12 Secrets of Professional Humor Writing

In cooperation with the Maitland/Orlando chapter of the Florida Writers Association, Erik Deckers will share his 12 Professional Humor Writing Secrets.

(This was originally going to happen in November, but Erik was ill.)

Humor lives in the gap between the ridiculous and the real. It's the humorist who can wedge themselves firmly in that gap and tell the rest of the world what they find. It's not a gift, it's not innate, it's something anyone can learn and use in their own writing.

Many writers don't realize there is actually a formula to humor writing, and so they don't attempt it. But all the jokes you hear on TV or read in books or newspaper columns follow some part of the formula, and everyone had to learn it.

Long-time humor writer Erik Deckers will teach you how to crack the humor formula. He'll share secrets to finding humor in almost every situation (including the ones you're not supposed to), and the techniques professionals use to "write funny" without resorting to tired clichés and stereotypes.

Erik Deckers is the president of Pro Blog Service, a content marketing agency. He has been a newspaper humor columnist for 20 years, and is the co-author of Branding Yourself, No Bullshit Social Media, and The Owned Media Doctrine. Erik has also written several radio plays and stage plays, was the Spring 2016 writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, and is now president of their board of directors.