Registration for my next Horror University course has opened up! “Shifting Shapes” will be a 2-hour online session focusing on strategies for depicting transformation. Visit https://horror-university.teachable.com or see my Events page for more details. The class runs LIVE online on 2/5/24 at 8pm est, but registrants can also view the recorded session and access secret shared materials afterward. (Look for my past Horror U sessions on “The Uncanny and The Abject” and “Treacherous Settings,” while you’re there! HWA members may qualify for discounts!
DESCRIPTION:
Hair sprouting from flesh, everywhere, as a man contorts into a terrifying wolf. Tentacles exploding from unexpected body parts as an alien Thing attempts to clone a new host. A witch turning a villager into an newt with the wave a wand.
Some of the best moments in horror and dark fantasy fiction and film are scenes involving transformation – depicting how a “normal” body mutates, how a human being morphs into a monster, or how a shape shifts into something entirely unexpected. These moments are often riddled with surprise and uncanny shocks that make them the most memorable moments in the story. And good writers know how to craft them so that we identify with these shifting shapes, no matter how impossible they might seem….
In this 2-hour session we’ll discuss the scenecraft behind these moments of transformation, analyzing the methods in examples, discussing both the writing techniques and the subtle meanings behind them, and putting the lessons gleaned from class into practice. As a result, attendees should be able to represent change in a savvy and spellbinding manner. And perhaps their own writing skills will subsequently shift into an even stronger shape.
Whether you’re developing on a were-creature novel, plotting a shapeshifter story, depicting a decent into madness, or simply want to learn how to dramatize radical change in your characters in unforgettable ways, this is the class for you.
REGISTRATION DETAILS:
The course costs $65 usd, for access to the live event and/or recorded material thereafter. Visit the dedicated course page at teachable.edu for details.
p.s. Looking for more information on the course content? I recently gave a related talk on “Writing the Transformation Scene” to the Southwest Writers organization, which you can view on youtube. Some of this material will appear in the course.
