Writing Humor for Young Readers

WRITING X 446.4E

Sharpen your comedic writing skills as you learn to imbue your writing for young readers with irresistible humor in a variety of ways.

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What you can learn.

Learn about types of comedy from physical humor to word play, comic plot inventions, and beyond
Identify which forms of humor are most natural to you as a writer and how to drill down into your innate skills
Complete exercises and discuss mentor texts that help you build your writing skills
Understand how audiences will react to your work and where you can improve

About this course:

A look at any children’s book best seller list tells us that young people love books that make them laugh. Ask anyone in children’s publishing…a book with humor is a winning proposition with blockbuster potential, whether it’s a picture book like Dragons Love Tacos, a chapter book like Captain Underpants, a series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a classic novel like The Phantom Tollbooth, or even a bittersweet YA novel like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. In this course, you will sharpen your comedic writing skills, learn about the many types of comedy ranging from physical humor to word play to comic plot inventions to farce to outright silliness. Most important, you discover what makes you laugh, what kinds of humor you are authentically capable of creating. Through participating in weekly specific writing exercises, analyzing mentor texts across many genres, and engaging in critiques of your own work in progress, you’ll heighten your ability to write humor and come away with an understanding of your comedic voice. As a bonus, we’ll have a lot of laughs along the way! By the end of the course, students will be able to identify and refine their comic voice in a work of their own creation.