Romantic Comedy

There's a new kid on the block, and she's a fast growing toddler that's gaining by leaps and bounds. The sub-genre of romantic comedy, or as it is affectionately known by authors, rom-com (a variation on the sit-com situation comedy of television fame).

What are the elements of this exciting new genre? What makes it work, or fail? Unlike its small screen counterpart, rom-com can't rely on sight gags and visual effects to create the humor, instead, like all print media, words are the only tool.

Situations are the key in a romantic comedy. It isn't so much what is said, as how it's said, that makes for the humor. It's not so much the event but how it happens that creates the situation that will make us cry tears of laughter. The typical rom-com follows the old adage of Murphy's Law, if it can happen, it will, at the worst possible time.

The same laws of romance apply that have been used for centuries. Boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy sleeps with girl and they live happily ever after… after all that's what makes a romance.

So what makes it funny? Just as the above statement was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy sleeps with girl and they live happily ever after, romantic comedy relies on small twists of phrases and little sarcastic thoughts, to drive the humor.

A word of caution should be observed. Sarcasm does not always convey well in print. Without the vocal inflection and the facial expression to drive the point of a sarcastic remark, the writer must be sure he conveys the sarcasm well
both in the thought process and character development of his subjects.

The real boon to this genre is that people think and react to situations in a very humorous way in general. It's almost a natural in this day and age to have a heroine look at a man she just ran into in the supermarket and consider tossing back the ground round she has in her cart in lieu of the juicy package that just appeared before her.

Any time period is open for humor now that society is more willing to admit that a pure and chaste woman can and does notice prime cut when she sees it.

As with any comedy be it stand-up, television sit-com, or rom-com, timing is everything. Even the gravest of situations can be imbued with humor. Consider M*A*S*H, certainly there is nothing funny about war, yet the creators of that idea saw the humor inside of a terrible situation. There are times however, in a romance where you simply do not want your audience to laugh.

In a popular book/movie, the heroine fakes an orgasm over dessert to show her friend how easy it is for a woman to create the illusion of sexual pleasure for the benefit of her partner. The entire scene was hilarious closing with the remark from another dinner that she'd like what she's having. However, if that humor were injected into the bedroom scene, it would have less impact. Most women do not want to roll off the bed with laughter when her lover is attempting to be amorous. It probably wouldn't go over big with the hero either.

As with all other romance genres the hero and heroine still both need to battle with inner turmoil regarding their fears of love and commitment… after all that is what makes a romance. However, how they battle them and feel about them is what creates the humor.

In a more straight-forward romance the heroine may be afraid of love after having suffered a severe loss of a beloved mate, thereby fearing that loss again. In a rom-com that same heroine may be afraid of love after loosing her beloved mate when he suffered a coronary on their Honeymoon, the first time they had ever consummated their love, thereby making her certain she is the original black widow.

Another comedic trick is to skewer a particular belief system. Assumptions are humorous. A man sees a beautiful woman in stiletto heels and tight micro-mini walk across a room and gets an instant erection only to find her voice like screeching chalk on a blackboard. His body's reaction and thought's are what add humor to the situation.

In the same vein, a big, burly hero who’s deathly afraid of spiders; you get the point. Taking these situations and building on them throughout the book, making them as much a part of the story line as the romance itself. Making them obstacles to overcome as much as the romantic she/he loves me, loves me not, creates the atmosphere of comedy, complete with the closing line that closes the humor as well as the romance.

For instance, in the case of the arachnophobia hero, having him standing at the altar with the woman of his dreams firmly in his arms as he says I do, just as a spider drops down on a strand in between them, and she swipes it away with a smile, and a kiss for her ‘hero’, and they live happily ever after… Such is the way of romance.