For whatever  reason, I've kept humor writing at arms length as my chops have developed. So as I near the finish line for a twelve-story series about life and love in and around an Alabama pool hall called Sam's Place, the need for humor came calling. 

I knew that one key to humor is in exaggeration - of personalities and situations. Seeking more insight from a trusted source, I called on Ron Hansen's short book, Isn't It Romantic? and there I found one more humor card to play, one that more or less fits my story's situation. In Hansen's book, much of the humor comes from a clash of two cultural groups: a group of French tourists and a midwest U.S. township's denizens. Just hinting at that juxtaposition brings smiles, doesn't it?

In my case, a stuffy Texas bigwig happens on a group of Sam's Place regulars. The group proceeds to attack the Texan's pretentiousness, led by a mischievous drunk intent on pranks. This approach is in the tradition of humor as a social act, i.e., curing a person's social faux pas through humor. 

BTW, this post is as much for me as for readers: it helps, once the first draft is complete (it is), to theorize a bit and see if the story as I've constructed it is going to accomplish my intent.