If you test positive for Covid – Don’t come to class until you test negative. But let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.
If you show Covid symptoms OR If you have been exposed to someone with Covid – Don’t come to class for at least 5 days after showing symptoms or exposure, and then take a test to confirm that you are negative. Let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.
If you have any questions about this, you may call (212-974-8377) or email us ([email protected]).
Humor Writing
Humor Writing is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures, exercises, and the critiquing of student projects. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
Who doesn’t love the pleasure of literary laughter? We’re talking about essays, memoirs, articles, short stories, and novels that are humorous. It can be anything from a true story about the special hell of raising kids to a far-fetched tale of a would-be knight tilting at windmills. As Mark Twain says: The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
Humorous prose writing requires all the hallmarks of good writing plus that X factor: being funny. Here you will learn about the various types of prose humor, as well as comedic techniques and how to market your work.
Whether you seek to write fiction or nonfiction, short or long, we’ll show you how to turn sentences into smiles.
The most fun I've ever had in a writing class, and I've taken many.
Lorrie Gault
administrative assistant
Upcoming Classes
NYC COVID Info
10-Week
-
Zoom
Real-time videoconference
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
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Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
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One-on-One
Tuition: $1,895
Syllabus
This course gives you a firm grounding in the basics of humor writing craft and gets you writing a short piece (or two) or a book. Course components:
Lectures
Writing exercises
Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work two times)
New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.
Online classes
Week 1
Introduction to Humor Writing: The secret formula to all humor . Exploration of various forms of prose humor writing—fiction, nonfiction, and in-between. Where to find humorous ideas. The elusiveness of humor.
Week 2
Principles of Humor: Exploration of the various techniques for achieving humor—exaggeration, juxtaposition, shock/surprise, extreme situations, sound/rhythm/wordplay, irony, attitude, absurdity. The various types of humor.
Week 3
People: Finding the stupidity in people. Round and flat characters. Showing vs. Telling. Methods for showing characters. Ridiculing groups of people.
Week 4
Structure: The basic structural techniques for humor—the rule of three, snowballing. Finding a major dramatic question. Shaping a beginning, middle, and end. Breaking the structural norms.
Week 5
Point of View/Voice: Point of view defined. Exploration of the various types of point of view. Voice defined. Exploration of the various types of voice. Tips for finding your voice.
Week 6
Description: Using the senses. Specificity. Techniques for creativity. Finding the right words. Merging description with point of view. Describing funny situations. Bad (but funny) descriptions.
Week 7
Dialogue: The importance of scene. Dialogue's illusion of reality. Quotation marks and tags. Stage directions. Summarized dialogue. Characterization through dialogue. Miscommunication. Not forcing it.
Week 8
Point and Pointlessness: Using humor to make a point. Using humor in pointless (but funny) ways.
Week 9
Precision: Hacking through the early stages. Zeroing in on the perfect words and achieving economy. Strengthening the humor techniques. Finding the peaks and valleys. Testing out the humor.
Week 10
The Business: Proper format for manuscripts. How to target publishing houses, magazines, newspapers, and agents. How to send your work out. Query letters.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
David Yoo
David Yoo is the author of the young adult novels Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before (Hyperion) and Girls for Breakfast (Delacorte), the middle grade novel The Detention Club (Balzer + Bray), and the essay collection The Choke Artist (Grand Central). He has published short stories and nonfiction in Massachusetts Review, Rush Hour, Maryland Review, and the anthology Guys Write for Guys Read (Viking). He is also a columnist for KoreAm Journal. He has taught at Pine Manor College, Eckerd College, and CU-Boulder. He holds a BA from Skidmore College and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
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John Kachuba
John Kachuba is the author of numerous books, including the novels Dark Entry and The Savage Apostle (both Sunbury Press), the middle grade novel Haycorn Smith and the Castle Ghost (Paper Angel Press), and the nonfiction books Shapeshifters (Reaktion Books), Ghosthunting Ohio, Ghosthunting Illinois, (both Clerisy Press), and Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers, and Other Investigators of America's Paranormal World (New Page Books). He is the editor of the anthology How to Write Funny (F & W Publications), and the America's Haunted Road Trip series for Clerisy Press. His short stories and nonfiction have appeared in Tin House, Connecticut Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, Poets & Writers, and America's Civil War. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University. He holds a BA from Sacred Heart University and MAs in Creative Writing from both Antioch University and Ohio University.
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Nelsie Spencer
Nelsie Spencer is the author of the novel The Playgroup, (St. Martin’s Press). She wrote the feature screenplay A Girl's Best Friend and co-wrote the feature film Valley Inn, which debuted at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. She wrote, produced, and co-hosted the radio show The Radio Ritas, (Greenstone Media) and hosts the podcast Losing It. She co-wrote and starred in the play My Heart Belongs To Daddy, produced at the Pittsburgh Public Theater and Duke University’s Pre-Broadway series. She performed her one-woman show Day of the Dead Daddy at the Chain Theatre in New York City, at the Denver Fringe Festival, and it won an honorable mention in Solo Fest at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. She studied dance and theater at Orange Coast College, and fiction at The New School.
Read moreDavid Yoo
David Yoo
is the author of the young adult novels Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before (Hyperion) and Girls for Breakfast (Delacorte), the middle grade novel The Detention Club (Balzer + Bray), and the essay collection The Choke Artist (Grand Central). He has published short stories and nonfiction in Massachusetts Review, Rush Hour, Maryland Review, and the anthology Guys Write for Guys Read (Viking). He is also a columnist for KoreAm Journal. He has taught at Pine Manor College, Eckerd College, and CU-Boulder. He holds a BA from Skidmore College and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
John Kachuba
John Kachuba
is the author of numerous books, including the novels Dark Entry and The Savage Apostle (both Sunbury Press), the middle grade novel Haycorn Smith and the Castle Ghost (Paper Angel Press), and the nonfiction books Shapeshifters (Reaktion Books), Ghosthunting Ohio, Ghosthunting Illinois, (both Clerisy Press), and Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers, and Other Investigators of America's Paranormal World (New Page Books). He is the editor of the anthology How to Write Funny (F & W Publications), and the America's Haunted Road Trip series for Clerisy Press. His short stories and nonfiction have appeared in Tin House, Connecticut Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, Poets & Writers, and America's Civil War. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University. He holds a BA from Sacred Heart University and MAs in Creative Writing from both Antioch University and Ohio University.
Nelsie Spencer
Nelsie Spencer
is the author of the novel The Playgroup, (St. Martin’s Press). She wrote the feature screenplay A Girl's Best Friend and co-wrote the feature film Valley Inn, which debuted at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. She wrote, produced, and co-hosted the radio show The Radio Ritas, (Greenstone Media) and hosts the podcast Losing It. She co-wrote and starred in the play My Heart Belongs To Daddy, produced at the Pittsburgh Public Theater and Duke University’s Pre-Broadway series. She performed her one-woman show Day of the Dead Daddy at the Chain Theatre in New York City, at the Denver Fringe Festival, and it won an honorable mention in Solo Fest at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. She studied dance and theater at Orange Coast College, and fiction at The New School.
