BOOTCAMP: How to write online news satire

In this bootcamp, Luxembourg Wurst creator John-Paul Gomez will guide you through a quick look at satire as a whole before focusing on one of the youngest but most popular genres: online news satire.

Looking at sources including the Onion, the Daily Mash, Reductress, the Wurst, and more, we will examine how satire works, what makes it strong, meaningful, and funny, and how you can write satirical pieces that pack a punch. The bootcamp will include writing activities.

Some of what we’ll cover:
-Finding topics
-Tone
-The art of the headline
-Fleshing out an article
-Brevity
-Irony
-Caricature
-Exaggeration
-Using images to increase humor
-Tips for creating your own satire brand, website, or Facebook page

Originally from the U.S. state of Colorado, John-Paul has also lived in New Orleans and Barcelona. He has called Luxembourg his home since 2007. Previously an English-language teacher, he has worked as a professional content writer and copywriter for the past five years. His professional website is writer.lu.

As far as comedy and satire go, his influences include Weird Al Yankovich, Mad Magazine, and the Onion. He also writes short stories that, as his writing group can confirm, are rather weird and dark. His other ongoing creative projects include a screenplay for a horror movie and a TV sitcom series he is working on with two other writers. He created the Luxembourg Wurst in 2017.