Instructor

Nathaniel Minton

Class Type 

Workshop 

Course Description

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” ― H.P. Lovecraft

This workshop course focuses on the genre of horror — covering everything from the collective fears of society to our deep primeval dread. This includes monsters and hauntings, the supernatural and the macabre, the gothic and the grim, the ghastly and the gruesome, our demons and devils, our torture and torment, vampires, werewolves, zombies, technology gone wrong, and anything that makes our skin crawl and tremble.

Writing horror allows us to explore our dark sides from the point of view of the terror and the terrified by sneaking into our nightmares and embracing the unknown. With weekly workshops and writing exercises to encourage the imagination students will find the words to speak the unspeakable and twist the nerves of readers.

Students will focus on the creation and discussion of original fiction pieces (either short stories or novel excerpts 10-15 pages) which will increase their proficiency as fiction writers and deepen their critical responses to the work of peers. Coursework includes weekly discussions and feedback on workshop pieces.

Nota Bene: This class will include terrifying content and isn’t for the squeamish or faint of heart. However, there are limits on what is acceptable in terms of commercial and literary merit. The work in this class will respect those boundaries and focus on publishable horror fiction.

Textbook

No textbooks.