Branchwhere it plays
Etiquette, manners, workplace, family: the social arena that produces friction.
In this page ~6 min
Current
Definition
Comedy of Society chronicles everyday life and institutions: the comic effect emerges from the gap between norms and humans. The narrative question is rarely “what is true?” but “how do we behave, and why do we pretend?”
Core tension: integration vs refusal. The individual tries to fit, escape, or détourne the codes of the group — and comedy measures the cost of adaptation.
Formula: laugh at what makes people “hold together” — and what makes them miss each other.
Method
One novel = coordinates (not a box)
TNoC avoids one-label genres. A guide is mapped with a small set of coordinates.
Use: Current → Branch → Engine → refine with Environment + Comedy level (Toolbox). Labs and flags are optional.
Enginehow it moves
Frustration, Winner, Comeback, Vaudeville: the comic dynamics that drive scenes and plot.
ToolboxOpen →
Environment (concrete terrain) + Comedy level (Engine/Thread/Turn).
Rule: Branch ≠ Environment. You can have a Campus environment inside a Manners branch.
Branches
Branches of Comedy of Society
Branches are readable “social arenas”. They keep the map close to existing forms, without freezing them.
Below are the stable branches + stable anchors (slugs). These anchors are meant to be cited.
Comedy of the Code / Etiquette
#code-etiquette
Rules generate plot. Clubs, rituals, status codes, domestic protocols: comedy comes from performing the code — and failing.
status
ritual
impostor
fish-out-of-water
Comedy of Manners
#manners
Polite cruelty, embarrassment, social micro-violence. The comedy of “good tone” under pressure.
embarrassment
codes
romance
class friction
Workplace Comedy
#workplace
Hierarchies, bureaucracy, jargon, rituals of work. Comedy of roles, failure, and institutional pressure.
bureaucracy
jargon
office
campus
Sub-branches (stable):
- Office comedy — #office
- Campus novel — #campus
Family Comedy
#family
Family as institution: inheritance, roles, resentment, love with receipts. Comedy of proximity and obligation.
inheritance
roles
domestic war
ritual
Workplace · Office
#office
Departments, management, paperwork, HR theatre. Comedy comes from role-performance and bureaucratic gravity.
- bureaucratic satire
- competence gaps
- ritual language & meetings
Workplace · Campus
#campus
Academia as institution: status games, rituals, committees, ambition, ideological theatre.
Campus dynamics (stable):
- Campus Frustration — stagnation, decline, institutional suffocation
- Campus Elite — ascent, rivalry, prestige, “winner pressure”
Campus · Frustration
#campus-frustration
Comedy of stagnation: losers, blocked trajectories, pressure without reward. Institutions become slow violence.
stagnation
decline
committee hell
Campus · Elite
#campus-elite
Comedy of ascent and rivalry: prestige games, competition, selective cruelty, winning as social performance.
competition
status
prestige theatre
Anchor policy: keep these branch ids stable forever. If you refine later, add new anchors — do not rename old ones.
Narrative engines
Narrative engines (cross-current)
Engines describe how comedy drives the plot. They can be reused in Crime and Neo-Nonsense (with local variants).
Use one main engine per novel guide. If needed, add a secondary engine as a note — but keep the headline simple.
Frustration Comedy
#frustration-comedy
The skid, the ratage, the derailment: comedy from failed adaptation and repeated friction.
Sub-branches (stable):
- Picaresque — #frustration-picaresque
- Loose — #frustration-loose (decline / inertia)
- Naïf — #frustration-naive
- Naïve Mastermind — #frustration-naive-mastermind
- Against All Odds — #frustration-against-all-odds
Winner Comedy
#winner-comedy
Paradoxical success: the protagonist “wins”, but the win is compromised, absurd, accidental, or socially toxic.
Sub-branches (stable):
- Accidental Winner — #winner-accidental
- Reluctant Hero — #winner-reluctant-hero
Note: a “clean” winner is rare in comic literature — comedy usually needs friction, cost, or contamination.
Comeback Comedy
#comeback-comedy
The rebound, reinvention, improbable return: comedy of redemption arcs and second chances (often American energy).
- Midlife reinvention — #comeback-midlife-reinvention
- Return to work — #comeback-return-to-work
- Back on track — #comeback-back-on-track (rehab / restart)
Vaudeville (form engine)
#vaudeville-engine
Clockwork plotting: misunderstandings, entrances/exits, timing. Rhythm dominates meaning — but serves the code.
- Mistaken identity — #vaudeville-mistaken-identity
- Timing — #vaudeville-timing
- Entrances / exits — #vaudeville-doors
Practical cue:
If removing comedy makes the book collapse → check Comic Engine.
If comedy stays as a backbone → Comic Thread.
If you lose sparks but keep the plot → Comic Turn.
Optional flags
Flags: Edge (and how to treat it)
Some comic texts operate near death, extermination, terminal illness, imprisonment, or collapse. This is not a branch you “browse” — it is a flag you mark with care.
Use flags as warnings / tonal cues, not as destinations. They can exist in Society, Crime, or Neo-Nonsense.
Flag: Edge
#flag-edge
Edge marks comedy in “limit experiences”: gallows humour, deadpan survival, resistance by laughter.
limit experience
gallows humour
deadpan
Content note policy
#flag-content-note
When Edge is present, add a short note in the guide: the context + why the comic strategy matters.
- never marketed as “funny” first
- always contextualised
- kept minimal and factual
Design rule: Edge should appear as a small warning chip/flag — not as a main category card on the homepage.
Examples
Example coordinates (readable + stable)
This is what you want readers to internalise: a novel is a point on the map.
Example ACampus
Current: Society
Branch: Workplace · Campus
Engine: Frustration Comedy
Toolbox: Environment + Comedy level
Example BManners
Current: Society
Branch: Manners
Engine: Vaudeville
Toolbox: Environment (one strong institution)
Example CFamily
Current: Society
Branch: Family
Engine: Winner Comedy (accidental)
Optional: Labs / flags
Consistency: keep the visible “headline” to 3 items (Current + Branch + Engine).
Put Environment/Comedy level as chips in the guide header.
Stable links
How to link (anchors are part of the method)
Always link as: file.html#anchor. Anchors should never be renamed.
Examples: current-society.html#campus-frustration · current-society.html#frustration-comedy · toolbox.html#comic-engine.
From the Currents pagecurrents.html#society →
Use currents.html for the big map, then send readers here for the detailed branch/engine grid.
From novel guidesnovel-guides.html →
Novel pages can cite the exact branch/engine anchor as a stable reference point.