September 27

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (We thought the employees in costume at the amusement park were only pretending.  We were wrong.)
• Brainstorm for your suspense piece.  This may be either an essay or a fiction piece.  Because suspense is built from the appearance of two equally likely but opposite endings, brainstorm your piece ending in at least two of the most likely options.

September 20

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Green mist swirled inside the only bottle among the empty jars.  The peeling label read, "Do not touch!")
• Complete your humorous essay.  Remember to "explode" moments that are especially important or humorous.  Don't be afraid to exaggerate!

September 13

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting * (The last message from the starship was, "Let us drift.  It's for your own good."
• Begin writing your humorous essay. 
• Remember, a humorous essay is gentle in tone.  The author is laughing with the audience and characters not at them.
• Your essay may use stories (often exaggerated) to illustrate you points, or you may use incongruity to humorously address your topics.  Last week's essay used stories as illustrations.  This week's essay used incongruity (what is supposed to happen vs. what actually happens).
•  You may turn in your draft if you complete it this week.  If not, you have until the 28th before it is "officially" due!
• Here is the essay I shared in class this week. 

* Complete all other writing assignments before you begin freewriting.

September 6

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting* (Take out the book closest to you.  Open to page 55.  The second sentence on the page is your writing prompt.)
• Pre-write/Brainstorm your humorous essay. (Your pre-writing/Brainstorming does not need to be in complete sentences, nor does it need to be in an outline.  This is just a record of thoughts you might use.)

* Complete Freewriting only after you have finished the rest of your assigned writing.

A humorous essay contains elements of both fiction and essay.  While the structure is much like an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion, and contains a topical exploration of a subject, the topics are illustrated with humorous stories.  For example in the story linked below, the subject is bad company, and the topics are the wave of excitement, the inevitable catastrophe, and the effects on a person of sensibilities.  Notice that there are two humorous examples (stories) illustrating the author's point.

So, what makes something funny?  People, who evidently have quite a bit of time on their hands, have determined that humor is produced three main ways:  superiority, incongruity, and relief.  Superiority is when the audience or a character is aware of the reality of a situation while other characters in the story do not.  "Bad Company" is full of examples of this type of humor.  Incongruity happens when elements in a story are expected to be one way but in fact turn out to be different. We laugh at Wallace and Gromit because the pet is more "together" than his master.  Incongruity is only funny, however, if the outcome is benign, and not all incongruity is humorous. Relief is rarely used in humorous essays, and we often call it comic relief.  When a story or event is becoming too tense then something unexpected and unrelated occurs, it often produces humor because it breaks the tension. There is quite a bit of information on humor theory, if you want to Google it, and other ways of making people laugh, but understanding these basic concepts may help you enhance what you already know is funny!

"Bad Company"