Anyone can write humor, but it takes a bit of practice to “get it right.” Humor is subjective; not everyone will think a joke is funny. But for the seasoned humor writers looking for more markets to submit to, many can be found and continue to sprout up on the internet.

Humor writers can create many different types of work when it comes to writing humor. You can write about a personal experience or you can use it to write a fictional funny story. One common way humor writers turn real-life experiences into funny stories is to put their sense of humor to good use and write in a catchy, witty and unusual style.

Your funny experiences may also be fodder for a story, whether it is a funny fictional account or something else entirely. Writers of fiction are always getting ideas for stories based on personal experiences, so keep in mind that you can take a funny experience and turn it into a short story or funny scene in a novel or script.

Another way to creatively write about a funny experience is to turn it into a joke. While there are many funny comments kids say or humorous incidents happening all around us, they can be turned into a joke that really won’t hurt anyone since jokes re usually impersonal. For example, supposing a child comments that a toy dinosaur “wrecked” a toy village can be turned into this joke:

What kind of dinosaur drives a wrecking ball?

A Tyrannosaurus Wrecks (Rex)

And speaking of children, parenthood is rife with funny stories. These funny experiences we parents have can mean a story to write about or a funny anecdote to share. While some experiences we have as parents may not be funny when they happen to us, they may end up being funny later on, so hold on to those pieces you write about funny parenting experiences because you just might feel brave enough to share them later. Markets looking for funny parenting stories include Imperfect Parent , The Pregnant Chicken and Raising Mothers.

Some markets open to humor submissions are specialized, in that they consider submissions from a specific group of writers or they accept a certain type of submission. For anyone out there identifying as female, you can submit funny articles relevant to women at The (y) Syndrome. If you have a knack for drawing or creating funny comics, consider submitting to The Funny Times, The American Bystander. Additionally, The Offing accepts both humorous comics as well as funny micro stories ranging from 10 to 560 characters long.

The funny things you write about may not have anything to do with you or your life at all. If you have a knack for putting a funny spin on current events, hot topics and people in the news, consider writing humor articles or parodies. Markets open to such stories include Cracked  and McSweeney’s.

Finally, your entire story need not be funny from beginning to end in order to qualify as literary humor. It can be any work of fiction or nonfiction containing funny moments, characters or situations. If your piece gets your readers laughing every so often, consider sending it to markets such as Points in Case (which is also open to listicles).

The next time something funny happens, write it down. Your story or joke can very likely get picked up by a market hungry for humor submissions. Take time to practice writing funny pieces, run them by your readers to see if they result in any laughs, then get them ready to send off to a paying market.

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BIO: Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. She is a book reviewer, freelance writer, poet and ghostwriter. She is the author of several books. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, websites and anthologies. Her websites are  https://dawnsbooks.com/ and https://www.dmcwriter.com/  Her Twitter: @dawncolclasure.