Guest column by Kimberly Lemming

Kimberly Lemming is on an eternal quest to avoid her calling as a main character. She can be found giving the slip to that new werewolf that just blew into town and refusing to make eye contact with a prince of a far-off land. Dodging aliens looking for Earth booty can really take up a girl’s time. But when she’s not running from fate, she can be found writing diverse fantasy romance. Or just shoveling chocolate in her maw until she passes out on the couch.

The power of levity and the necessity of comedic relief is a delicate balance in fiction, Kimberly decided to share with us a few moments of her life that were intense, but punctuated by humor to inspire your writing. Make sure you check out her incredible, interplanetary sci-fi romance, I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com, out this month.

As much as I love an epic fantasy quest full of dire stakes and harrowing battles, I’ll always gravitate towards any tale that can make me laugh and have fun. Whether it be in my writing, or the media I consume. If you can make me laugh in this hellscape of a world we’re in, you’ve got my undivided attention from the first page to the last.

Adding comedy to your story can also be a great way to break up the monotony of angst fantasy quests can be known for. The next time you’re writing a scene when your heroes are down and out and all hope is lost, toss in a banana peel and see how fast the vibe changes. The horrors will still persist, but at least your reader gets a shot of serotonin to keep them going.

Turning a harrowing scene into a laugh can be as easy as adding a different perspective. For example, a few years ago I had the bright idea to jump off a cliff. Solving the age old parental question of ‘If you saw your friend jump off a cliff, would you?’

Apparently yes.

Anyway, it wasn’t just any old cliff; it was a waterfall that my friend had jumped off and climbed back up at least 5 times by that point. By the time I’d grown brave enough to run and jump, I assumed it was safe. In hindsight, I should have peeked over the cliff to see how high it was, instead of finding out mid-air that it was indeed, very, very high. I hit that water so hard it left me stunned.

Now, back at the top of the cliff, the friends I was with were growing increasingly concerned that I was not coming back up. A few more precious seconds tick by and they wonder if they need to call an ambulance or dive in after me.

Let’s jump back under the water. Am I drowning, dead, having tea with the lady of the lake? None of the above. Well, scratch that, I was running out of air fast, so technically I was drowning, but not because I couldn’t swim. My bikini top flew off in the jump, and I was determined to hide my kibbles and bits from the crowd. Eventually I was able to wrangle my tatas into submission and came up for air. But it was touch and go for a second there.

You can achieve the same goal with a bit of dialogue, and there’s nobody better at that than my grandma Joe. A while back she landed herself in the hospital because she placed her hearing aid battery next to her morning pills and…you can guess what happens next. Before we all knew about the battery, I’d paid her a visit for moral support while we waited for her test results. To my surprise, instead of the fear or worry I was expecting, grandma Joe simply smiled and said “Well if I die I’ll get to see my cats again. I miss my Blueboy. OH, AND JIM!” She covered her face in embarrassment and peeked around the room like grandpa’s ghost would suddenly appear and give her shit. “Gosh I hope he wasn’t listening in on that. He’ll never let me live it down if he did.”

If that wasn’t enough, my aunt Kendra called a moment later and screamed, “Mom, you can’t die today, it’s my birthday!”

To which grandma shrugged and replied, “Ok, I’ll die tomorrow. Just for you.” She didn’t, she’s still doing fine. But it did leave me laughing so hard I cried.

I could go on and on about mine and my family’s nonchalance with death, but that’s a story for another article, or therapy session. The important thing is, whether you’re drowning in a river or laid up in a hospital with a battery burning through your stomach lining, chances are you’re probably gonna be able to laugh at the situation at some point. In my opinion, keeping that same energy while writing lets me have fun no matter how dire the stakes get. The best part of life is that you don’t have to take it too seriously. No matter what, we’re all gonna die anyway.

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

In this laugh-out-loud, steamy romance, Dorothy Valentine is on the verge of earning her PhD when she’s abruptly abducted by aliens—along with the lion that just attacked her. After crash-landing on a planet filled with dinosaurs, she and her new feline companion are rescued by the alluring and mysterious Sol. Their survival mission soon leads them to Lok, a dangerously attractive alien with a questionable past, sparking an undeniable attraction between the three. As Dory navigates prehistoric threats, unexpected chemistry, and intergalactic intrigue, she begins to wonder if Earth is really where she belongs.

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