The importance of effective characterisation is reflected in the fact that the issue has been considered in almost every Exciting Writing course. The same principles apply whether or not the characters are intended to be comical. Specifically, all characters must have depth, distinctive voices, development (in the course of the work) and a degree of empathy. It is possible for a character to appear as a convincing comic character without the addition of any specifically comic attributes.

SITUATION AS A CRUCIAL SOURCE OF COMEDY

Satirical humour acts as a constant reminder that even the most unfunny characters can be a rich source of comedy: humour comes not only from the idiosyncrasies of the character but also from the situations in which characters find themselves and, not least, from the subjective perceptions of readers and listeners. In other words, the full comic potential of the character is unlikely to be immediately apparent to the writer, while the public appetite for stories about such characters as William Brown (Just William) and Paddington Bear testifies to the huge comic potential of the interplay between character and situation.

This suggests that comic characters may be most readily conceived in the context of a situation rather than in philosophical isolation, so that the characterisation and the situation may feed one another. In this way, as the character is placed in a range of different situations, her/his/its characterisation gradually evolves in the writer's mind.

Whilst this is a persuasive argument for spontaneity in writing (in terms of sketching a character and a situation in the space of a few sentences, based on a single creative spark), the fundamental issues of three-dimensionality, etc remain. If a character is to have a life beyond the initial sketch, the task of character development must ultimately have its day.

THE PERCEPTION GAP

Arguably the greatest sources of human comedy are the uniqueness of each person (insofar as humans beings have widely differing levels of knowledge, experience, skills, interests, etc) and the fact that our perceptions of ourselves often differ accordingly from others' perceptions of us.

Because we are not precisely the same as anyone else, we never fully understand the motivations of others, and are often amused by their behaviour. However, we often find that our amusement is shared by many other observers, in which case eccentric or otherwise inexplicable behaviour is a source of comedy.

(Clearly there are major issues of acceptability, for example when we poke fun at specific individuals or groups of people, but let us leave them for another day.)

The essence of comedy based on amusing behaviour lies in the differences between characters' perceptions of themselves and readers'/listeners' perceptions of them. If characters behave as though they were highly gifted and intelligent, for example, but give the appearance of being neither, we are likely to laugh at them. The comedy can be made still more acute if we perceive that the character's behaviour is the result of self-deception rather than naivete: a lack of intelligence may be regarded as pitiable, but wilful stupidity seems to invite scorn.

By contrast, we may be drawn to characters whom we perceive as exceptionally quick-witted or glamorous, particularly if they serve such purposes as puncturing pomposity or righting wrongs. Arguably, though, they tend to appear as the "straight" half of the classic comedy duo. We can enjoy their verbal wit, but we are unlikely to empathise fully with them unless their failings are in some way apparent to us (whether explicitly stated in a self-mocking way or merely shown through action). Falstaff is an outstanding example of a character who brilliantly blurs the lines between intelligence, verbal wit, stupidity and self-deception.

(We shall consider the subject of comic language separately.)

PERIPHERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Whilst the above is principally concerned with the inner workings of characters, as it were, it is important not to forget that the comic potential of our characters may be influenced by visual and aural characteristics and, accordingly, to consider the character's appearance, manner of speech, etc, as part of the process of character development.

Writers in non-visual media enjoy exceptional freedom to create characters that transcend the limits of visual reality, such as Jake the Peg (with his extra leg) or The Nose in the eponymous satire by Gogol (which detaches itself from its owner and becomes a character in its own right).

Nor should we forget the huge comic potential of characterising animals with human attributes and behaviours (Aesop's fables, The Wind in the Willows, etc, etc).