Writing Humour in Creative Nonfiction
With
Shannon Rayne
A fun and playful workshop to discover and write about the humour – and absurdity – in our lives. This generative writing workshop will help you explore the moments in your life that is ripe with humour - from obsessions and awkward moments to silly rants. You’ll learn how to use the tools of comedy, including character flaws, comedic situations, hyperbole, fish-out-water, clash of context, and rule of three, to mine you’re your lives for the humorous moments and exaggerate the tragedy out of it. You don’t need to be a jokester to enjoy this workshop. You will be gently guided with a mini-lesson on each tool we'll be using to mine the funny in our lives, and given writing prompts designed to explore your life from a humour perspective.
Shannon Rayne is a comedy screenwriter, educator, and storyteller, who once gifted a live audience with watching her panic on stage. She writes heartfelt and comedic fish-out-of-water stories about frenzied women and girls struggling to embrace unique paths – they’re utterly unprepared for. She has led playful and interactive writing and oral storytelling workshops for more than 20 years. Since earning an MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, she's taught creative writing at Fresh Minds Academy to youth, and has led fun writing workshops for emerging and established adult writers through Word Vancouver, Megaphone, and at the University of British Columbia. When she's not teaching stuffed unicorns, and the wee silly children who own them, she's writing humour memoir, sketch comedy, and TV/film.
Shannon is facilitating the workshop, Writing Humour in Creative Nonfiction, on Sunday, September 15, at 1:30 pm.