4-Week: "We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes"—Writing the Villain

To quote Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Like the light and the dark, writers always need villains to be fully realized as much as they need their heroes to be. Sometimes even more. Sometimes—hopefully—it becomes difficult to tell who’s good and who’s evil. In this class, we’ll read contemporary prose writers—like Ottessa Moshfegh, Carmen Maria Machado, and Cormac McCarthy—whose work thrives through crafting undeniably compelling anti-heroes. We’ll read excerpts, then break down distinct techniques and styles, and experiment in our own writing with these strategies. Come ready to conjure your very worst enemies!