The Future of Romantic Comedy
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Jul 03 2007
With so much emphasis on paranormal romance today, do you see a place for romantic comedy on the shelves today?
Paranormal romantic comedies are hot. Honestly, they’re a tough sell otherwise, and if you ask me, comedy is a tough sell. The trick with comedy, romantic or otherwise, is that you have to find that one person who has the same sense of humor you do, and unless I’m a really odd duck (which is possible), I find that difficult to do.
My suggestion is to focus on writing a great romance with a great hook and make it funny while you go. I think that’s probably more powerful than trying to write a comedy.
—Jessica
A couple years ago, I read a romance that everyone thought was hilarious. I HATED the humor in it. So, I totally agree, humor is hard to convey in the written word and hard to find a following.
I’d like to add that I have heard from several editors recently that they’re looking for some great romantic comedy. So I’m personally hoping for an upswing! Remember, all of these trends are cyclical.
Kim
I really love when they throw some dark comic relief into paranormal romances. Otherwise it’s like watching an action flick that has absolutely no comic moments. You’re just a little tired of the stress by the end of the movie. At least, that’s the way I feel about it. The rest of the world could be completely different.
I would think there’d be room out there for turning the whole dark, angst-ridden vampire thing on its head (I’ve seen a number of posts about folks who are just tired of that character type)or any of the other myriad dark and brooding types of paranormal romantic characters and making light of the situation. Or perhaps even the other way where things are played out to extremes and you get the very black sort of humor, i.e. pulp fiction. I’m sure there are examples of these out there somewhere, but as I don’t read them I have no clue what they are.
JDuncan
Kim,
Thanks for adding that tidbit. I love reading and writing romantic comedy, so I’m eagerly waiting for the upswing. Even my erotic novellas are erotic romantic comedies. It’s just my natural bent.