How to write a yawn headline

Headlines are usually no more than 15 words (think about size of words rather than number, if that makes sense). We shoot to satirize things at Yale (duh!) by punching up - this means engaging with those who have large amounts of power or status, not picking on those who have been marginalized.

For example - “Rich White Kid Lands Internship at Dad’s Firm” = Funny!

“Poor Kid Is Poor” = You’re an asshole.

“Canada Goose Jacket Used To Mop Up $12 Acai Bowl” = Nice!

Try and focus on the structures of Yale, and take it in an absurd direction (“Footie Mauled By Bear ‘Felt Attacked’") or just point out something absurd (“Society Plans Retreat To Richest Member’s House”). Yale is a pretty silly place, whether you notice it or not - we exist in a pretty insanely privileged bubble at one of the most prestigious universities on the planet. There are bound to be things to make fun of.

general advice for humor writing, but especially for YAWn stuff

  • Be lighter in the tone of ridicule

    • Push the ridicule over the tipping point so that you ridicule another thing (i.e. a different subject, the narrator, etc)

      • Use recognizable logic

      • Use the lack of self-awareness

  • Show don’t tell

    • Add something specific and then the audience can make associations from that for themselves

  • Dark Humor

    • Tone — cheerful or indifference to gruesomeness

    • Using language

      • Funny sayings like “beaten to a pulp”

      • Consonance or beauty of rhyme

    • Element of surprise — not just grotesque

  • Parody

    • Highlight existing ridiculousness

      • Ex. recognize an already existing “high/low” and make it “higher/lower”

    • Parody— find the game that the original is playing, but try to play it better

    • The form is culturally sanctioned then you plug in something that’s not culturally sanctioned 

    • Getting at the lack of self awareness

    • Shift the object of ridicule

  • What has to change in a parody

    • Incongruity of what changes and what stays the same

      • Start sentences in the form then veer away from them

      • Making the situation ridiculous