Writing the Nonhuman with Victoria Hetherington

How do you write from inside a mind radically unlike your own? Writers have imagined themselves into animals, aliens, monsters, machines, gods and other forms of consciousness, often working from the strange contradiction that the nonhuman mind still has to be made legible to a human reader. This workshop will look at voice, dialogue, interiority and anthropomorphism, and at the literary techniques that allow nonexistent or unknowable minds to feel convincingly alive. Recent debates about AI and synthetic minds give us another way into this old and peculiar problem. Through discussion and short exercises, we’ll experiment with writing consciousness across the boundary between human and nonhuman, and with how little a writer needs to reveal before a reader decides what kind of mind is speaking or ‘speaking.’ This is NOT a class about how to use AI in your writing; this is a class about how to bring humanity, voice, and authenticity to your writing and write prose that is human, heartfelt, and unique. *** Victoria Hetherington is the author of The Friend Machine and host of the CBC podcast Understood: Artificial Intimacy *** Accessibility: VPL is committed to making our programs accessible for all. If you have an access need that we have not addressed here, please email us at programs@vpl.ca The expected noise level is moderate Participants are welcome to move and take breaks as needed. There will be designated quiet tables, and all participation is voluntary For information on physical access, view the Accessibility information on the Central Library Page.