TWFest: WRITER’S CRAFT—ADRIAN VAN YOUNG

“THY CREATURE”: LITERARY MONSTERS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE—ADRIAN VAN YOUNG
Was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark your favorite book as a child? Did Bram Stoker’s Dracula make you weep? Was It your most recent and memorable beach-read? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, then this craft session is for you. Taking our bearings from the father of all literary monsters, the creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this craft session led by creature-enthusiast and short story writer Adrian Van Young will explore literary monsters in both a literal and figurative sense of the word. Together, we’ll become taxonomists of the monstrous in fiction, investigating, discussing, and trying out monster-oriented literary principles and techniques such as: how to effectively describe your monster; how to characterize one; how and when to reveal one; and what various functions a monster can serve in the hideous cosmos that summon them forth. But never fear: our monster-investigations won’t stop there! Midway through, the craft session will shift gears into identifying and dissecting metaphorical monsters as well as literal ones. In the process, we’ll address concepts such as: the monster with a human face; the monster as a human foil; how monsters reflect their cultures of origin; the monster as a marker of otherness/difference; and—everyone’s favorite—monster lovers! Utilizing excerpts from acclaimed literary monster-engineers like Victor LaValle, Brian Evenson, Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Nathan Ballingrud, Kelly Link, Mariana Enriquez and Guillermo Del Toro, we’ll get our monster faces right! Prepare to gnash your fangs and growl.