I am bringing this year's "New Year New Jokes" writing intensive to you! Every week I will share an interview from our intensive and one of the writing exercises. Our first interview is with the amazing Ed Hill!
http://kingedhill.com/
https://www.candyandsmiley.com/
https://twitter.com/kingedhill
This Week's Exercise: 50 Facts About Yourself
Write down 50 facts about yourself. Just the facts.
This list will be the foundation for many writing exercises this year. Not to spoil the great upcoming interviews, but the advice we hear over and over again is that we should write from our own lives. So, the majority of our writing warm ups this year will be about training you to do just that.
Sit down. Dig in. And be honest. What are 50 facts about yourself?
Now, I want you take one of your facts and start writing jokes about it.
There is no right or wrong format to these jokes! One Liners? Totally! A long story? Absolutely! Roasting TF out of yourself? Sure! The point this intensive is just to get ourselves writing. To sit down and actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keys).
There is no time requirement. I would say at least 10 minutes, but it's not like I am over your shoulder or anything. All I ask is that you try. Explore your topic. Make a list of everything about it. Maybe do a mind map. Why is it a fact? How did it end up becoming a fact about you? How do you feel about it being a fact about you?
Optional Rambling: I did this exercise last year. One of the facts I wrote down was that I volunteered at an observatory. Now, some of you know that turned into a pretty great chunk. It's a chunk that, even a year later, I am still working on. So, the point is not to get the perfect chunk of material today. Today, and this week really, is about going into the premise mine and finding that rough stone.
