When your employer accuses you of pocket chicken.

For my weekly writing challenge, I wrote a story with a little bit of humor in it. One thing I’ve often noticed is that funny stories are harder to sell to a publisher, yet it’s often the stories that make me laugh (at their absurdity, their situational irony, their word play) that stay with me after others have faded from my memory.

I do write and publish humorous pieces, like H, a story about a horny high schooler, or Everything in Its Right Place, recently published in Iowa’s Emerging Writers, a story that made my mom say, “Oh Randy, you’re so funny.” She loved it. Thought it was ridiculously hilarious. Even though it wasn’t slapstick or even David Sedaris funny, she saw the humor in the situation, in rage of the rant.

My novel-in-progress has a ton of fun parts in it. While humor is harder to sell, I know that a publisher is more likely to take my book if it makes them laugh. Truthfully, just finishing the book (not finding an agent and landing a publishing deal) is all I’m focused on. The humor is so integral to my novel that I wouldn’t sign a deal with a publisher whose editor wanted to seriously change it. And I doubt an editor who didn’t find it entertaining would pass along a book contract to my future agent .

For you writers out there, let me know in the comments if you write humor? If it you do, is it what you normally write? Do you find it harder to publish humor?

For you readers, do you like humor? Prefer humor? Would you rather read a story like The Old Man’s Rocking Chair is Moving Slower, Boy or something funny, like H?

Keep it wordy, Bookworms.