Paranormal Mysteries don’t have to be totally terrifying. Below, you’ll find a few tips about injecting humor into your paranormal mystery stories.
Top Ten Tips for Paranormal Mystery Humor
- Use humor to create a contrast between the serious paranormal elements and the everyday world of the characters.
- Use comic relief to break the tension and keep the story from getting too dark.
- Utilize satire, irony, and sarcasm to inject humor into the story.
- Develop characters with distinct personalities and comedic timing to create interesting interactions.
- Use witty banter between characters as a way to add humor to the story.
- Incorporate comedic situations or subplots that don’t detract from the main mystery plot.
- Use physical comedy, such as pratfalls, to add humor to the story.
- Use puns, wordplay, and other forms of verbal humor to create witty dialogue.
- Utilize pop culture references to add humor that appeals to a wide audience.
- Use humor to add layers to the story and explore the characters’ emotional and psychological states.
On a More Personal Note:
Of the 75+ book reviews I’ve received for Haunted Hearts, over 90% were positive. The readers expressed love for all the characters, especially the main character. Besides that, they loved the humorous and charming ghosts.
The main reason I included just a touch of humor in the Lana Malloy Paranormal Mystery series was derived from a desire not to have my books become too dark. While ghosts and the paranormal can be spooky, entering a little humor into them can make your story more lighthearted. Not as scary. This is a good thing, especially for our readers who don’t particularly care for horror but do like a good ghost story.
If this is the type of book you like, you’ll love Haunted Hearts.
Book Links for Haunted Hearts
Uncover the truth behind a 20-year-old murder case with Haunted Hearts – a thrilling ghost story with a dash of comedy.
At thirty, Jenny Morgan’s biological clock is ticking. But as a fashion magazine CEO with a busy schedule and no significant other, her wish is unlikely to come true. When her father receives a terminal diagnosis, he wants a grandchild before he dies. With her religious beliefs, a sperm donor isn’t an alternative. Jenny’s only option is her single co-worker and best friend, Trevor Drake. Can she really trust him to be a good husband?
Nash is trying to make a name for himself in the art world…
MJ is a lunch lady in the heart of Central Illinois. My gosh! Can you get more folksy than that? She met her husband at the University of Missouri-Columbia and now she has a nineteen-year-old (how did that happen?) and seventeen year old triplets! She loves to read, karaoke (where she can pretend she is a rock star) and spends WAY too much time on Facebook. She grew up in St. Louis and still has family there.
Lexi Ryder vowed to never return to the Gold Coast, but after a desperate phone call from an old friend, she returns only to learn her friend is dead.
Kasia Radzka is an author, athlete wannabe, food & wine lover, and blogger, living with her husband and son on the Gold Coast, Australia. A run along the coastline generally gets her muse buzzing. You can contact her at kasiajradzka@gmail.com or stop by her website 
Anne’s relationship with her boyfriend Neil has disintegrated. After a two-year separation, they pack for a week vacation in hopes of reconciling. But fate has other plans for them.
Carmen Stefanescu resides in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire Count Dracula, but where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble – the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.
As autumn comes to the Winston estate in Ohio, Amber Harrison learns further lessons in her new position as keeper for the spirits and ghosts who haunt the estate–and further lessons in love, too. She and her love, Carter Miller, grapple with the fears and passions of new love, while caught up in the storm of ancient family drama.
Mallory Sage lives in a small, idyllic town where nothing ever happens. Just the kind of life she has always wanted. No one, not even her fellow volunteer firefighters, knows about her past life as an agent for Homeland Security.
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and one show rabbit. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Journalism and is still a diehard Nittany Lions fan. Her books are filled with romance, suspense and thrills.
An act of rebellion, Marin doesn’t think that running into the new store in town will hurt anything. Her aunt will never know… right? One car wreck later, her aunt is hospitalized, Marin is forced to spend her twenty-first birthday fighting for her life, and magic – the very thing her aunt has always sworn to be for fools – is real. And so is the irresistible Fae dedicated to Marin’s protection.
I am a country-twang gal from the bluegrass state. Kentucky is a hot bed of horses, cave systems, and whiskey. And I love all three. With my pugs and bossy kitty cat, I spend my days writing and working social media. I write with the help of the voices pushing me to create worlds for them to live in. Fantasy Romance, Contemporary Romance, and eventually some cowboys (because cowboys live in a group all their own, yummmm)… These are the genres that I love best. Oil paints, crafts, dealing with Multiple Sclerosis, and writing into the dead of night… this I my life!!!
Author info: D E Howard was born and raised in the small seaside town of Southport where she still resides. Enjoying writing for most of her adult life she only recently decided to turn her ideas into books. Part time gardener (just at home!), part time dog walker (for a crazy cairn terrier) and part time author she still has time for a full time job. Work pays the bills but writing feeds the soul. Her second book “Spirit of the Book” will be out soon.
While Sofia fumbled in her bag for her mobile phone Kia raced around to the front of the car. From the back seat she hadn’t been able to see the other vehicle which it appeared they had hit side on, crushing both the driver’s door and the front of the taxi. The driver, and sole occupant, of the other vehicle was motionless, blood covering his face as it ran freely from a large cut in his forehead.
What’s your job?
Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.
Kim's Musings 