Creative writing - an introduction to writing comic fiction

Overview

What you will study

• Comedy has been central to storytelling since antiquity. The first modern European novel, Cervantes’s Don Quixote, is described by A.S. Byatt as a ‘comic realist tale.’

• On a surface level, writing comic fiction is a simple business: the aim is to amuse the reader. In practice, however, it is a complex and multifaceted genre, with a range of conventions, aims, and stylistic approaches.

• The purpose of this Creative writing - an introduction to writing comic fiction course offered by University of Cambridge is to introduce participants to the craft of comic fiction as it relates to (among others) satire and farce, the ‘rom-com’ novel, as well as avant-garde forms of surrealist and postmodern comedy.  

• Each week we will examine a different major aspect of comic fiction (plot, characterisation, dialogue, narrative point-of-view, and novel openings & endings).

• Emphasis will be placed on (i) craft discussions, (ii) close reading of extracts from a range of comic fiction traditions, and (iii) writing prompts and exercises.