The Art of Being Funny

Bring laughter to the pages and lives of young readers
​Get ready to unleash your inner comedian! Join the talented and hilarious children's author, Oliver Phommavanh, in Armidale on Saturday 29 April for a practical, hands-on workshop all about the art of being funny. 

Discover the different types of humor that kids love, learn how to tell stories that will stay with them for a lifetime, and gain strategies for incorporating humor into your own writing.

Whether you're an aspiring author, a storyteller, or simply looking to bring a smile to someone's face, this workshop is a must-attend event. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to learn from one of the best in the business.
NEWC Members   $40
Non-Members         $55
Picture
Oliver Phommavanh

Workshop Details

When:    Saturday 29 April 2023
Time:      10am - 2pm
Where:    NOVA UNE SRI (The old library building), 122 Faulkner Street, Armidale
Refreshments will be supplied. 

The art of being funny

​Everyone has a sense of humour but does your humour make any sense?
Oliver will go through some techniques of how to come up with some ideas for jokes, weird characters and wacky story lines.

There’s a little bit of drawing from your own experiences, actual drawing of characters and more. Discover how easy it is to inject some laughs into your writing.

You’ll work through quick writing and brainstorming exercises to come up with ideas for funny stories and characters, and learn how to find the ‘funny’ in any scenario.
  • ​Using real life experiences to make the humour authentic.
  • Exaggerating scenarios and characters for laughs.
  • Surprising readers by taking established things and flipping them upside down to make them funny.
  • Being playful with words to create jokes and puns.
  • Be your inner child because while current events change…some universal truths remain and they’re still funny, regardless of age.
  • Working on characters' quirks and points of difference and placing them in high tension scenarios.
  • Brainstorming topics to find what can be turned into jokes and laughs.
  • Plotting a storyboard to build up the farce, raising the stakes for the ultimate punchline.