My guest is Tina Ferraro, author of The ABC's Of Kissing Boys. A story about a girl who didn’t make varsity soccer with her teammates, and comes up with a crazy-but-just-might-work scheme to get promoted that involves learning everything she can about the art of kissing.Some authors seem to have the knack of being able to write humor. One would think its inborn gift and one that requires little effort on the part of the author. So receiving a note from your editor with the suggestion to make it funnier should be an easy thing to fix, right? Tina discusses how she handles those sort of suggestions:
I once read an interview with the witty actress/author, Carrie Fisher, where she recounted how painful it was for her to go on talk shows. For not only did she need something interesting to say, she was expected to be funny. And while she knew she was capable of making people laugh, she simply could not count on her sense of humor walking out from behind the curtain with her.
I totally related. While no one’s going to ask me onto a talk show, the young adult novels that I write for Random House are considered by my publisher and reviewers to be humorous. I admit that I have an eye for the absurd, and have been known to “crack up” my fellow airport shuttle bus riders or the back row of a PTA meeting with LOL one-liners. But like Carrie Fisher, my humor is not something I can control.
So imagine my horror when I got the line edits back on my 2008 release, How to Hook a Hottie, and saw notes from my editor that said things like, “Good, but make this funnier.”
Make this funnier? Make this funnier?
Would if I could!
I went into a total tailspin--including taking a dive for cover underneath the nearest bed. Only to find the space crammed. With the workout clothes. Dust bunnies. Tooth fairy teeth. Which meant in order to complete my breakdown, I was going to have to clean. And sorry, but that was a deal-breaker.
So back I went to my line edits. Make this funnier.
Heaven help me.
Next up: I grabbed a carton of ice cream and my Sienfeld DVD’s, and began my own private marathon. Trying to immerse myself in the obsessive, zany, and over-the-top humor that makes me laugh.
Eventually, I had no choice but to return to the manuscript. With a heavy heart and even heavier stomach, I flipped to those scenes and addressed my editor’s concerns, and tried to make them funnier. Whether or not I hit the high notes is a subjective call. But I must have done “well enough” because the American Bookseller’s Association named it one of their top teen picks of the season. And it was recently named a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest. I’m proud of those accomplishments, and of the book.
But here’s the thing. If we ever meet face-to-face (and I hope we do), and you want to see a glimpse of my humor? Don’t mention this blog or my books. Don’t ask me about my writing process or my kids’ teeth.
Tell me I have leaves in my hair. Or better yet, that I sat in something that looks like melted butter. I can pretty much guarantee, in the throes of my utter embarrassment, I’ll be funny. Because I’m starting realize...that’s where my humor goes when I can’t find it.
Over to the dork side.
Hey, think this revelation could help Carrie Fisher?
Tina Ferraro is the author of three young adult novels, Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, How to Hook a Hottie (2009 RITA finalist), and The ABC's of Kissing Boys. Her fourth book, When Bad Flings Happen to Good Girls, releases summer of 2010.She lives behind a computer screen in southern California with her husband, their cat, and whichever kids happen to be home.
Some of Tina’s favorite things include reading, drinking lattes, hanging with her family, watching the TV show Lost, and chatting with her readers through her Website, www.tinaferraro.com
and her blog at www.yafresh.blogspot.com.
