E.M. TRAN—MAKE IT WEIRD: CRAFTING THE UNCANNY OR ABSURD INTO SCENE

Have you ever had a character live their lives in everyday spaces—the office, the grocery store, their house, the car—and feel that what you are writing is simply pushing your character through the tedious motions of life? In some ways, fiction is poignant because it can reflect reality and open vistas of understanding through realistic perspectives. But isn’t reality also weird? Sometimes the best way to invigorate a scene is to do just that: make it weird. In this session, we will discuss ways to inject the uncanny and absurd into our writing, how to notice and compile the strangeness we see in our daily lives, and exercises we can do if we feel our stories are stuck in the mundane world.