In a post on CrimeReads, Erica Ferencik says years of performing as a stand-up comic taught her a lot about writing thrillers, because even the most frightening stories need to be leavened by a bit of humor.
“Thrillers rely on the buildup and release of tension,” Ferencik explains. “Comedy and fear share this emotional buildup: a laugh releases stress just as a scare does. Both rely on set up and expectation, then subvert it for laughs or chills.”
Comedy also has its share of anger and darkness. “Jokes about happy things aren’t funny,” Ferencik writes. “This is one reason people love comedy: someone, up there onstage, is calling out things that have bothered them or pissed them off for decades, but didn’t know how to articulate it.”
Comics also have to be observant and brave, two traits any writers needs, regardless of genre. “So many people ask me these days: Weren’t you frightened, kayaking between massive icebergs, knowing if they calved, waves could hurl you into thirty-degree water?” Ferencik writes. “But try standing in front of five hundred people waiting for them to laugh at a joke that seemed hilarious in the shower that morning. That has to be the scariest journey of all.”
