Workshopping Your Villain: The Characters We Love to Hate | Mechanics' Institute

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Workshopping Your Villain: The Characters We Love to Hate
with Cara Black

This is a class co-sponsored by MI and San Francisco Writers Conference/San Francisco Writers Foundation.

In this afternoon workshop you’ll learn techniques for creating and writing a memorable villain. A villain you love to hate who orchestrates the plot of your story. The villain is the architect of noir, the raison d’etre of the crime novel.

In this workshop students learn:

  • How to explore and write a fully dimensional villain - a complex character with driving motives  
  • How to craft a dual timeline of your villain’s actions that never appear on the page
  • How to delve deep exploring the internal struggles of your villain, making it memorable and relatable
  • How to avoid cardboard villains and make your villain, the master manipulator, jump off the page into a non-stereotypical character.
  • How to set up the art of misdirection, the master tool of the well-crafted villains

Cara Black writes the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc Investigation series set in Paris. Her latest book, Murder on the Champs de Mars, is the 15th in the award- winning series. She’s received the Medaille de la Ville de Paris for contributions to French and international culture, www.carablack.com

For each class, we reserve the right to cancel at any time and issue a full refund. If you are unable to attend your class, please email [email protected] at least ten days prior to receive a refund.

Classes

Admission: 
Members $199
Public $249
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Location: 
4th Floor Board Room
Questions?
Information Desk - 415-393-0102
Register now by using the form below or calling 415-393-0101.

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May 8 - 6:00 pm

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