Friday 16 April 2010

Guest Post: Adam Slade - Why I write Humour?

My name is Adam Slade, and I write humour (usually in the form of humorous fantasy). My reason for writing humour can be summed up in four words. 'To make people laugh.'

Okay, see ya later, guys and gals!

"Ow, ow, OW! Cut it out! Geeez..."

*Rubs shoulder.*

Apparently Dolly thinks elaboration is required. Lemme see...

First up, my obligatory pimp:

My first book, A Reaper's Tale - The Undecided, is available from May 17th at Lyrical Press. There's an excerpt on the book page, and there will be another on my blog soon (I'm spacing 'em out for effect).

Right, onto the meat. Yum.

All my life I've played the fool for the entertainment of others. Anything to get a smile, pretty much. For a time, I wanted to be a stand up comedian, but was very shy (and still am to a degree), and the thought of standing up in front of hundreds of people terrifed me. As you can imagine, that would make a stand up career tricky, to say the least. Despite my love of making people laugh, when I began to write a couple of years ago, my first work was a rather serious fantasy novel. There was the odd light scene and snippit of sarcastic dialogue, but it was mostly, doom, gloom 'n fightin'. After that, I wrote a variety of genres of short stories, but again, there was no humour.

Then came 'A Reaper's Tale.' Hooo BOY, I loved writing that. The main character, Mal, is almost as sarcastic as I am, and the secondary main character, Amy, was about as perfect a straight-woman as I could have asked for. From the first word till the last, I had a riot. Even the editing was fun... to begin with, anyway.

Since writing (and selling) Reaper, humour writing has been on my brain, and I'm not sure why it wasn't before. It entertains, it produces larfs, and it's great fun to write. I can have the most ridiculous events, coupled with dialogue that any "serious" genre couldn't get away with. Couple it with fantasy (as I often do), and I have complete free reign! (For some great examples of what fantasy allows you to do, see Julia Knight's guest blog from a couple of weeks ago. Also, buy her books.)

My current project is a sequel to Reaper, and I'm having a riot pratting about on the page. I also produce a humorous serial blog called Gumshoe Casefiles, which is about a fictional sarcastic private eye named Frank Peterson. It's basically a spoof of old fashioned noir detective stories. I'm slow to update it, as I have to put my paying writing first, but I'm thoroughly enjoying writing that, too.

I'm not sure what else to put, to be honest, so I'll say that I'm happy to answer any and all questions (keep 'em PG), and leave it at that.

Toodles!

Adam

PS - May 17th. My book. You buy.

12 comments:

  1. Excellent post, Adam! Can't wait to read the book(s), don't you love it when you finally find your groove? =)

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  2. Thanks, Stacey! :)

    It's great to know what I was made to write. :D

    Adam

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  3. Dear Adam,

    That is nice that you have found a calling through this means of expression in humour through writing, as in a sense it's a reflection of who you are. As expanded by you in wanting to make people laugh. It's wonderful that you enjoyed writing "A reapers tale" and it made you feel that way, it sounds like you had a ball filled with creativity and enjoyment as humour came natural to you. I think writing takes us into new levels based on the experiences we go through in life, and it's good that we can stop in any genre along the way. Do you see yourself writing humour say in 20 years from now?

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  4. Ana,

    Thanks for reading!

    I can definitely see myself writing humour in 20 years. It's the genre that comes easiest to me, and I can't see myself stopping any time soon.

    As you say, life experiences can affect such things, so I may well branch out to other genres alongside, but I can't see myself stopping with humour. :-)

    Adam

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  5. Great post Adam! You are too funny. I like to sprinkle my humor in ;o)

    Thanks for the series Dolly!

    As I've said before, your books sounds awesome!! Great post dude ;o)

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  6. Thanks, Erica! Much appreciated! :D

    Adam

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  7. You really are a funny guy - I'm really looking forward to reading A Reaper's Tale, and whatever else you have in store.

    Great post - I hope Dolly didn't hurt you *too* badly... ;-)

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  8. Thanks, Jamie! :-)

    Nah, Dolly wasn't too rough. The swelling's already coming down. :)

    Adam

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  9. Thank you Adam for doing the post, and thanks to all of you guys for responding :-)

    Adam, Jamie - you guys are giving me such a bad rep :P - I am the embodiment of peace - okay, maybe not

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  10. Peace?!

    The many colours of my shoulder disagree. ;-)

    Adam

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  11. Now you've got me wondering if I should write humor... Hmm.

    *pokes Adam*

    Great post!

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  12. Humour (with a "u"!) is awesome. ;-)

    *pokes back*

    Adam

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