Can a 'Slice of Life' be serious too?

[CHMsketches]

I have a comic, and it's in the Slice of Life category. The fact is, that I don't know if it's alright there. My comic has serious parts and other sad ones. It could be in the Drama category. But I put it in the Slice of Life because it's a story about a girl and her fight with bullying with a positive vision. And this happen everyday. It's a part of life for a lot of people (I include myself).
That is the only reason I put my comic there. But I always wondered if it's okay.

I know it can be a silly question, but it concerned me since I made my comic. Do I think too much? D:

My comic, by the way: https://tapastic.com/series/Be-Brave

[gateofselidor]

I don't think slice of life is precluded from being more serious, but I think there's generally an expectation among webcomic readers of more light-hearted comics, probably because many daily gag comics get put in slice of life over comedy.

Monster Pop is an excellent slice of life series that includes plenty of serious drama, but it also balances this out with funny and sweet scenes, so I think you can get away with more serious topics as long as it's not a constant barrage of drama and misery.

[punkarsenic]

I've read through your comic, and so far I'm not sure, but i can see it developing into a slice of life, or a drama. What I've found with slice of life comics is they tend to be fairly plotless, with every day life just being told with funny and interesting characters (which you definitely have, btw, i love them) - but then, that could be just sol manga. it depends on how your comic goes - it could fit better into drama - but i dont see any concrete reason it'd be out of place in sol; it's lighthearted, realistic, and cute.

[zetina]

I don't understand genres.
They give me a head-ache (no, they don't).

But Slice-of-Life can definitely be serious. The defining quality might indeed be that there isn't a tight plot - events come and go as part of their daily lives and are decided by, for example, what holiday is coming up for them in-universe. What's this character's holidays like? How do they deal with taxes? Anything. And all of that within the context of, well, overcoming being bullied in your case.

[UzukiCheverie]

Considering slice-of-life generally covers anything that people can typically relate to on a realistic level, I think it's totally fine for slice-of-life to take a more serious outlook. Life isn't always laughing and having fun - and that's just a part of life, as well as the genre that's meant to define it.

People are just typically more used to seeing slice-of-life comics that are funny. But to be perfectly honest, I think some comics that claim to be slice-of-life are better suited to the comedy category lol

[CHMsketches]

Thank you guys for all this nice and wise comments! XD

I've cleared my doubts about the Slices of Life. I wanted my comic to be an everyday story, but with those 'special' moments. So I will keep going with that!! ^-^

[katverwho]

I've struggled with this classifications for my own comic, also! While it's mostly slice of life, it's also a jumble of romance, drama, and very series issues - the comic is about a girl with an eating disorder, and her friends. So there's a lot going on. This is why I like tagging systems more than set genres (and I'm not sure how effective Tapastics tags are?), since it allows for easier multiclassification.

[JustMarshma]

Well my advice to you is don't lose your head over it. I was also struggling with what category I should make Lose my Marvels. Ultimately, I think you should think about what the audience for each category is. LMM Is filled with drama and mental illness (the basic premise surrounds people who were in a way abused as children and now are trying to put themselves back together) but ultimately I filled it under romance simply because the characters are gay boys and I do know that there is a bit of a stigma attached to that. Categories are designed to help people find the comics they are most likely to enjoy, so don't worry about breaking the mold in a fairly trope-ish genre, instead think about in which category the basic premise of your story makes more sense.

[CHMsketches]

Thank you for the advices!