July 11–August 1, 2021. Write Funny to Me with Eric Goodman
Time limit: 60 days
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Full course description
IOWA SUMMER WRITING FESTIVAL
Write Funny to Me with Eric Goodman (Four-Week Workshop)
Dates/Time
Sundays on Zoom, July 11–August 1; 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Iowa/Central Time (12:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern; 9:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific; 10:00 a.m.–12:00 noon Mountain)
Course Description
This four-week workshop is designed for prose writers of all levels, scribblers of fiction or creative nonfiction who would like to learn how to be funny, or in many cases, funnier, on the page. Whether a writer’s intentions are ultimately serious or light-hearted, being able to make readers laugh is a sure way to attract and to hold their attention. If a writer can amuse readers, they’ll follow you straight to the cash register. Just ask Sedaris.
Our class will meet once a week for two hours on Zoom. We’ll give you feedback on a short piece you bring to class, but you’ll also generate new writing based on short readings and exercises. We’ll work on dialogue and distinguish between character and slapstick-based humor. Each student will workshop a second piece of writing during the third or fourth week of the class. You will also have a one on one, 30-minute Zoom conference with me in the latter part of the class.
Students will leave Write Funny to Me having learned a trick or two and maybe a joke. More importantly, you’ll emerge with a whetted sense of how to be funny on the page and have fun doing it.
Instructor
Eric Goodman was born in Brooklyn and educated at Yale and Stanford. For many years he directed the creative writing program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He also founded Miami’s Low-Residency M.F.A. program and directed it from 2015-2018. He has published six novels, most recently, Cuppy and Stew: The Bombing of Flight 629, A Love Story. He’s written episodic television, rock and roll lyrics, and more than 200 essays and stories that appeared in publications including North American Review, Travel and Leisure, LA Times Traveling in Style, Saveur, and Glamour. He thinks he’s funny.
Registration & Fees
The fee for this course is $450. Payment in full is required to register.
Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Class size is limited to 10.
Note: Your credit card payment will be processed by an external provider and will appear on your credit card statement as “UI Writing—Magid Center.”
Refund & Cancellation Policy
If you need to cancel your enrollment in a Festival class, please let us know as soon as possible. We can only offer full refunds if you cancel two weeks prior to the start of class. After that, before the start date of class, we can offer a 50% refund. We cannot refund day-of cancellations, and we cannot refund or partially refund tuition once the class has begun.
Terms & Community Policy
The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is a community built on an assumption of shared enterprise, in the spirit of mutual respect. We reserve the right to a) revoke the registration of or b) dismiss from the program any person who disrupts the learning/working environment of others. Participants in the Festival are subject to all University of Iowa policies governing conduct in our community, whether online or in person.
Questions?
Contact the Iowa Summer Writing Festival: iswfestival@uiowa.edu. Phone: (319) 335-4160.
Our tiny staff is working remotely. If you phone and we miss you, please leave a message!