Ernie Witham

The Craft of Humor Writing

Finding humor in everyday situations and getting it onto the page

Monday - Friday
1:00-3:30 PM
Room 1-234

Humor is everywhere. Every vacation, weekend outing, family function — even a trip to the mall — is fodder for humor, but capturing it is challenging. This interactive workshop concentrates on finding humor in everyday situations, getting it onto the page, and rewriting it to make it funnier and more marketable. This workshop includes lectures on technique, fun in-class exercises, read and critique sessions, and valuable marketing tips.Whether you want to write a humor column or add humor to your novel or screenplay, this workshop will help you learn to see, think and write funnier. Students should bring works-in-progress in any genre to read in class.

Bio

Ernie Witham has been writing the syndicated column,“Ernie’s World,” for the Montecito Journal for nearly two decades. He’s the author of three humor books: Ernie’s World the Book, A Year in the Life of a “Working” Writer, and his newest, Where Are Pat and Ernie Now?, a book of humorous travel adventures (2016). Witham’s humor has appeared in magazines and numerous anthologies, including more than twenty Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

He's led humor workshops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Whidbey Island, and on Cape Cod. Witham finds great pleasure in helping people get their funny stories onto the page and into circulation.

Writing Tip I Live By

First goal is to write. Second goal is to get published. Third goal is to get paid.

Recommended Authors

Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Moore, Christopher Buckley, Elmore Leonard, Tim Dorsey, Laurence Shames.