Write a 500-word humorous essay or short story

Get In On The Joke

Putting Pen to Paper

Share the first draft of your essay or short story
Share your progress in your project section to get feedback from other students

Drafts on Drafts on Drafts

Recognizing Your Final Draft

Share the final draft of your essay or short story
Share your progress in your project section to get feedback from other students

Class Wrap-Up

Additional Resources

- Listen: "The Onion: Mocking All Who Deserve it Since 1988" on NPR
- Watch: The Writing Habits of Mitch Hedberg
- Read: Excerpt from And Here's the Kicker by Mike Sacks
Next Steps

After reading the resources above, let's get started on our own essays or short stories. For this week...
1. Describe what you find funny (in 2-3 sentences or any other media you choose)
2. Share some thoughts on what you're thinking you'll write about
Post in this Discussion here for feedback from myself and fellow students!
- Read: Grace's interview with top humor writer Merrill Markoe (The Hairpin)
- Read: The Dan Harmon School of Comedy Writing
- Watch: Matt Stone and Trey Parker on Storytelling on MTVu
- Watch: Lesson from me! Putting Pen to Paper (pw: brevity)
Next Steps

And now for the plunge, get to work on your first drafts...
1. Share v1 of your essay or short story draft
Post in this Discussion here for feedback from myself and your fellow writers - can't wait to see them!
- Read: My interview with top humor writer Patricia Marx on Hazing, The New Yorker and TV Eyebrows (The Hairpin)
- Watch: Stand-up comedian Louis CK on digging deep for comedy (YouTube)
- Watch: Online Lesson from me! Drafts on Drafts on Drafts (pw: brevity)
- Read: Allison Silverman on jokes that get rejected from "The Daily Show" (Slate)
- Watch: Online Lesson from me! Recognizing Your Final Draft (pw: brevity)
- Read: "Rejection" by Rob LeDonne (Splitsider)
- Read: Tips on Getting Your Humor Writing Published from And Here's the Kicker
- Read: List of Humor Writing Publishing Outlets from me

Jorli Pena

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