Funny Personal Essays

taught by Elissa Bassist

October 15, 2-4 pm EST

On ZOOM

Please note: This class is a lecture format, not a workshop.

Why do you laugh when you read? Because you relate? Because you’re surprised? Because life is an absurd farce? Some more questions: Did you ever do something off the wall? Do you have some social observations? Did you have a strong reaction to The Little Mermaid? In this life-changing seminar dissecting the gender politics of The Little Mermaid (just kidding), we’ll discuss how to make an essay funny, how to turn a personal anecdote into an essay, and how to convince a personal essay to transcend the personal. We'll gossip about what every funny personal essay needs and the many ways to turn a “funny situation” into a “funny story” that you can publish (I DARE YOU). We’ll read my book Hysterical and also funny personal essays by our favorites to crack the formulas used to write them, and in class, you'll brainstorm topics to hone clear, unique angles. The following will also be answered: Which publications want the personal essay? How do I follow up with editors in a non-annoying manner? Why are men and for how long? Please note that The Little Mermaid will not be shown in class.

A little about your teacher:

I’m an award-deserving essayist, humor writer, teacher, and editor of the Funny Women column on The Rumpus. 

I write cultural and personal criticism, and my writing has appeared in 
The New York Times, Marie Claire, Creative Nonfiction, NewYorker.com, NYMag.com, Longreads, oddly Men’s Health, and more. My sad essay “The Never-to-Be Bride” is “Notable” in The Best American Essays, and my essay is one of 29 in the best-selling Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, edited by Roxane Gay.

My first book is HYSTERICAL, published by Hachette.

Before moving to Brooklyn, I produced and co-hosted Literary Death Match in San Francisco and was the editor of various other impressive books, and I have since gone on to be a barista.

Currently I teach humor writing at The New School, Catapult, 92NY, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

Cheryl Strayed told me to “write like a motherfucker.”