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Writing Scary Stories: A Short Story Primer on Horror

RICHARD THOMAS

Writing Scary Stories: A Short Story Primer on Horror

RICHARD THOMAS

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Subscribe to be notified when this course opens for registration.

Do you like scary stories? Having trouble writing them? This four-week class will make sure you have the basics of short story telling down, and then show you how to use that pairing between terror and horror to immerse your readers in atmosphere, mood, tone, setting, and depth. It will also help you to understand the genre in greater detail—what’s selling now, the various subgenres, and how hybrid fiction can open up a wider range of markets for you. From an author, editor, teacher, and publisher who has been a Bram Stoker (twice) and Shirley Jackson finalist, this isn’t just theory, it’s execution, experience, and passion.

Join the Waitlist

Subscribe to be notified when this course opens for registration.

Do you like scary stories? Having trouble writing them? This four-week class will make sure you have the basics of short story telling down, and then show you how to use that pairing between terror and horror to immerse your readers in atmosphere, mood, tone, setting, and depth. It will also help you to understand the genre in greater detail—what’s selling now, the various subgenres, and how hybrid fiction can open up a wider range of markets for you. From an author, editor, teacher, and publisher who has been a Bram Stoker (twice) and Shirley Jackson finalist, this isn’t just theory, it’s execution, experience, and passion.

Course outline

Course outline

Each session of this course includes a written lecture and a writing assignment to turn in for instructor feedback. Please note: this course has two assignments due per week, on Sundays and Thursdays.

Meet the instructor

Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of eight books—Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), Transubstantiate, Staring Into the Abyss, Herniated Roots, Tribulations, Spontaneous Human Combustion (Turner Publishing), and The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books). His over 170 stories in print include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker winner), PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI. He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press), and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Thriller, and Audie awards. In his spare time, he is a columnist at Lit Reactor. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com or contact Paula Munier at Talcott Notch.

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