Too much funny?

[ThisAdamGuy]

I'm listening to Mike Brooks' Warhammer 40k Ork trilogy on audiobook, and it's freaking hilarious. It makes me want to write a story about a bunch of insane, single digit IQ warmongers whose only ambition is to murder every living thing they see and somehow manage to do so despite having the self-awareness of a deep fried tennis ball. I've actually started working on it, against my better judgement. I mean, I only have until July to finish writing the book I'm currently in the middle of, so OF COURSE I need another project to distract me from that! (I'm starting to understand why I relate to the Orks so much...)

This would be an action comedy story about an army of bloodthirsty dimwits accidentally-ing themselves to world domination. It might even be a litrpg, because this is one of the rare ideas I've had where I wouldn't have to force it in. The only thing giving me pause is, is that enough? Will people want to read an entire book that's like that? In the Ork trilogy, every second or third chapter switches to a human POV so we can see what the green tide is like to anyone who isn't an Ork. I get why they do this. It provides a wider context and gives the reader a chance to catch their breath in between the fun Ork-y chapters. And maybe I'm alone in this, but I could absolutely do without them. The whole time I'm listening to these chapters, I'm watching the progress bar to see how much longer is left before we can get back to what we picked up the book for in the first place.

But again, I might be the only one who feels that way. What do you guys think? Does a book like that need downtime, or should it be a nonstop rollercoaster of action and comedy?

 

[Placeholder]

> Does a book like that need downtime,
It needs pacing and comedic/drama beats.

Problem may have been the voice of the B thread characters, and not the B thread itself.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

There was a book published in the early 90s that sounds like kind of what you want to write - Grunts. It was about a group of orcs in a fantasy world who suddenly get hold of modern weapons. They aren't quite as dense as Warhammer Orks but, aside from the leaders, close - but it is not completely silly, Been a while since I read it so don't remember to many specifics but do remember it was a serious story but about not-so-serious characters - a tough trick to pull off, but the writer did it fairly well.

 

[dukerino]

A book doesn't need to stop being funny, but just funny isn't really enough to carry a whole novel. That's why unmitigated humor in writing is traditionally the realm of short stories and essayists.
For longer stuff, you'll need a certain amount of emotional engagement to keep the reader reading. Figuring out how to mix comedy and pathos is the key to success; it sounds like the author you read did this by alternating the two, if I'm understanding right, but that's not wholly necessary. You can intermingle the two, so that something can be funny and affecting at the same time. Christopher Moore is good at this, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams were great at it (RIP to a couple real ones).

 

[DismaiNaim]

No such thing as too funny.

I've learned that the art of being funny is to not try to be funny, but rather simply tell the truth. Tell the naked, honest truth because that's hilarious.