: Is breaking the fourth wall to the point of nonexistence appropriate for a comedy book? After considering the style and setting for my first book, I've decided on writing a comedy treasure hunt

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There's nothing wrong in principle with "breaking the fourth wall". It's a matter of whether it adds to your particular story or subtracts from it, and how well you do it.

It's like asking, "Can I add a romance sub-plot to my adventure story?" Of course you can. But will it make the story better or will it be an annoying distraction? It depends on the nature of the story and how well you do it.

If you break a conventional rule just for the sake of breaking the rule, it can make your story sound bold and innovative. But it can also quickly become a lame gimmick.

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I have seen a number of silly works break the fourth wall to good effect. For example Earlier today I was reading some User Friendly archives where the artist was trying to get his characters to tell jokes bashing Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, and failing. The whole sequence was completely ridiculous, and very funny. But the reason it worked was that it worked was everything in the strip is overdone. Another example is in Sluggy Freelance there was a need for some narration, so one of the characters faced camera, and narrated for a bit before another character walks in and asks what is going on, the first explains that he is breaking the fourth wall and the second questions his sanity. Again completely over the top, which fits with the alien, mad scientist, hero, insane ferret and time traveling switchblade wielding rabbit that are some of the mainstays of the cast.

I would not worry about letting things get too silly. The main concern is that the silly does not interfere with the plot or the characters. The plot can be incredibly silly. Your characters can be completely unhinged. but if you don't have a story to tell and characters that are true to themselves, you are wasting your time, but with a plot and some decent characters you can have a fun story even if the plot is the quest for the missing belly button lint and your main character is a bearded lumberjack named Francine and has a chip on his shoulder about pore character sketches and really wants to be a beautician.

Another thing to keep in mind with characters that break the fourth wall, Is that it is easy for them to ask for help solving their problems. This should never work. They can ask all they want, but if you give the characters what they ask for it should not be helpful. This corresponds to Brandon Sanderson's advice about using magic to solve problems.

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