What do fairytales look like when they are "turned inside out"? How has the intersection of abjection and the female/femme body been used to express historically marginalized experiences? This seminar will serve as a crash course on the subgenre of horror writing. While we'll reference body horror in film and dig up the roots of the genre found in mythology and fairy tales to add dimension to this brief survey, the focus will be on the page, and we'll study literary examples to then experiment with writing our own stories. Tailored towards prose writers with an emphasis on fiction, we will explore body horror from the position of CNF-inspired exercises to write extended metaphors to express our bodies, ourselves.
Content warning: This class is for writers who don’t have any problems reading, writing, or viewing blood, guts, gore, and other social taboos (keep in mind, the grotesque in body horror is rarely the result of violence, but has more to do with transformation/invasion/mutation). We'll also be looking at difficult subject matter such as racism, sexism, self-harm, disordered eating, and sexual violence.
This course is a part of Spec Fest, a two-day celebration of speculative fiction taking place the weekend of August 29-30, and is open to the public. To learn more and find passes, which include discounted registrations to this event, click here.
