Writing Lessons!

Plot&Character Developement

I beg to differ.

Obviously having a sense of humor is crucial for this genre. However, humor is completely subjective, so it's actually not as important as one might think. However, if you don't have an actual plot of some kind, then it's kind of just joke after joke after joke, with no real anything.  In that case, I would suggest being a comedian instead of an author, or write jokes for comedians or something.  (Comission jokes XD)

If you look at any humor and comedy stuff stories of shows that you really like, you'll probably find they have a plot, even if it's kind of abstract.

For example, Hetalia. It's extremely random. It seems to be complete nonsense. Personally, I find it really funny. However, you can see a lot more than just that from it. The plot is history-based. It can get really dark at times and if you really pay attention, everything that happens is not really happy, yet presented in a comedic, humorous matter.

...Now, I know what you're probably thinking.  Or I might not.  But here's what I'm going to guess: "Could you possibly give us a less racist, serious, depressing, completely random, political, inappropriate, and/or offensive example of comedy/humor?"

And my answer is "Well, the only other comedic or humorous shows/movie I really know is Stephen Colbert, Monk, Our Cartoon President, Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, Camp Camp, and South Park, so no, not really."

I'm sorry, but in my opinion all good comedy and humor is either a) straight up dark or serious stuff presented in a humorous or comedic way, b) funny stuff with an undertone of dark or serious stuff or is just funny because it's random or c) things so freaking offensive that you laugh out of shock or that you were so caught off guard that you laughed.

For things on developing characters and plots, look at the Fantasy/Adventure/Action Stuff one.

Nonfiction/Historical Fiction

Right off the bat, I'm going to say this: if I pick up your nonfiction book and it's just listing facts about something, I'm going to put it down. I don't want something like this:

American Revolution!!!
*some information about what led up to the war*
*some information about some important battles and a whole bunch of dates I'm going to immediately forget*
*there was this Independence Declaration thing*
*also there's this Constitution and an American Dream that is being deconstructed and our progress is being reversed because the people in charge are f*ck!ng idiots*

Actually, if it contains that last part, I might read it. But that's not the point.

My point is that I don't want to feel like I'm in history class reading from some textbook. I want it to be kind of interesting!

(But if you're writing one of those animal nonfiction things, then as long as there are lots of pictures I'm happy. XD)

I don't have many good examples of this, since most people are weirdos who think I'd actually enjoy reading bland facts off of a page, so I'll have to give some sort-of examples. I will put the examples after I say something else.

Lots of stuff by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase, etc.) is sort of informative, though is not nonfiction. However, I think I can use it as an example here. The series contains a whole lot about mythologies, and can be considered informative and somewhat teaching-like or something. However, it also has a story and a plot, three dimensional characters, and is pretty interesting.

Another example is the Hamilton musical. It's awesome. I would say this is a fact, but unfortunately it's an opinion, and opinions are subjective. The Hamilton musical is creative, uses real people in history, and makes them actually seen human. Because here's the thing-in other books of nonfiction or poorly written historical fiction, there's a disconnect. In reality, everyone has a personality. Everyone has flaws. Door example, Alexander Hamilton may have been a founding father, immigrant, the national treasury's founder, abolitionist, but he also cheated on his wife (a throughout it all showed a severe lack of self control/restraint). He was human, as was everyone around him.

Of course, Lin Manuel Miranda did take some liberties and it wasn't completely accurate, which you shouldn't die if your writing nonfiction, but still. When you're doing research, try to find out what kind of people everyone was (and keep in mind what sources you are using and stuff).

Historical fiction is basically the same as a fiction thing, but also different. On one hand, you get to make up a character, and their backstory, and the details about them; on the other hand, the plot is already somewhat predetermined since you have to stick mostly to the timelines of actual things that happened. So it's kind of like a fanfiction, but with stricter guidelines/rules (the guidelines/rules being the original story/history).

The only real difference between nonfiction and historical fiction is that historical fiction is, well, fiction. However, historical sticks to things that really happened, just makes it more personal, in a way. Like I said, real people went through that kind of stuff. Historical fiction kind of makes it easier to eliminate the disconnect.

See Fantasy/Adventure/Action Stuff for more info on character development stuff.

Script

Pretty much the same as other things, just different. (Sorry, I'm tired. More through PM.)

I hope this lesson thing helped somewhat! If you want it in more depth, sign up for PM lessons or something!

(Speaking of personal things from that Nonfiction/Historical Fiction section, the PM lessons pretty much exist because helping lots of people at once is hard and it's easier if I get to know how the person learns a little bit before reaching them. It's a little more personal or something.)

(Tbh I have no idea what I'm saying right now. It's almost 3 A.M. and apparently there's this thing called "sleep" that I need in order to live.)