Write with Humor, and There Perchance to Be Funny, or to Remain Dull, That Is the Question

One of the best ways to help students understand how literary craft works is to have them write emulations of a text, adopting the form and style of that author while providing content.

Such emulations can teach much about an author's stylistic fingerprint, for example, Hemingway's preference for the simple sentence or Alexie's penchant for the rule of three, and they can teach much about the formal aspects of shorter humorous pieces.


With novels that contain humor, I frequently ask students to do the following:


1. Identify the funniest passage.

2. Explain why it is funny.


3. Write a brief description of "how to write a passage like this."

4. Write a brief emulation that captures the form and style of the chosen passage while using content of their choosing.



With texts that are not humorous, I give students the opportunity to transform serious pieces into humorous ones, moving us to the entertaining world of parody.
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