We may be writing a comic novel or we may want to add humor to our thriller or romance or horror or literary novel.  Humor adds a strong element to most any story.  Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas: “Funny how?  I mean, funny like I'm a clown?  I amuse you?  I make you laugh?"  Well, yeah.  Let's see how we can make readers laugh.

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Good descriptions of characters should do double duty: they can let the reader know what the character looks like and the description can also suggest something about the character's personality.  Here are examples and thoughts on double duty descriptions.  Also, how Alice Walker works. 

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The title is the book browser's first impression of our novel.  The title should tempt the browser to pick up and open the book.  Here are thoughts on how we can give our story a strong, enticing title.  Also, how do famous authors edit their own manuscripts?  Maybe we can learn from them the best way to self-edit our stories.

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We can write dialogue that makes readers laugh.  Here are thoughts on creating funny conversations between our characters.  Plus, we don't need to have our character look into a mirror to describe herself, which has been done time and again.  Here are ways to avoid the mirror.

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A story's first sentence should make the reader ask, "What's next?"  They should propel the reader into the story.  Here's how to do it right and how to do it wrongly.  Also, three master writers show us how to describe a setting.

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Dialogue is fun to write and fun to read.  Our story should have lots of it.  Here's a powerful thing dialogue can do: it can reveal (that is, to show rather than tell) what a character is thinking.  The character's conversation can be lively and fun, and hearing the character speak is so much stronger than reading the character's mind.  Here are thoughts on writing revealing dialogue. 

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The  first pages of our novel should contain certain elements and avoid certain elements.  Here's a list of things to include and exclude in those first pages.  Plus, ways to write forceful, clear, and lovely sentences.

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In these episodes I try to set out good writing advice but a lot of bad advice is out there, so here is a list of bad advice, and the list may help us avoid writing blunders.  Here are also ten dialogue mistakes, and avoiding them likely means we end up with engaging and even riveting dialogue for our characters.

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Here are techniques for keeping focus in a scene where there is a crowd, with an example from Harper Lee.  And how Margaret Mitchell worked.  Plus: how can we show rather than tell about a character's guilt or pride.

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Stephen King says there is no idea dump we can visit to find a good plot.  We have to create our own plots.  How can we do so?  Here's a discussion on creating plots.  Also, if Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition can learn to write, so can we.  And the critical technique of using the active sentence form.

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