Writing Workshop | How to Write Funny (Comedy on the Page) | Dinty W. Moore

Humor on the page is a delicate flower, and there is nothing quite so awkward as watching it wilt. But here’s a funny thing: humor has rules, and inside tricks of the trade. This workshop will explore the basic elements that make a story (fiction or nonfiction) funny — juxtaposition, irony, understatement, and exaggeration, just to name a few. We will examine a few sterling examples and then pull out our pens and notebooks to try it for ourselves. We will laugh, too, along the way. Or at the very least, snicker. And for those bothered by delayed gratification, here’s a preview of the real inside secret: The best humor sneaks up on you.

DINTY W. MOORE is author of the memoir Between Panic & Desire, winner of the Grub Street Nonfiction Book Prize. He has published numerous books on the craft of writing, including Crafting the Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction, as well as essays and stories in The Georgia Review, Harpers, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Iowa Review, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere. He edits Brevity, a journal of flash nonfiction, and has taught workshops in Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, and Canada.