
Tell us, Ute, why do you like to incorporate humor into your stories?
Probably because I love to laugh and if I can make a reader laugh, I'm a happy camper. The comedies I write are full of quirky characters that do things that are just a little crazy. But even the more serious things I write, will sometimes have a lighter moment, a joke or a funny line delivered by a character. Humor can break up tension and it can also make a character more appealing.
How do you incorporate humor into your novels? Do you ever draw inspiration from real life?
It's all real. :) I love funny stuff and collect quirky stories that I'll sometimes put into the comedies. Mostly, though, it's a matter of perspective, of finding the humor in a situation and you can find humor in just about anything if you look for it.
Tell us about one of the funniest scenes from your book & where you drew inspiration for it.
The one readers have liked is the whale scene in The P-Town Queen, in which the authorities blow up a dead whale rotting on the beach. The scene is based on something that really happened (you can't make this stuff up) back in the 1970s, when civil engineers did actually blow up a whale on a beach in Oregon.
While I was writing P-Town, a friend sent me the link to a video of the incident. It was one so funny I had tears in my eyes after watching it. Since my main character was a shark researcher, it was pretty easy to incorporate the scene into the book. I modified it some, and made the situation even worse than it had been in real life—though quite honestly, you couldn't much improve on it.
Which of your characters cracks you up the most & why?
I love 'em all. My favorite is probably Gran Lila from Confessions of the Sausage Queen. She's a margarita drinking, cookie eating octogenarian who is not afraid to wear stilettos and won't take 'no' for an answer.
And now for some THIS or THAT:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Big Bang Theory?
I love the Big Bang Theory. I know all the words to Soft Kitty.
Spit takes or Banana Peels?
Give me a good spit take, because it usually follows something really stupid.
Erma Bombeck or Dave Barry?
Dave. He once wrote about blowing up pop tarts in a toaster and I used this in The P-Town Queen. I am eternally grateful for his pioneering research. Also, he's one of the funniest writers ever.
Janet Evanovich or Judy Blume?
Janet. The Stephanie Plum books are laugh out loud funny.
Here's more about Ute's novel, Sausage Queen...
Bill Ludowski, owner of the town’s largest employer - Bill’s Big and Tasty Sausage- dies whilst he and Mandy Minhouser’s grandmother Lila Rose were doing their best Adam and Eve imitation under the hydrangea bushes. That Gran and Big Bill had an affair that began around the same time as World War II is a secret that everyone in Kassenburg knows. But a new secret is about to be revealed. Big Bill has bequeathed the sausage factory to Lila, with Mandy as CEO.
Mandy doesn’t know squat about the sausage biz and Bill’s grandson Hughes, the factory’s CFO, does everything in his power to close the Big and Tasty. But Mandy has the one thing that Hughes doesn’t-- family and friends willing to put themselves on the line to save the factory. With hope, faith and a whole lot of luck, Mandy and company might manage to do just that.
About the author:
Ute (who pronounces her name Oo-tah) Carbone is an award winning author of women’s fiction, comedy, and romance.
She and her husband live in New Hampshire, where she spends her days walking, eating chocolate and dreaming up stories.
More Books and Stories by Ute Carbone:
Blueberry Truth
The P-Town Queen
Afterglow
Searching for Superman
Sweet Lenora
The Lilac Hour
To The Wind
Dancing in the White Room
All Things Returned
Confessions of the Sausage Queen
The Whisper of Time
The Tender Bonds
For more about Ute and her books, Please Visit:
Web page: http://www.utecarbone.com/
Blog http://www.utecarbone.com/inside-the-writers-garret
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ute-Carbone/234417796596443
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wildwords2
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5114798.Ute_Carbone
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ute-Carbone/e/B005G7U8RM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/utecarbone/
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Letters from the Garret http://eepurl.com/YCbMz