Gene Perret is a master of classic humor, and in Comedy Writing Step by Step he coaches the reader from a blank sheet of paper all the way to developing a standup routine. We’re going to adapt a few exercises from the book, and today’s exercise is one of them.

For today’s ten-minute writing exercise:

Brainstorm a numbered list of nouns, leaning towards specificity when you can. Rather than a lamp, write a Tiffany lamp. Rather than a girl, write Red Riding Hood.

When you have a list of fifty, close your eyes and pick a random number less than 25. Now, write a joke about that noun, but you must also incorporate a noun of your choosing from the second half of your list.

Repeat until time is up.

Our themes this month are:

• Love in all its forms
• Dialogue
• Comedy Writing Step by Step by Gene Perret

We will also write a complete work of flash fiction together in a week from Feb 17 – Feb 23. No pre-work needed, and as always, zero homework outside of our ten minutes a day. This month we’ll use Dan Harmon’s story circles method to plan out our stories.