: Re: Mixing humour with horror in fiction I got into trouble last year for submitting an assignment (Masters in Creative Writing) that included a story that sprinkled elements of humour (think Despicable

@Tiffany377

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The problem with combining comedy with horror is that it is very difficult to combine both elements in the same entity. Fear and laughter are emotions which cancel each other out. When you make something funny, it's no longer scary. When you make someting scary, it's no longer funny.

So if you want to combine both horror and comedy in the same work, you need to compartmentalize. Whenever you introduce a new character, setting or prop, decide if it goes into the "scary" or the "funny" category.

You might be able to switch something from one category to the other once by "revealing its true nature" (the scary element turns out to be harmless comedy relief, the funny element suddenly turns out to be dangerous). But if you do it more than once with the same entity, it loses impact.

When you write a scene, decide if it's a scary scene or a funny scene, and then commit to that. You can alternate between scary and funny scenes. This is called Mood Whiplash and can be a great tool to make both feel more intense. But do not try to have both at the same time.

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