Course Details

Do you have a sense of humor? That's great. It'll get you (a) through life, and (b) more dates. But in order to get (c) published, you're going to need a grasp of humor. Even if your jokes kill at the water cooler, when you put fingers to keyboard, you need to be very rigorous -- humorless, even -- in your analysis of what makes a premise work and in your every-word-counts prose. And, just as you do with other journalistic genres, you need to do all of that with a target publication in mind.

• How to spot issues/events/moments that are ripe for humor writing
• How to tease out the humor therein
• The difference between daring/shocking and obnoxious/offensive
• Humor-writing nuts and bolts: setup/punch, Rule of Three, callback, Rule of Four, etc.
• Publishing markets for various forms of humor
• How to add appropriate humor to an otherwise serious article
• Why "Humor Writing 103" is funnier than "Humor Writing 101"

Instructor Bio

Lynn Harris's Courses

Lynn Harris is a journalist, essayist, author, comedian, and commentator on matters of culture, gender, and "the deal" with Tom and Katie. She is author of the comic novel Miss Media (miss-media.net), and of its forthcoming sequel, Death By Chick Lit. She writes frequently for Salon.com, Nerve.com, and Glamour, and has contributed to The New York Times, The New York Observer, New York magazine, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, and Slate.com.

Lynn was co-creator of the cultishly popular advice columnist/superhero Breakup Girl (breakupgirl.net), helping men and women handle all matters of love, or lack thereof. She is author/co-author of three other books, including Breakup Girl to the Rescue!. She was co-producer of the Breakup Girl television series and co-writer and star of "Breakup Girl LIVE," Gotham Comedy Club's longest-running variety show. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, Today, ABC News, CNN, Queen Latifah, Montel Williams, and Lifetime television.

Testimonials

I really enjoyed Lynn's seminar. It was intimate and Lynn was engaging. She was very open to our questions and comments and taught from experience. She had a lot of great bits of advice as well as suggestions on how to take the next step. I really enjoyed it. -- Richard Boehmcke

"I was impressed with Lynn's seminar. I thought she gave some good advice based on her own experience that was priceless. I'm glad I took the class and based on it, I want to take more." -- Christine Aliferis

"Lynn, along with my funny and talented classmates, were really able to help me punch up the humor in all my pieces. My essay ended up in the Washington Post. Since the class, I've increased my writing credits to include a semi-regular spot in the New Jersey section of The New York Times, as well as having pieces in The Village Voice and mediabistro. I am also using the class' lessons at my "regular gig" as a writer for the blog TV Squad (www.tvsquad.com)." -- Joel Keller, mb instructor