Laughter lengthens the course of our lives, thus it is the most effective medicine. This makes it the most difficult to create too, especially using literature. Since each person has a certain type of humor, often it is hard to categorize the ingredients to a perfect humorous story. However, there are comedic situations that can be divided into certain categories.
Plot Twists
Even though a plot twist can lead to a range of situations, from dramatic to mysterious, often it can be a cause of laughter. If you want to incorporate a plot twist into your college essay, you can proceed by revealing a certain detail about a character only later in the story, or exposing the true nature of a relationship between two characters. For example, it would be funny to realize that two men who have been competing over the lottery to win a family cruise are in fact brothers.
Misunderstandings
Hysterical laughter is guaranteed when describing a situation where only the reader knows the full story. A misunderstanding can lead to serious trouble, and it can be formed around anything: a message spelled wrong, a mispronounced foreign word, an argument where both parties did not listen to each other. For example, a good funny plot twist would be unveiling the truth of a robber who came to steal into his own house due to a confusion with orientating in space.
Misfortunes
People often like to laugh at the misfortunes of others. First black and white movies in fact involved a lot of slipping and falling on the peels of bananas. This type of humor is rather dull but can appeal to a greater audience. If you concentrate on how goofy your character is acting, for example running into walls, switching salt for sugar or forgetting important appointments, it can create a rather funny character that can bring comedic relief to the audience. Keep in mind that their misfortunes should be light and easily resolvable, to keep the impressionable audience at bay.
Ridiculous Circumstances
Putting a set of characters into circumstances that they do not suit to can create a hilarious effect too. Fantasize with the different cliques, and imagine what would happen if a group of people would change their preferred location or time during a certain activity. You could crash a bus full of nuns into a nudist beach, leave a ridiculously wealthy family without a penny to survive in the big city or make a dysfunctional family pretend they are normal in front of distant relatives.
Happy Ending
Keep in mind, that to make a story lighthearted as well as funny it is desirable to write down a happy ending for all the characters involved. Even though in real life misunderstandings, ridiculous circumstances and plot twists can lead to cruel fights, divorces and scandals, make sure that in your story it is rather a goofy mishap that will leave each character with a good story to tell.