Process by which someone could create a successful comedy

Describe the process that it seems may have been followed by Plautus and Shakespeare in coming up with their respective comedies. The process must reflect insights gained from the Comedies: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Taming of the Shrew, but do not simply describe what Shakespeare and Plautus have done. The goal is to abstract or generalize from what you see them doing and to identify at least three and no more than four steps that could apply to the creation of new comedies and that may seem to have been applied in the creation of other comedies too.