DISCUSSION : Stories within the Comedy Genre

I’m not asking for help, or guidance.

I want to join in a conversation that talks about stories within the comedy section on the app. Here are some base questions to start, but anything related to the topic will work.

  1. Why do you think authors chose to write comedy?
  2. Why do you think the app has more readers (and stories) in the Drama, Romance and Fantasy section.
  3. Do you think that people make their story ‘comedy’ just for reads.
    3A. Absolutely nothing funny in the story.
    3B. What if they had ONE funny character?
  4. Should RomCom or DraCom or even FantCom stories be in the Comedy section.
    4A. Comedy is a secondary genre to RomCom, DraCom, FantCom
  5. Does Funny Characters make a story a comedy, or is it the ‘adventure’ / ‘plot’, or even the relationships between characters.
    5A. I’m asking what makes a story a comedy.
    5B. What makes a good comedy?
  6. Have YOU, yes YOU, ever tried to make a comedy? What did you find difficult / easy?
  7. Do you think a story should warn readers if the comedy is dark?
    7A. What if the comedy makes fun of race? Religion? Gender? Sexuality? Should they warn.
    7B. “I thought all Asians were smart!” / “Well, if that were true, we wouldn’t be in this situation now, would we?”

My other Discussions
Stories with Male Protagonists
Stories within the Comedy Genre
Stories with Cliche Plots
Stories and the Fanmail that comes with them
Stories that NEVER leave the trending
Stories with Multiple Endings

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  1. I believe Authors chose to write comedy because they themselves find Comedy Stories entertaining.
  2. I believe that Episode has more stories in those sections because they are more popular, and in some cases easier to write.
  3. Yes, I’ve seen it happen. You see these covers where it’s obvious it’s an overused plot line, and yet they get reads. However, if they have one funny character, I wouldn’t consider it a comedy.
  4. I would say no, your story will do perfectly fine in other sections. I think that only Comedy Focus stories should be in the comedy section.
  5. I would say it’s a mixture. Comedic characters should be in most stories regardless of genre as it adds a brighter perspective. It’s difficult to write a funny plot, but the best I’ve seen is ‘Will you Date My Mother’ it’s only three episodes but the plot is funny, as the MC is looking for boyfriends for her mom.
    5A. Comedy to me is a bright uplifting story in which the goal is to keep you laughing and smiling. Rather than drama or romance to keep you hooked.
    5B. I would say defined and non dull characters and how they interact with each other is a must as well.
  6. Yes, as you should know Fallen :wink: — I found it easy, it came naturally to me.
  7. I’m torn on the question. Depends. If the summary does not accurately tell you there are going to be dark comedy, then a good small warning in the first episode doesn’t hurt.
    7A. Again as above, if it’s not mentioned in the summary (or hinted at) then a small warning in the first chapter doesn’t hurt.
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Here’s my two cents in this discussion.
1.) Authors write comedy because they like to entertain. I personally write comedy because it’s a good stress reliever and escape from reality.
2.) I think that the reason this app has so much drama/romance/fantasy is because that’s what Episode’s demographic enjoys.
3.) A story is only a comedy if it’s centered around being comedic. If a non-comedic story is tagged as one just because it contains one funny element, it’s probably just so the story can attract more viewers.
4.) I believe that RomComs and other stories like that should be in the comedy section too, I mean, it is a comedy and it wouldn’t have it’s name if it wasn’t.
5.) Funny characters, plot, and relationships do make a comedy what it is, however just because a character is funny doesn’t make the story a comedy. A comedy can have elements of different genres, but in the end the focus is the comedy itself.
6.) Oh boy, I have tried to make a comedy and it is challenging! You can’t just throw in jokes and call it a story. The timing, subtlety, and delivery has to be perfect, otherwise you won’t get the reaction you were expecting from the viewers.
7.) If a story contains dark comedy readers should know beforehand because some topics could be sensitive to others or it just might not be their cup of tea. I absolutely LOVE dark humor because of the element of shock it brings when you hear something offensive/controversial that you don’t expect, but just like any other type of joke, it has to be done well. If you just throw in a bunch of offensive statements with a joking tone in your story, it just comes off as edgy and distasteful.

You mention a lot of delivery and pacing which is all true for a comedy, thinking back I must of had like a hidden ‘joke’ book in the back of my head patiently waiting to use each one. Do you want to give an example of a well timed ‘joke’ or comedic scene. It can be from any story

  1. Because they prefer comedy stories and/or got tired of gang leader, bad boy and teenage pregnancy cliches.
  2. The comedy section has only a few stories that are actually funny, while other section stories usually match the genre.
  3. Yes, probably a lot of writers do this. It’s good if they have one funny character, but then why they don’t have more?
  4. I believe it’s fine until the main focus is comedy.
  5. I think funny characters are definitely important and if the plot is also funny, even better.
    I don’t have high expectations when reading a comedy: I just want to laugh or at least smile sometimes, but as you mentioned many stories are not funny at all. What is even worse when someone throws in a random joke, which has nothing to do with the actual conversation or doesn’t fit the situation at all, and I’m like: Ohhh, so this is where I’m supposed to laugh!
    So trying too hard never works. And it’s okay, if the story has a funny element only in every 6th chapter, but then it should be put in another genre.
  6. Yes. It’s not that difficult for me since I never waste time with planning and brainstorming. Ideas sometimes come at the wrong time or wrong place, but then I take some quick notes and start coding later. (Okay, I do have horrible ideas, but it’s still a good thing you can take your phone to the toilet.)
  7. I guess it’s better to avoid these kind of jokes in such a big, diversified community, but if a story does include any of these, yes, there should be a warning. (Boy, I hope my stories don’t include any of these.)

Your right, I remember reading a comedy story and like there was this random unnecessary scene just to make the story funny. . . it’s like um-kay. Do you think it’s possible to have too many funny characters?

If they have the similar personality, yes. But if a story has many unique characters and they are all funny on their own way, I will definitely continue reading.

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Bumping ~

  1. As a comedian author myself, I choose to write comedy because i want to entertain people and put a smile on their face! Also,if you’re a funny person it will be a waste to let go some awesome jokes/skits you hold
  2. I think it’s because what the readers on Episode like to read more
  3. Most of them, yes, because they find it hard to trend in romance and drama they put their story under the “comedy” category so it will get more popular, some are aware for that and try to at lest put 1/2 jokes
  4. It’s fine as long as Comedy is the main genre! Otherwise then it’s not really “comedy”
  5. I think both of them, the character and the plot complete each other, the situation may be funny but it’s the character reaction that makes it a lot more fun! And as long as you can at least make the reader laugh for once in an episode that’s already a good progress
  6. Yes my main story is a comedy one, and it’s doing well (thank god), but there is definitely a lot of difficulties, some people don’t realize it but Comedy is the hardest genre to even write, it’s easy to make people thrilled or scared or sad but it’s hard to make themLAUGH because everyone got a different sens of humor, this is where the trick lie, can you make every reader laugh? If so then yo’re a successful comedy writer, also, it’s hard to come always with a good skit.funny jokes cause it takes a lot of thinking and energy and interpretation to actually come with ONE good funny joke, so yes, it’s hard, very hard and require a lot of determination
  7. Definitely, sometimes jokes can be offensive to some people and some not, some may find it funny but some may find it offensive, personally, I try to avoid that as much as possible, there’s also a difference between joke about and joke on, if it makes fun of a religion/race/genre then it needs warning (or better to remove it for the sake of world’s peace) But! Stereotypes are okay to joke abot as lmong as they’re not offensive, like the “blonge girl is dumb” or the “asian girl is smart” they are stereotypes and it’s okay to make some jokes about it there and here as long as it’s not offensive

Closing due to one month of inactivity :slight_smile: