How can I make my stories funny and suspenseful?

Hi,

I want to make a good story relating to suspense, fantasy, and comedy.

How do a make a good story related to both? Because I got interested with these three genres lately, even though I like horror in my doodles sometimes, horror’s just not interesting, and I don’t smile when reading these genres. You’re supposed to smile when enjoying a genre, right? I want to make it funny. And I feel like for me liking the genres of comedy and suspense, I feel like that’s me but how can I make it funny enough so that people like it.

My mental target audience is so weak that they don’t know what funny or what’s not funny. And they follow every emotion I create in my brain. So I force them to laugh, or read my story because I have to make myself read, or something so that they will like everything I wrote. How do they strike back?!? I don’t want my real audience to see flaws, I want to be a profesional writer, I want to be perfect.

What can I do? Any advice, tips, and ideas?

And if you say, reading, I won’t accept that advice, because I can’t even read one thick book series. I hate those series like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The maze runner, or whatever super long series everyone makes. I want YOU to be specific. And I’m lazy so I don’t put in all the hard work but I really want to try making a story now. And if you want to make a story and force it now, force yourself by staring at a screen for many minutes.

Thank you. And please send me tips and advice.

From, @BeingRivy .

I have one bit of advice, and it's exactly what you said: you have to read. You cannot be "perfect" as you said without ever reading. You have to see what other people are writing and you have to take inspiration from that. The best way to learn how to write well is to see how other people are writing. They don't have to be long books: there's perfectly good books that are not part of a series that you can read. House on Mango Street, A Summer to Die, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.

About being funny: write what you find funny. No matter what, there will be someone out there who shares the same sense of humor as you and they will enjoy your book. Ignore the other people who do not like it because your sense of humor is not for them. Also, the audience in your brain is not real: it's just you. Ignore that. You have to get past your own brain bugging you before you can move on to real people.

And you can not be lazy if you want to try making a story. Set times for yourself- twenty minutes of writing on weekdays, thirty minutes on weekends. Write-ins on YWS are perfect places to do that and there's also resources on NaNoWriMo.org that you can look at.

Hope this helps,
looseleaf

About being funny, I'm very much the same way. Reading through overly gritty, grimdark-esque stories can often feel like drudgery. Humor is a pretty good way to lighten the mood if you use it properly.

Quips and one liners fit certain characters really well. Self-aware humor can be awesome, but if you break the fourth wall, then you DO risk losing the part of your audience that appreciates the darker, more serious aspects of your story. Most humor comes from interactions, so having unlikely characters pairing up is a good start. Likewise, it can be fun to throw in a charismatic a**hole (sort of a Tony Stark or Rick from Rick and Morty type of character) into the team, as long as you don't make the character too obnoxious.

There's a lot of different kinds of humor, and different people have different tastes. Also, it's important to make sure that your characters stand out from one another, so I'd recommend mostly focusing on a different type of humor for each main character.

I'm by no means an expert, but I do use a fair bit of comedy in the series I'm working on. But you don't NEED comedy. If you really want to lighten things up, then the best way is to make sure that the readers AND (some of) YOUR CHARACTERS have hope!! Focus on fun, interesting characters and their interactions rather than dwelling on the dark nature of the events in your story, and you could make even an apocalypse FUN to read about.

Suspense: Builds tension and keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Use plot twists, cliffhangers, and unexpected developments to maintain suspense.
Fantasy: Introduces magical or supernatural elements. Create an imaginative world with its own rules, characters, and settings.
Comedy: Aims to entertain and make readers laugh. Utilize humorous dialogue, situations, and character interactions to evoke laughter.
Plot Structure: Start with a suspenseful plot. Introduce a problem or conflict that needs to be resolved. Layer in fantasy elements to add depth and uniqueness. Inject comedy through character interactions, absurd situations, or witty dialogue.
Balancing Act: Ensure that suspense and fantasy elements don't overshadow the comedy. Find moments to lighten the mood with humor while maintaining the overall tension of the story.
Hero and Sidekick: Create a central character who faces suspenseful challenges and a sidekick who provides comic relief. The dynamic between them can enhance both the suspense and humor.
Character Flaws: Use the characters' flaws and quirks to generate comedy. For example, a brave hero with a fear of spiders can create both suspense and humor.