How To Train Your Dragon: How To Write Humor

Humor is in the eye of the beholder. This is something that I learned very early on, and something that most people recognize. Some people will die laughing at me telling a basic story because I am, apparently, a stand-up comedian, while another person will nod along straight-faced to the same story. My sense of humor is different from both of theirs. Everyone's humor is different. Some people naturally spout cringy dad jokes (yeah, I'm looking at YOU, dad), or are straight-up crazy goofs, while others have a dark or dry sense of humor. Some people are sarcastic and find sarcasm funny. Some people, like my mom, can't do sarcasm to save their lives.

However, while you might think after all that there can't possibly be a 'right way' to write humor...you are only partially wrong. That is what we will dive into today, using Cressida Cowell's masterful twelve-book series, How to Train Your Dragon. Not only has her work DEEPLY influenced how I weave humor into my writing, but it is also a case study of how to flawlessly blend humor into the dialogue, characters, and the very fabric of the world she created

JOKES AND GAGS - WHERE WE BEGIN

“I gave my handyman a to-do list, but he only did jobs 1, 3, and 5. Turns out he only does odd jobs." "I had a quiet game of tennis today. There was no racket."

When most people think of humor, jokes and gags are often the first thing that comes to mind. We always snicker while rolling our eyes at the kids' movie with the tenth bathroom joke, or cringe at the forced dialogue of some characters when they so very obviously inserted a joke for the sake of a joke. And while you can have a joking character who uses intentional jokes as part of their dialogue, unless this is firmly ingrained in character and the world, this is not how humor should be written.

Just like in real life (unless you like cringing and rolling your eyes), humor should be written as naturally as it is spoken or happens. Of course, unlike spoken humor, writers have more time to create jokes and gags to weave into the story, but that can be both a blessing and a curse. The challenge is to write humor as though it naturally flows—to tie it all together. The challenge is to know when to joke and when not... But of course, this brings us to how Cressida Cowell implemented her humor and how I, in my opinion, believe humor should be implemented into stories.

“Hiccup followed him carefully ... and fell over again.

"BRAVO!" clapped Alvin, to Hiccup's surprise.

"But I fell over again" said Hiccup.

"But with such STYLE," said Alvin. "You can't teach that, it's in the blood.”

― Cressida Cowell, How to Be a Pirate

A CAST OF COLORFUL CHARACTERS

We all have different senses of humor. We are all funny in our own way. Yes, even you who think you are so serious and not funny (especially you). Humans are beings full of depth and nuance, even the shallow-seeming ones. That being said, characters are meant to represent people. They should have unique personalities, likes and dislikes, struggles and sorrows. And humor. Yes, humor. Humor derived from a character's personality is where I find the most humor, personally. The variations of it, how they mesh together, clash, and play off each other, are the most hilarious thing in the world.

Cressida Cowell knew this all too well. Each character she created for the world of How to Train Your Dragon is coded with their hilarious quirks and strong personalities. And the best part? None of them are meaning to be funny! Everyone in How to Train Your Dragon is playing everything they say perfectly straight, which makes what comes out of their mouths all the more hilarious!

Take Hiccup's constantly exasperated and timid best friend Fishlegs for example:

“The thing about grown ups is that they're always wanting you to be this Great Hero and Leader. What's wrong with being NORMAL, for Thor's sake? What's wrong with just being SO-SO at stuff? They're just totally unrealistic...”

― Cressida Cowell, How to Steal a Dragon's Sword

The best part of finding humor in the characters is that it is completely natural if what they say perfectly makes sense, if you know the character. Who needs forced jokes when a straight-laced character says the most absurd thing perfectly seriously? Who needs bathroom jokes when a child is saying and doing the absurd out-of-pocket things children naturally say and do that make us laugh in real life? Who needs bathroom humor when you have a spoiled, selfish, stuttering, full-of-himself dragon who does the bathroom humor purely out of spite (or a prank, or stupidity for that matter)?

A WORLD BUILT IN HUMOR

But of course, humor doesn't just have to exist in the characters themselves. Though most YA and adult books don't normally utilize this tactic, many Middle-Grade books use this to the highest caliber. Including How to Train Your Dragon, the other standouts for me would be Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Wingfeather Saga. And what tactic might that be, you may be asking? Well, infusing humor into the very fabric of the world building. After all, having the characters play the humor around them perfectly straight works a whole lot more when humor is saturated into their world, leaving the absurd to us to be normal to them. Just listen to these perfectly normal and serious chapter titles:

• THE FIENDISHLY CLEVER PLAN

• I ACCIDENTLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER

• DO NOT OPEN A COFFIN THAT SAYS 'DO NOT OPEN'

• I BECOME SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM

• MAY THE FATTEST (AND LEAST STUPID) MAN OR WOMAN WIN

• I PUT ON A FEW MILLION EXTRA POUNDS

Do these things happen unironically in their chapters? Yes. Does it make 100% sense in the context of the story? Yup. Is it funny? Oh yeah. In these worlds, people with insane names like Gobber the Blech and Dogsbreath the Duh-brain are usual occurrences and normal to the characters. In How to Train Your Dragon, the language of dragonese is just hilarious...but that's the language they speak, and it's not at all hilarious for them in the world.

Characters are described along the lines of:

Somebody like Snotlout, for instance, was tall, muscley, covered in skeleton tattoos, and already had the beginnings of a small moustache. This consisted of a few straggly yellow hairs clinging to his upper lip and was deeply unpleasant to look at, but still impressively manly for a boy not yet thirteen.

― Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon

That said, don't feel obligated to limit your humor to dialogue or action. Straightforward, "This is how things in the world are, and people take them seriously," talk while the thing people take seriously is completely ridiculous, is one of the most effective ways to not only weave your story full of humor but also enrich the world.

CONCLUSION 

Humor is not just a tool to make others laugh. The goal should never be just a giggle-giggle-haha funny moment in a book. It should be used to endear readers to your world, your writing, and, most importantly, your characters. It's what makes the emotional and heavy moments of the story hit hard, and helps us recover as we are both crying AND laughing. It should be able to make us burst out laughing because our favorite character is a CHARACTER with so much sarcasm, and smile softly with a chuckle when two characters share a tender moment laced with their clashing personalities.

Humor should be a highlight of your story, not only for humor's sake but also because it makes other non-humorous moments more impactful and memorable.

'HEROES OR EXILE!’ yelled Gobber the Belch. ‘HEROES OR EXILE!’ yelled eight boys fanatically back at him. Exile, thought Hiccup and Fishlegs sadly.

Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon