind of a note is that?!”
I mean, if your characters are so flat that you can’t imagine embarrassing them or pointing out their inconsistencies in a humorous manner, you’ve got problems that a bumbling magician isn’t going to do much to fix.