Dissecting a Frog: How to Write a Humor Piece

Analyzing humor, as E.B. White famously said, is like dissecting a frog; few people are interested and the frog dies of it. Nonetheless, writing humor is a highly logical exercise — fit idea X into form Y for humorous result Z — and can therefore be broken down in ways that more slippery kinds of prose tend to resist… While there’s no substitute for a naturally sharp sense of humor, it is possible to improve one’s prose wit by studying the form. With these guidelines in mind, you’ll soon be able to compose your own short humor pieces, a medium that is entertaining, intellectually satisfying and as lucrative as selling frog carcasses. Source: Dissecting a Frog: How to Write a Humor Piece