Do you have to be born funny to write funny?

Most writers assume humor is a gift some people have and others don’t—and that it only belongs in comedy. But funny writing isn’t joke after joke after joke. It’s being vulnerable, opinionated, emotional, and a little silly, whether you’re writing a personal essay, a novel, or a query letter.

Humor is a craft—and it’s built the same way any other kind of good writing is: through observation, specificity, honesty, and revision. And good humor leavens the darkest personal essay, sustains reader compassion in a memoir, and makes novels sparkle on the page.

Elissa Bassist—author of the memoir Hysterical, editor of The Rumpus’s “Funny Women” column, and a humor-writing teacher for two decades—joins The Writers Bridge to talk about why infusing humor into your writing—even writing that isn’t “comedy”—makes it sharper, more honest, and more memorable. Elissa will share no-fail ways to make anything you write funnier (and just plain better), and how to find the joke in any topic, including the ones that feel too boring or too off-limits to touch.

Join us TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 at 1PM EASTERN / 10AM PACIFIC – live and FREE on Zoom, all welcome!

Our special guest

Elissa Bassist is the author of the memoir Hysterical, a semifinalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Roxane Gay called Hysterical “one of the most intelligent, painful, ridiculous, awesome, relevant things I’ve ever read,” and Cheryl Strayed wrote that Bassist “wrote it like a motherfucker.” The memoir also earned a starred review from Library Journal and praise from Kirkus and Booklist for its fierce, funny take on chronic pain, medicine, and the silencing of women’s voices.

Elissa has worked in media and publishing since 2007—as an editor, a managing editor, a TV and film writer’s assistant, a producer, a performer, a speaker, and a barista. Her writing has appeared in over 30 publications and anthologies, and she’s taught for more than 20 writing programs, including The New School, 92NY, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Her next book, Inside Jokes: A Comedy and Creativity Guide for All Writers (co-written with Caitlin Kunkel), is out October 20th from Grand Central Publishing—a step-by-step guide to writing anything funnier, from short humor to personal essays.

Elissa lives in Brooklyn and is probably her therapist’s favorite.

Join your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS), Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guest for a genuinely funny, genuinely useful hour on writing with more humor—no matter what genre you write.

FREE, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before.

Enjoy past recorded sessions here

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS

Allison K Williams has edited and coached authors to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, St. Martin’s Press, and numerous small presses. An expert in author marketing and community building, her platform includes the Brevity Blog (80k+ followers), Instagram (10k+), a mailing list (12k+), and Facebook (5k+), with publications in the New York Times and appearances on NPR and CBC. Her bestselling writing craft book is Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge.

Sharla Yates is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight, published by Stranded Oak Press (2017). She hosts a webinar series, CRAFT TALKS for writers on writing, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her nonfiction essay, “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal writing contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She is the former Director of Education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

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