Plot Types Part Six

Comedy

For those of you who remember your Shakespeare or your Greek history, you already know that comedies are not always funny.* A comedy is a story where the trouble starts strong early on, but eventually a happy ending is achieved. 
Examples: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Princess Bride
This plot type seems less like a neat line and more like a jigsaw puzzle. The story moves the heroes from some kind of division or darkness to wholeness or light. More concretely, the story builds on several conflicts that move the character from danger and disappointment toward happiness. The plot is a series of moments of “recognition” where any of the following may occur:

A. A dark or hard and unloving character experiences either a change of heart or punishment. Either way, the character will cause no more harm.

B. One or more characters reveal his identity, which had been previously concealed.**

C. Emotionally lost or incomplete characters identify and join up with their “other half.”

D. In general, separation is repaired and what was lost is found.

The happy ending cannot occur until all disguises are gone, and all characters are revealed for what they are.

Stages

1. People are confused, upset and separated.

2. The confusion grows until the climax of the story, when everyone is mixed up or messed up.

3. Suddenly the truth is revealed, so that people begin to perceive things in a different way. The situation is no longer gloomy, for the characters have been united.


*Anyone who has watched enough Will Ferrell movies can tell you that American comedies aren't always funny either.
** Once could certainly run a spy game that was essentially a comedy of mistaken identity.