Romantic Comedy Help?
Printed From: NYC Midnight : Creative Writing & Screenwriting
Category: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Forum Name: Creative Writing Corner
Forum Description: Discuss NYC Midnight Creative Writing Competitions or Creative Writing in general.
URL: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=51674
Printed Date: 26 Mar 2023 at 10:59am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Romantic Comedy Help?
Posted By: booklover13
Subject: Romantic Comedy Help?
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 12:46pm
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(My prompts are Romantic Comedy, Happenstance, An operagoer - they seem like they have a lot of potential but I just need a bit of help) ------------- SS, R1, G161 - https://bit.ly/3wK89hU" rel="nofollow - We Found Love in an UberPool (RomCom) |
Replies:
Posted By: taaaylor
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 1:12pm
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Hello! :) I have a couple examples My entry for flash fiction was romantic comedy / a museum (location) / a scarf (item to include). I got 1st: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r2g19-honor-among-thieves-romcom-15-pts_topic23399.html" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r2g19-honor-among-thieves-romcom-15-pts_topic23399.html My entry for a short story contest was romantic comedy / a lapse in judgment / an ambulance chaser. I got 2nd: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/g29-never-felt-so-alive-romcom-2nd-w-fb_topic39457.html" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/g29-never-felt-so-alive-romcom-2nd-w-fb_topic39457.html NERDling, my groupmate in that romcom round, got 1st and wrote this amazing email-based romance. Highly recommend: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r2-g29-please-respond-romcom-1st-w-fb_topic39456_page1.html" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r2-g29-please-respond-romcom-1st-w-fb_topic39456_page1.html Finally, here's a micro I wrote for the prompts romantic comedy / wearing a sleep mask (action) / batch (word to include). I got 1st: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic46679_post491396.html#491396" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic46679_post491396.html#491396 Last of all, check out the Author Archive! A lot of people have shared links to their work along with a record of how that story performed. https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post454898.html" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post454898.html Good words!! I hope all of this helped
------------- MFC R3: https://bit.ly/3YtXKT0" rel="nofollow - The Simplest Magic SSC R1: https://bit.ly/3XWXAUD" rel="nofollow - All the Gods SSC 2021 winner |
Posted By: booklover13
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 1:20pm
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Thank you so much! This is super helpful :) ------------- SS, R1, G161 - https://bit.ly/3wK89hU" rel="nofollow - We Found Love in an UberPool (RomCom) |
Posted By: NERdling
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 1:21pm
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If you look in my archive, I got first place in R2 of the short story contest in 2020 a Rom Com called Please Respond. In R3 that year, I also got an honorable mention for one called Soul Searching. My favorite parts of my favorite RomComs are usually the banter between the main characters and when the author takes the awkward moments of a new introduction or interaction and makes them funny. Dialogue in particular doesn’t have to be laugh out loud funny, it can also skew more sweet. An interesting meet-cute is usually what sets the tone for me straight away. Also, I would suggest looking up common RomCom tropes so if you use them, you can make them more interesting (ie. A clumsy woman has been done a million times because it’s easy to get funny moments out of physical comedy…if you use that trope, how can you make it original?) ------------- https://tinyurl.com/tow250" rel="nofollow - 250 R1 https://tinyurl.com/s1693" rel="nofollow - 250 R2 https://tinyurl.com/nycmallwork" rel="nofollow - My Archive |
Posted By: booklover13
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 1:23pm
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Thank you! ------------- SS, R1, G161 - https://bit.ly/3wK89hU" rel="nofollow - We Found Love in an UberPool (RomCom) |
Posted By: NERdling
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 1:23pm
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Thanks for the shout out Taaaylor! That was one of my favorite rounds group-wise! ------------- https://tinyurl.com/tow250" rel="nofollow - 250 R1 https://tinyurl.com/s1693" rel="nofollow - 250 R2 https://tinyurl.com/nycmallwork" rel="nofollow - My Archive |
Posted By: KJZen
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 2:41pm
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Thanks for asking this question. First timer here, looking at "action/adventure" and clueless as to how to handle this genre in such a short space. Will definitely look through the archive now. Good luck!
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Posted By: WhistlerCrowe
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 9:36pm
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Hi! It's not long-form unfortunately, but I did place 2nd in my rom-com group in round one of Micro 100 with this story: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r1-gr111-love-lust-and-pixie-dust-romcom_topic46771_page1.html" rel="nofollow - R1, GR111, "Love, Lust, and Pixie Dust" (Rom-Com) - NYC Midnight Forums : Writing Competitions - Page 1 My advice is to make it unique and as Nerdling previously stated, banter really helps in my opinion. Best of luck!! ------------- https://bit.ly/3Rm6GaY" rel="nofollow - He Who Walks on All Fours - SS R1 http://bit.ly/3Xwe31Z" rel="nofollow - All my NYCM Stories |
Posted By: CamsynClair
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2023 at 2:31pm
Super helpful advice as someone who also pulled RomCom this time around! Thanks everybody; I'm excited to check out some of the awesome stories that y'all linked! I love RomCom but am def intimidated by the whole 2500-words business  ------------- https://bit.ly/3kSQD8u" rel="nofollow - SS R1 (RomCom) | https://bit.ly/3kkpCKS" rel="nofollow - MF250 R2 (A/A) | https://bit.ly/3N4Ms1G" rel="nofollow - All NYCM |
Posted By: KJZen
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2023 at 6:53pm
And I'm struggling to fit my ideas into such a small space. What I found interesting is that the 99% of the examples of narratives in each genre listed on the competition page are novels or long, complex movies. But sure... Let me squeeze an entire quest into 10 pages. I'll just drop that little explosion into paragraph 10 and the car chase into 18-23. This is definitely stretching my writing muscles. |
CamsynClair wrote:Posted By: thebatinthehat
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2023 at 7:34pm
Okay, these were ALL SO GOOD. Totally worth the reads!
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Posted By: Frey_a
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2023 at 4:55am
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When I was stuck on Rom Com I googled a lot and found the common tropes helped me find an idea - enemies to love, the best friend all along, the meet cute, unrequited love, love triangle, forced or stuck together, childhood sweethearts, opposites/rivals. ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r1-gr34-the-boy-who-said-no-comedy_topic49930.html" rel="nofollow - The Boy Who Said No RC R1 |
Posted By: Drib
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 7:08am
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Hey Booklover13 - Thank you so much for posting your query. I have the same problem (and we are in the same group). I can't wait to see how the writers in our group approach the same prompts if/when the post them here after submission.. My other big problem is that romcoms seem to require complication - and it's difficult to fit it all in 2,500 words... Sigh. I can see some big cuts in my future. |