Writing Jokes

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Many people want to write a funny, satirical novel. We want laughs, even in the darkest of hours.
I've learned the hard way that you can't force clever punch lines.

For example, one of my first stories had a character who I'd established as the laugh it off, never serious, comic relief character.
During dull moments in the story I forced corny and lame jokes into her mouth.  I modified funny things that people said in real life and dropped it into the story, even when it broke the pace of the scene. I figured, if its funny in real life, why shouldn't it be funny here?

It doesn't work that way.
All the jokes I inserted fell flat, and caused even the most supportive relative to raise an eyebrow while editing.

Humor, I've found, is usually stumbled upon accidentally. The funniest jokes are the ones that come out of thin air.But the same holds true for real life.
Don't try too hard. Like a lot of aspects of writing, you've got to wait for inspiration to strike.