Online Workshop: Crafting Character Voice in Humor Pieces

Tuesday, August 22nd, 7PM to 8:30PM EST

This online workshop, taught live over Zoom, will give you tools and tips on crafting character voice in short-form humor pieces.

We'll cover:

• What character voice is and how to spot it
  We’ll look at several examples and together we’ll analyze the building blocks of voice to deconstruct and define a topic that can often feel ephemeral.

• Tips for creating a character voice that complements the perspective of your piece
  We’ll go over some brainstorming exercises to help you pair the perspective of your piece with the right voice.

• How to make sure your piece has a consistent voice throughout
  I’ll share the editing tricks I use and walk you through some “before and afters” showing how I edit my pieces for character voice, and we’ll also do some editing exercises together.

Throughout this workshop, we’ll have many interactive group exercises so you can start applying these principles right away in a supportive and encouraging environment. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet fellow humor writers and ask questions along the way.

This workshop is designed for writers who have some familiarity and experience writing short-form humor pieces in the style of publications such as McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs, The Belladonna Comedy, Points in Case, and Weekly Humorist.

The cost for this 1.5-hour workshop is $50, paid via Venmo or PayPal.

About the instructor

Ysabel Yates is a New York City-based comedy writer whose work combines sweetness with a sharp edge.

Her humor writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Reductress, and more. She’s the co-author of Jokes to Offend Men, which was named the #2 Comedy Book of 2022 by Vulture and called “highbrow brilliant” in New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix.

Ysabel is a chameleon who specializes in adapting her voice to each project, whether it’s parodying The New York Times’ Modern Love column (and winning an endorsement from the editor) or exploring the perspective of a very basic bear.

She has over a decade of experience in marketing bringing projects to life for brands including Absolut, Waze, Google, and Snapchat. She’s skilled at crystallizing a shared vision and championing it from concept to execution, and she brings this experience into all her creative collaborations.

In her spare time, she enjoys taking long walks and then taking equally long naps with her Italian Greyhound, Roman.