I’ve posted an interview I did a couple months ago with fellow author Darcia Helle. It answers a lot of burning questions.  Enjoy!

Today I have the pleasure of introducing everyone to author Terri Weeding, whose dark comedy To Kill An Armchair Husband: a dark comedy (Volume 1) had me laughing out loud.

A Chat With Terri:

1. What prompted the idea for this book?

My husband’s former, beloved brown leather recliner. One day he and I were watching a “game” on TV when it occurred to me that THE CHAIR was a major presence (character) in the room.

2. Billy, the Armchair Husband is glued to his TV, watching sports with the remote in his hand. You and your husband both enjoy sports. Do either of you have Armchair issues of your own?

Yes! Both of us! We have three armchairs in the house right now. He has a brown suede model in the family room and I have two petite brown leather armchairs in the bedroom. Did I mention our couch reclines at both ends as well? And yes we do like watching sports on TV, but we have lives and a DVR thank goodness. A three hour baseball game can be viewed in a half-hour.

3. Why does Charlie (Charlene) feel that killing Billy is a better option than divorce?

Here’s the complicated multi-part answer. Charlie wants a clean break. Billy’s not really living anyway since he spends all his free time watching sports! Part of her worries she wouldn’t have the strength to divorce Billy because underneath all of her pain and anger she still loves him. Plus there’s all those divorce horror stories. I don’t know anybody who has experienced a “good” divorce. Most are costly, prolonged, and often nasty.

4. Your humor and dialogue appear effortless in your writing. Do you have favorite comedians that inspire you?

Thanks for the compliment! Humor writers I enjoy include: Janet Evanovich, Laurie Notaro, Dave Barry, David Sedaris, and Erma Bombeck. I love comedy clubs too. Nothing beats uncontrolled, gut-aching laughter. It’s a natural high!

5. You’re working on your second novel. Can you tell us about it?

It’s titled Maddy and The Double Buzz and it will be out in 2011. The main character, Maddy, is a feisty widow, who is trained as a brewmaster. Teenage daughter in tow, she’s moves to the small town of Redemption and opens a tavern, The Double Buzz. To the chagrin of some of the more conservative residents, The Double Buzz becomes a hotbed of discourse, dancing, and wild romance.

The End

 The classic mother-in-law. Mother Mona, from my novel, To Kill An Armchair Husband, a dark comedy is such a character. Mother Mona is annoying, judgmental, and has overindulged her son from day one.

 It’s a lot of fun and surprisingly easy to write an over-the-top character like the classic mother-in-law. This is how I did it.

1. I created her personality. Mona is overdramatic, narcasstic, and a martyr. She’s obsessed with her only child, cooking and cleaning, and she waits on her husband, hand and foot. Oh, and no woman could ever be good enough for her baby boy (adult son).

2. When I wrote Mona’s dialogue and actions,  I grossly exaggerated her speech, thoughts, movements,  actions, reactions…everything.  

3. Major characters and major secondary characters should all experience some type of transformation as the story progresses. In keeping with Mona’s dramatic personality, her transformation was extreme as well. 

For a taste of Mother Mona, read this excerpt from Chapter 14: Mamma’s Not Happy.

Five years ago, minutes before Charlene walked down the aisle to wed her only child, Mona presented her future daughter-in-law with a laminated copy of her baby boy’s favorite dinners. The comprehensive seven-day meal plan included entrées, corresponding side dishes, and the perfect desserts. On the flip side of document, she included every recipe and the brand name of all the ingredients so that Charlene could duplicate each meal without fail.

What better gift to give a new bride? The ultimate time-saver, one guaranteed to save Charlene hours of trial and error in the kitchen. A gift to please a husband in the most important area — his stomach.

Mona picked up the bucket and carried it to the laundry room. As she dumped out the muddy water, she sighed at the memory of her own generosity. Charlene had never appreciated the gift. To make matters worse, she had resisted every attempt Mona made to guide her in the fine art of homemaking and husband attending. Consequently, Mona felt the need to check on her son’s well-being on a regular basis.

Starting the day Billy and Charlene returned from their honeymoon, Mona called every night at seven o’clock sharp. Her objective was two-fold; to find out if Charlene bothered to make the correct side dish and to discover whether she went the extra, but necessary mile, to produce a dessert.

“No meal is complete without dessert.” It was her favorite line. In her mind, she addressed an audience composed of look-a-like Charlene’s, slender of waist and disdainful of traditional ways.

Much to Mona’s chagrin, in the last few years Charlene stopped making dessert all together. She claimed Billy was overweight. Mona disagreed. Her son was simply big-boned, like his father.

As she rinsed and squeezed the water from the mop, Mona fretted about her son’s deprived stomach. She felt his pain and nightly disappointment. “Oh my poor Billy,” she moaned, imagining her son’s sweet tooth throbbing in agony.

Creating an over-the-top character is a blast.  It’s a great writing exercise too, as it will help you to flesh out your character.

I highly recommend it!

The most accesible and most common humor in the world is family humor. 

Think family sitcoms. All in the Family, Leave it to Beaver, Brady Bunch, Everybody Loves Raymond . . . Heck, it’s hard to come up with sitcoms that aren’t centered on a family. Even Friends was about a close-knit group of friends who considered themselves a family.

Check out this great excerpt from Everybody Loves Raymond

Marie: These breadsticks are old.

Frank: You are what you eat.

Marie: Bobby, give your father his helping of Miserable Bastard.

People in close contact will eventually compete with and irritate each other. Husbands compete with wives, in-laws compete with married children, children compete with parents, and entire families compete with relatives and neighbors. The mother-in-law visit is still one of the hundred  most common plots on TV. Laughter is created when characters interreact with love, illness, jealousy, prejudice, death, and cream pies. Comedy Writing Secrets by Mel Helitzer

If you write comedy or even if you’re just interested in how it works, I highly recommend Comedy Writing Secrets by Mel Helitzer. Mr. Helitzer’s book breaks down comedy to its core elements. Plus he includes lots of funny excerpts.

Coming next . . . Part II–Mother Mona. The grossly exaggerated mother-in-law sterotype  from my novel, To Kill An Armchair Husband, a dark comedy.  Read a Mona excerpt and learn how I created this “Monster-in-law.”

Let’s say you’ve composed something funny.

Your concept, your witty dialogue is cracking you up so much you can barely type the sentences.

You finish stroking the keys, wipe the tears of hilarity from your cheeks and sigh,  “Oh man that’s good…”

“Isn’t it?”

“How can I tell?”

YOU can’t.

Unless you do these three things.

1. Let your incredibly amusing work sit a day or two. 

2. Read your words out loud.  Did you still laugh?

3. Send the words to a couple people (not your mother, spouse, uninterested teenager, or BFF). Better yet, read the section out loud to those chosen few who don’t care about hurting your feelings. I recommend East coasters.

Did anyone crack a smile? Chuckle? Snort?

If yes, good for you.

If no, maybe they didn’t get your humor.

Now at least you know.

Five Ways to Make ‘Em Laugh

Want a write a funny story? Liven up a boring holiday party? Auditioning for Last Comic Standing? These humor tips have multiple applications.

1. Outright mocking of stereotypical habits.  Men, women, sex …the opportunities are endless. Make it funny but not malicious.

2. The over-the-top situation commonly referred to as a farce. Create the ridiculous then crank things up even further.  Restraint has no place here.

3. Tongue-in-cheek. Subtle humor requires finesse and perfect timing. Ask this VIP question. Will your audience get it?

4. Crude and rude can equal funny. But don’t go for broke. Gross and nasty are generally turn-offs.

5. Unlikely pairings.  An eighty year-old grandma wearing a thong, a push-up bra, and stilettos.  Kinda scary and funny.

Remember a bold delivery is crucial and for goodness sake, have fun!  I love cracking myself up!

Big Bang Theory Clip

I love the Big Bang Theory on CBS. It just moved to Thursday nights.

Check out the clip above.

The dialogue is witty and I imagine amazingly hard to memorize.

I loved the sterotypical  science geek… grossly exaggerated.

Chuck Lorre, who did Dharma and Greg, is truly one funny guy.

I always laugh my head off.

And that’s a really good thing to do every week!

So I’m running a hint fiction writing contest. Intrigued?  Check out my Hint Fiction Contest page for the nitty gritty. Yeah I could hotlink it or you could move your mouse up just a little and click on it!  

Bottom line –It’s free to enter and there’s a nice little prize for the submission that “moves” me the most. Any topic. No offensive material please.

Oh? You want an example?  Sure.

X-JUNKIE by Joe Konrath
The adrenaline really kicked in when Parker realized he’d forgotten to pack his parachute.

Here’s an illuminating link as well. http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/hint-fiction-when-flash-fiction-becomes-just-too-flashy/

Now you have everything you need.

Send me an entry.

Spice up your fiction with a quirky character or two. They’re unpredictable, memorable, and a whole lot of fun to write.

Let’s examine my quirky character, Miss Sallie Baker. I’ve listed some of her major traits and inserted helpful commentary in italics.

• Miss Sallie fancies a wardrobe of flouncy square-dancing skirts and turtlenecks. Hmm, that’s an odd combo.
• Miss Sallie is a petite woman with delicate features and limbs. Unfortunately, she possesses an exceedingly prominent Adam’s apple.  Yikes! Could that be why she favors turtlenecks?
• Miss Sallie has a husky voice; she sounds like a sex talk operator.  Oops, gave away her occupation!
• Miss Sallie is dyslectic; she dropped out of high school because of it.  Gosh, could that be why she’s a sex talk operator?
• Miss Sallie attends church every morning.  Really? Does her occupation make her feel guilty?
• Miss Sallie has never had relations with a man. Holy Toledo! But she’s a sex talk operator!

Yep, that’s right.  A sex talk operator who’s never done it.  Miss Sallie is full of strange contradictions and inconsistencies, many of which relate to one another. Therefore, her story lines should be interesting because she’s not going to act in a predicable manner. Plus, she’s got that turtleneck/square dancing skirt look going on.  Plenty of visual opportunity there.

Try your hand at a quirky character today.

I guarantee you’ll love it!

I rocked back and forth for several minutes and studied Billy’s face as he stared at the gigantic screen. Contrary to what the salesman told him, I observed his two eyeballs moving as a set between the two pictures. There was no way his left eyeball could watch one game while his right watched the other.

At the thought of one dedicated eyeball per game, I chuckled out loud. Billy didn’t even glance up. Maybe if I fell to the ground and pretended to pass out, he would notice. Of course in order to get his attention, I would need to make a really loud thump when I struck the floor.

Or, I might catch his eye if I posed in front of the screen dressed in a tiny red, white, and blue string bikini with a six-pack nestled in each arm. Boobs and beer. Budweiser increased their sales a thousand times using that lethal combination.

A last option was the old standby, no clothes at all, just green body paint and a pair of gold pom-poms. If I stood directly in front of his chair and jumped up and down while shouting, Go Packers, Go Packers, Go Green Bay, Go Packers, well at the very least, he’d tell me to move.

Got an ereader? Download the ebook version of To Kill An Armchair Husband, a dark comedy at Smashwords.  Regular price is a mere $4.95 because ebooks are simply less mola! Don’t you just love the phrase “less money!” It’s so rare these days.

BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE!  To celebrate the start of football season 2010, I’m offering a COUPON because, darn it, I just love COUPONS! Use code FM69L to save even more mola!  

Go Vikings! Go Vikings! Purple People Eaters arise again. I promise to buy the horned helmet with the attached fake braids if you play good!

Please pass along this AMAZING offer which is good through the end of September!

Click here to purchase and download the book. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22207