Humor and Irony as Antidotes/Janice Daugharty

[Janice Daugharty]

http://www.janicedaugharty.com
http://www.amazon.com/janice-daugharty/

Humor and irony arre the most powerful antidotes for the poison of sentimental writing. Before I began seriously writing, and reading, I didn't know the difference. My early novels and stories oozed with sentimental language: "poor little girl," "the dear woman," on and on. But even worse, my stories were what some people would call "tear-jerkers." In my first novel, a black woman endures every mistreatment and prejudice I could conjure up. I don't now how "the poor dear" was even able to stand long enough for someone to shove her off a river bridge at the end of the story. The title was...are you ready? "From Whence the Rivers Come."

Sometime between then and my third published novel "Pawpaw Patch," (now in ebook format)I had been cured. Chanell Foster, popular small-town beautician, is the victim (a sneaky sentimental word in itself) of a racist rumor and all of her clients and friends abandon her. But she's not taking it crying and kick-shy. She fights back to the end. In large part through language I avoided the poison of sentimental writing, but even more so with liberal dosings of irony and humor.

"Pawpaw Patch" is available in ebook format and print at most online book sites. Sample free at
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