Thursday, June 03, 2010

Fun lovin' crime writers

Colin Bateman does an interesting piece in today's Guardian blog about funny crime novels - where they came from, what's going on with them now and why they are good things. And oh, look - I get a mention. Hey, people won't think that's why I'm linking the article here, will they?

I have always said you need laughs alongside your dark stuff to even up the balance. The deeper and darker you go, the bigger the laugh required. Then again, when you create an atmosphere of bad vibes it's easy to get a laugh with a fart or something, so maybe it only seems like a bigger laugh. But it's not something I'm aware of while I'm writing. Too much analysis and it all falls apart. I'm going to stop analysing now.

3 comments:

Paul D Brazill said...

Top piece.

Ricky Bush said...

Elmore Leonard always gives us a laugh or two with some of his inept criminals types.

Charlie Williams said...

Defo Elmore. The more I think about it, more I think a few comedy chops are a prerequisite for crime writing. My kind of crime writing anyway. Another big one for me is Fredric Brown, who carried those chops in horror and sf too. And if you can handle the language part of your brain being put though some ECT, Steve Aylett's SLAUGHTERMATIC