forum What do y'all find... funny?

Started December 27, 2018 by @LilNerdyGingerKitsune

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So… I'm trying to write a rom-com, but, I'm really bad at writing comedy. Does anyone have any tips, or tropes that you enjoy? It's a manga/graphic novel if that helps.

Comedy is a sort of zig zig zag. Like *expected event *expected event *unexpected event.

Funny dialogue can be like the lighter dialogue of Rick Riordan in the Percy Jackson books (and others). I usually write funny dialogue unintentionally, which gives it more of a realistic feel because it wasn’t forced at all. You can use dramatic irony (letting the reader know more than the character) to aid this. Like “I hate dresses, and I hate the color yellow so the worst possible thing would be a yellow dress.”
“I think A will love this very expensive yellow dress!!”

Hyperbole! Make your characters exaggerate in the most ridiculous way possible.
“I’M DYING I’M DYING OH MY GOD IT HURTS WHY CRUEL WORLD!”
“I didn’t even touch you.” <= notice a sort of deadpan response as a juxtaposition to the previous characters behavior.

I find myself hilarious!

In all honesty though, comedy is based on the set-up and the turn, the same thing that was mentioned before. You set up a pretty mundane event and then introduce a twist that makes it funny! Bo Burnham's "Sad" had a guy talking about horrific or tragic events in a deadpan or sing-song manner, making it humorous. The twist happens when he talks to the audience, questioning why they are laughing. Bo, the narrator in this case, realizes that things aren't tragic, they're hilarious (I'M A SOCIOPATH!). The twists don't need to be dark, but they need to be just far enough out of left-field that no one will expect it.