Romantic Comedy Character Archetypes & Who Needs To Be Included

Tags

character, character archetypes, how to write romantic comedy, romantic comedy, screenwriting, storytelling, TV writing, Writing, writing novels, writing romantic comedy, writing tips

This week I’m talking about characters in comedy, specifically romantic comedies. What I am seeing in a lot of work that is coming in is the stereotypes of the snarky leading lady-who honestly, no one, not even our leading man, would like because she’s too awful, and the womanizer leading man-who again, why would anyone give him a chance? And then the other characters are throwaways. 

Please don’t do this with your secondary characters, they can be just as important if not more important than your leads!! 

The TV show FRIENDS, which came out in 1994 was originally called, Monica & Friends, meaning Monica was the leading lady soon it really became all about Ross and Rachel but in the beginning, it was Monica’s story. 

When the show opens we see Monica and her friends handing out in a coffee shop, establishing who they all are and soon a bride-to-be walks in crying (inciting incident)-Rachel. We see through he actions and dialogue that she is a spoiled rich girl from Long Island who went to high school with Monica. Monica’s world changes when Rachel moves in with her–(new world). The show was Monica’s story and soon became an equal ensemble cast due to the strong character types. 

Another great comedy is Modern Family. You could say it’s about Claire’s family? Or Jay’s? Probably Jay’s since he is the patriarch of the family, but all the archetypes are there and it works. 

Novels are different-or are they? 

Take Crazy Rich Asians–

The story opens with Rachel and Nick at their favorite coffee shop and he is asking her to go to meet his family where a wedding is to take place. Little does she know who she is with. 

Rachel-leading lady

Nick-love interest

Then we go to meet Eleanore -the mom

the story also has, the best friend, (for both of them), the side-kick, and a very strong B story running throughout. 

One more example. In Hallmark’s Christmas movie Let It Snow you have a main character/leading lady, a love interest, friends, and parents, and a boss (bad guy-who isn’t so bad, it’s Hallmark after all and he’s also her father-of course in comedy we keep them all connected). This is a simple plot where the main character hates snow and is trying to impress her father (issues with feeling accepted) so she tries to get a village’s snow valley lodge shut down but she meets her love interest and realizes that she has had it wrong all along. It’s simple but works. I know a few of you are writing light romantic comedies–and they are fine but the ones that work have these characters in there. 

You don’t need to have ALL of them but you should have a good combo-the archetypes are who the characters are, and you can have them in any role in your story. 

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

1. Lovable Loser

2. Logical Smart One

3. Neurotic

4. Bitch/Bastard

5. The Dumb One

6. In Their Own Universe

7. Womanizer/Manizer

8. Materialistic One

I’ll use FRIENDS (available on HBO Max for streaming and also runs on cable every day)

1. Lovable Loser (Pheobe)

2. Logical Smart One (Ross)

3. Neurotic (Monica)

4. Bitch/Bastard

5. The Dumb One (Joey) 

6. In Their Own Universe (Chandler) 

7. Womanizer/Manizer

8. Materialistic One (Rachel) 

You could argue that some of them cross over. 

Okay, I’ll do  Legally Blonde to-they aren’t all in there.

1. Lovable Loser (Serena & Margarette)

2. Logical Smart One (Elle)

4. Bitch/Bastard (Vivian) 

6. In Their Own Universe (Paulette)

7. Womanizer/Manizer (Prof. Callahan) 

Now look at it in terms of WHO must be in a romantic comedy-they can be any of the archetypes from above but these people need to be in your story.

Leading Lady -Elle

Love interest- Emmett

Ex-lover/boyfriend/soon to be ex-Warner 

Villain/bitch-Vivian (all the smart students) and Prof Callahan 

Side-kick/friend-Paulette

In Steve Kaplan’s book, The Hidden Tools of Comedy he goes over the archetypes in COMMEDIA basically how it all started-which is great and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

Back to the beginning of this newsletter-using stereotypes-if you do, make sure that you do it in a unique way. Why would you want your leading lady to be snarky and bitchy? What is the point? 

In The Proposal-Margaret is bitchy but not snarky-and we find out why she is like that when she opens up to Andrew-there is always a reason for that behavior, or there needs to be. 

In The Devil Wears Prada-Andrea is the leading lady and is sweet, innocent, and a little naive (at least in the film version, in the book she is a little more jaded-or becomes jaded quickly) and Emily is the bitchy one. 

Make sure if you go there, you have a reason and you must make them likable in some way, or readers or viewers won’t care. 

I hope this was helpful!!

Happy writing! XO Stephanie

Grab my new workbook on the 5 tips to writing a romantic comedy HERE

Let’s get social

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter 

Facebook

Join my FREE Facebook Group for female writers-the Female Writers Society HERE

How to Write A Novel in a Month & WIN NANOWRIMO

Tags

NaNoWriMo, novel writing, women writers, writers community, Writing, writing novels, writing tips

I have been doing NaNoWriMo for many many years and I LOVE it. In fact, I love it so much that I’ve created a new course all about writing a novel in a month, it’s called

FROM NOTHING TO NOVEL and it’s going to get you from the blank page to a completed novel in just a month—now, you will need to revise said novel–but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered because included in my new course, is a special bonus on revisions. AND, since I run a concierge service for writers, you know I will give you lots of options for courses, workshops, and books on revising that I KNOW you will LOVE. Find out more here https://www.stephaniebourbon.com/from-nothing-to-novel

I’m super excited about this course because after spending the summer with writers and talking to writers of all genres and levels finishing a novel seems to be the thing that they need the most help with and since writing a draft fast is my JAM, I created this course.

I also blog about it on my OTHER BLOG—I know I know, I have more than one blog–I’m a writing slut that way. LOL for lack of a better term.

You can read that blog here https://www.stephaniebourbon.com/blog/how-to-write-a-novel-in-a-month-win-nanowrimo

I give some tips but I will also share them here.

5 Things you can do to get ready are:

1. Choose WHO & WHAT your story is about.
2. Choose your schedule
3. Choose a writing buddy or writing pod
4. Create accountability check-ins with that buddy or pod
5. Create folders on your desktop AND email to save your work

READ THE OTHER BLOG HERE for more details https://www.stephaniebourbon.com/blog/how-to-write-a-novel-in-a-month-win-nanowrimo

Thank you for reading and I hope that I will see you in my new course, and in my FACEBOOK page for women writers which you can find here https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenwritersstorytelling

Sorry dudes, I love ya, but this one is just for women writers. We need a save place to support each other and lift each other up in our writing. Thanks for understanding!!

Happy writing,

Stephanie

The 5 Stages of Becoming a Successful Writer

Tags

fiction, fiction writing, screenwriting, TV writing, Writing, writing books, writing novels, writing tips

Hey everyone, I created a new e-book called the 5 Stages of Being a Successful Writer and you can grab it HERE

I created this to help you get past those mental roadblocks and limiting beliefs you may have around submitting your work and being successful. As a creative, we are taught to repeat the mantra of “I’m a starving…..” enter writer, artist, actor etc.. we have been trained to be the “broke….whatever” and I call BS on that. You can be a successful writer. I hope this is helpful to you!!

xo Stephanie

#writerslife #amwriting #writingcommunity #storytelling #screenwriting #TVwriting #novelwriting

Are You Writing A Novel? The NOVELRY Can Help!

Tags

novel writing, screenwriting, TV writing, writers life, Writing, writing advice, writing novels

Hello fellow novelists!

As you know I am building courses to help you reach your dreams.

Part of my concierge service is recommending amazing courses and workshops with other coaches because I believe that there is enough to go around and not every course is for every writer. When I work one on one with you we go over in detail what your dreams and goals are but when I’m not with you I can still recommend GREAT places for you.

In my new workbook coming winter 2020 (so in a month or two, or three MAX) you will do exercises that help you get to your storytelling path that you create or we can create together when we work one on one.

In the meantime, I am going to continue to share amazing places for you. One of them is THE NOVELRY and you can find out more and sign up HERE 

 

I’m super excited to share my affiliate link with you and I wish you the best in your writing. Please subscribe to this blog so you will be up to date with everything I am building for you.

As well, find me on social media, and grab a FREEBIE here as a GIFT as a token of my gratitude for your support.

Story Concierge Main Course Website HERE

Please follow me on social media

Twitter https://twitter.com/stepholivieri

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stepholivieribourbon/

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/JudanieBean/

and join the Story Concierge FB grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/StoryConcierge/

XO

Stephanie 

Tips for a Successful NaNoWriMo

Tags

creative consulting, NaNoWriMo, nanowrimo2019, novel writing, Novels, Writing, writing advice, writing novels

Hello WRITERS

First of all, I apologize for taking some time off from this blog. As many of you know, I am in the process of creating my signature online course STORY CONCIERGE and several mini-courses that will be budget-friendly and take less time to complete as we are all so busy and a lot of us don’t have a ton of money to spend on courses.

This said, I am rolling everything over to my course platform KAJABI and even this blog will roll over, so please be patient with me.

I also started a YouTube channel this summer and am taking the month of October off as life has gotten so busy and if you follow me on social media, you know that we are also moving apartments AND jetting over the Pacific Ocean to enjoy our one year anniversary in Hawaii.

There are no enough hours in the day.

SOOOOO I am doing #NaNoWriMo as I have done it every year since 2006 and one year when it first started before that. I love it.

I am going to be posting weekly videos AND FB lives AND Instagram stories all November giving support, tips, insights, and anything else that YOU need to have a successful month. 

You may add me as a buddy at https://nanowrimo.org/ I am stephnewyork

Here are some quick and easy tips!!

1. Be open to whatever story you are writing–meaning–just be free and free write
2. Don’t edit–just write
3. Make a schedule. Usually, during NaNo I set aside a couple hours every month to write BEFORE I do anything else. Well, maybe you can’t do that but try to schedule this in–you will be more likely to do it if it’s on your calendar.
4. Make a daily word count goal.
5. Aim to finish before the end of the month so you have time to spare.
6. Do NOT compare yourself to others
7. Don’t expect this to be perfect right out of the gate.
8. Don’t outline in October—I find those who do this often fail because they are trying to stick to an idea, whereas it’s better to just write. If you must outline, just do it as simple as possible as a guide, not a detailed map.
9. Do go to write-ins online and in-person with other writers.
10. HAVE FUN!!

Here is a FREEBIE—a goal sheet download for writers-—this can be so helpful for NaNoWriMo or any of your writing goals WRITER GOAL SHEET DOWNLOAD

Happy Writing xo 

Stephanie

BTW I’m taking October off from this blog as well but you can find me on social media

Join the STORY CONCIERGE Free FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/StoryConcierge/

Twitter https://twitter.com/stepholivieri

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/JudanieBean/ 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stepholivieribourbon/