Question regarding the flow of plot

[Dylan J]

Heyo.
First off, I've no clue if this is the right forum to post this.
Just joined as you might see.

Shortly said I've begun to write short stories lately, and with a couple of friends I've begun to write a small what I hope to make into an amateur-manga later on.

I'm more basing it onto humor rather than action, romance etc.
But with humor comes a couple of problems I'd request aid in.
1) How to keep the humor from not getting old, nor being too predictable.
2) How to maintain the flow of the plot itself, within the humor.

#1
So.
I'm interest to hear from you people on how you'd try to keep from the humor going bland so to say.
I've asked around some of my own friends, and the response was somewhat neutral.
"Try to keep the humor something that you wouldn't expect"

I'll not provide one of my writings as an example (at least yet). Since I first and foremost wish to hear what twists/gimmicks/etc. You'd use yourself to keep the humor from going annoyingly bland.
Yes I am in a repetetive mood today apparently.

#2
I'm unsure if this is a problem, but I am having doubts in my head that a story formed and revovling around small gags (4-panel gags even) can be any good at all.
The response I've gotten has been.. Well a certain someone responds with "Cromartie Highschool" to my doubts, which boosts my self-esteem a little but still.

Should I have a decent medium between the gags and humor, and the actual plot itself.


That's all, and pardon me if this seems like rambling and unclear.
I'm not the best at explaining things.

 

[DoctorApollo]

When it comes to four-panel stories, a lot of them have no plot at all, for instance, Lucky Star. There is literally not a single noteworthy thing or overarching plot in the entirety of Lucky Star. The whole manga is just unrelated conversation about stupid stuff. And guess what? People love it.

So if your aim is to make a gag manga, having plot is clearly not necessary, because many successful gag manga don't have a plot. That being said, a funny basis can and is helpful, for instance, there's Dr. Slump centered around Arale, the little girl robot, and then there's things like Doraemon that center around the adventures of a boy and a creature from the future. A sort of realistic fantasy setting like that seems to be common for gag manga, something that occurs in the real world but involves some fantasy elements. But then again, stuff like Lucky Star has no elements like that, it's just girls in high school.

That makes me think that the most important thing in a gag manga is probably the cast of characters. Every gag manga I can think of has memorable characters that stand out, and having those characters' interesting personalities is what makes even plotless gags interesting. You feel like you get to know the characters more with each pointless conversation.

So that's my advice: the key is to have interesting fun characters. When the reader loves the characters, it doesn't matter if there's really a serious plot or romance or anything, as long as the characters are saying funny stuff, it'll be enjoyable to read.

 

[Dylan J]

Aaah.
Alright that boosts my confidence alot.
Although I'll need to look more into the character cast.