Over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself appreciating humour in writing more and more – not the over the top humour, but the sly, snarky humour that doesn’t. per se, stand out in a passage as “OMG, this is so funny” but, it flows in with the story, an intricate part of the text that just cracks me up. I actually blame J. K. Rowling and the Weasley twins for this – it’s extremely hard to remain composed in a train full of suited professionals while reading about Fred and George. I know, I’ve tried.
In the Esther Diamond series, I am up to book six, The Misfortune Cookie. Esther is a struggling actress in New York, who, through the books has found herself caught up with an ancient wizard, and is determined to protect the world from anything evil. She’s his assistant, and is completely without any magical talent of her own. She is street-smart, savvy and helping Max navigate the modern world as he battles evil. She has an on-again off-again love interest in Lopez, and NYC cop, who does have supernatural abilities, but has no belief in it at all.
Acting and everything that comes with it, along with New York and the supernatural world are more than enough for Laura Resnick to exert her comedic muscles in every book. I interviewed her some years ago and asked her about her the series and the humour in it, and for her it comes down to finding the right balance and technique for the comedy to work. She described it as being a “laborious process” but on paper it seems effortless.
With The Iron Druid series, I am also on book six, as it turns out. And the snark is as effortless as the comedy in Resnick’s writing. The series follows Atticus, a druid who is about 2000 years old. The series has seen him run a store to gaining an apprentice and faking his death to escape the clutches of… oh so many foes. The humour in this series I think, can best be described as snark – Atticus is never without a comeback, and I often wonder if Kevin Hearne is that guy – you know the one with the endless supply of zingers in his back pocket for every situation you can think of, and some you probably never even thought of? Yeah, that guy.
One of the best ways that Atticus’ humour and snark comes out in the books is through conversations with Oberon, his dog and sidekick. Oberon is a wonderfully gregarious and innocent character in some respects, and he reminds Atticus never to descend into darkness too much. He is always ready with a quip or taken over by his need for sausage, which tends to ground Atticus, I think. For me anyway.
These authors both have different ways of approaching and writing the humour in their books – Resnick has an eye for comedy, and Hearne an eye for the snarky, witty comeback – and both are undeniably laugh out loud good.