SleuthSayers: It's Not Funny to Them by Robert Mangeot

SleuthSayers: It's Not Funny to Them: by Robert Mangeot I should warn you I have a liberal arts education. Now warned, it might not surprise you that I think about classic story ...

SleuthSayers: Comedy Is Hard by Steve Liskow

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Guest Post: Day Job Blues by Peter DiChellis

Please welcome list member Peter DiChellis with a fun guest post today…..

Day Job Blues by Peter DiChellis

I always enjoy writers’ bios that list unusual “day jobs” they’ve worked. You know the bios I mean: The author has worked as a ranch hand, an award-winning microbiologist, a carnival barker, and a network television executive.

I recently decided to find a new “day job” that would allow me to conduct research for my crime fiction and make some quick money too. I settled on robbing liquor stores, which seemed like a perfect choice, but after learning more about the work requirements I doubt I’ll stick with it long enough to justify a bio entry. Here’s a list of the problems I discovered so far:

1.      It’s mostly night work. What kind of “day job” is that?

2.      No union.

3.      No health plan.

4.      Sometimes you have to travel to rough neighborhoods.

5.      If you always steal a bottle of whiskey along with the money, soon enough you’ll develop a drinking problem.

6.      You get a lot of one-dollar bills and they’re wrinkled and clammy and smell like wino puke.

7.      Some of the clerks don’t speak English very well. So you need to learn to say “Hands up!” and “Gimme the money!” in four different languages.

8.      No pension.

9.      No paid vacation.

10.  Sometimes the clerks scream in your face and shoot at you. With real guns.

11.  Everybody who buys liquor with a credit card or debit card cuts into your paycheck.

12.  If you get caught, you’re out of work for a three-to-five year stretch, minimum.

Bottom line: I might ditch the whole idea of robbing liquor stores and rob graves at cemeteries instead. From what I’ve heard that’s not a perfect job either, but at least cemeteries are peaceful.

(This post filches a few spoofs from my 2016 guest post “Character Rebellion,” archived at MotiveMeansOpportunity.)

Peter DiChellis ©2019

Peter DiChellis concocts sinister and sometimes comedic tales for anthologies, ezines, and magazines. He’s worked as a fast talker, a desk sitter, a hallway humper, and a puzzle buster. His mystery story “Ten-Spot Robber” appears in the anthology Hardboiled. The story’s title refers to an oddball stick-up man who steals nothing but ten-dollar bills. For more, visit Peter’s Amazon author page or his blog about short mystery and crime fiction, A short walk down a dark street.

Short Story Month: Jacqueline Seewald

StoryADay.org proclaimed May International Short Story Month back in 2013. As the short story, in the mystery genre, is the reason why the Short Mystery Fiction Society exists, we join in the celebration each year.  

The SMFS spin on festivities is to highlight one or more members' online stories per day. Today, Jacqueline Seewald shares “Bacon Bits” from the archives of St. Red Magazine.

If you'd like to be included, email the link to your story to KevinRTipple at Verizon dot net.

Guest Post: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Murder by SMFS Member Peter DiChellis

It has been awhile, but SMFS member Peter DiChellis is back today with some thoughts about humor in mysteries…

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Murder

By Peter DiChellis

I enjoy reading and writing mysteries peppered with humor. Counterintuitive as it might seem, fictional tales of appalling crimes and their life-crushing consequences are often enhanced by hoots and yuks from humor. How can that possibly be? For me at least, there are several reasons.

1. Humor provides breathing space, a touch of comic relief from the so-often dismal themes in mystery and crime stories. To paraphrase an old political saw, these stories ain’t beanbag. Humor can deliver a welcome break in the tension.

2. Humorous passages give camouflage for clues. This is your brain on humor: Giddy and giggly and distracted, but not focused on rational analysis. Could you overlook an important clue during a bout of head-shaking, eyeball-rolling chortling? Count on it.

3. Humor is just flat-out entertaining. Among the many splendid reasons to read a good mystery, or any engrossing fiction, is simply to enjoy an entertaining diversion. Humor amps up the entertainment.

4. Humor creates likeability. In real life, we tend to like and appreciate good-humored people who can make us laugh. Why wouldn’t we feel the same about fictional characters and stories?

5. Injections of humor might help a story stand out in a crowded field. By definition mystery and crime stories, like all genre fiction, typically incorporate common elements that readers have come to expect. Humor is one way to add a distinctive element that helps a story stand apart.

6. Humorous incidents can erect unusual and revealing obstacles for characters to overcome. Fictional detectives already endure wily suspects, unreliable witnesses, contaminated evidence, and other impediments to success. Frustrate them with some funny stuff too and see how they handle it.

7. Mysteries provide lots of creative opportunities for humor. The cast of characters, from detectives to sidekicks to suspects to witnesses, is rich with eccentric possibilities. Strange clues and weird circumstances abound. Settings range from seedy barrooms to stately mansions, from trailer parks to office towers.

Finally, I hope those who enjoy humorous mysteries will take a look at the July issue of Mystery Weekly, an extra-large humor edition. The issue includes my story (“Darkness, Darkness”) about a blind man who witnesses a murder and offers detectives a peculiar assortment of puzzling clues.

LINK:  http://www.mysteryweekly.com

Peter DiChellis © 2017
 
Peter DiChellis concocts sinister and sometimes comedic tales for anthologies, ezines, and magazines. He is a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and an Active (published author) member of the Mystery Writers of America, Private Eye Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. For more, visit his site Murder and Fries at http://murderandfries.wordpress.com/

SMFS Member Peter DiChellis and "Character Rebellion" on MotiveMeansOpportunity Blog

Peter  has a funny guest post titled "Character Rebellion" at the MotiveMeansOpportunity mystery writer blog. Topic: What happens when your characters won't cooperate with the story you want to write?

The characters in Peter's grave-robbing WIP decided robbing graves is too much hard work and issued a list of complaints! They charterers involved may have to be replaced.

https://motivemeansopportunity.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/character-rebellion