So, You Want to Write A Horror Story?

This course is designed to take you through the ins and outs of horror writing. Together we'll dive into the basics before heading into the real horrific stuff! This course contains 23 modules and a 120 page workbook to help you put what you learn into practice.

Section 1: The Foundations of Horror

• Why we write about horror and death

• The anatomy of fear

• The types of fear and how to map your reader’s fear

• The evolution of horror

• The philosophy of horror

• Breakdown of all the horror sub-genres

Section 2: Building Horror Stories

• The different story structures of horror

• How to plot your beginning, middle, and end (workshop)

• How to create original protagonist's and antagonist's (workshop)

• How to pace your story and kills

• Worldbuilding 101

• Writing using symbolism and allegory

Section 3: Crafting Fear on the Page

• Mastering atmosphere, tone, mood, suspense, terror, doom, and dread

• How to use violence and gore correctly

• Madness and the unrealible mind (a mini dive into psychological horror)

• Creating jumpscares on the page

Section 4: Dark Fiction

• Writing using superstition, folklore, occultism, withcraft, rituals, and all types of sacrifice

• Dive into transgressive horror: cannibalism, blasphemy, and perversion

• The structure of dark fiction

Section 5: From Idea to Finished Story

• Brainstorming your horror and idea generation

• The different mechanics of visual vs. auditory vs. interactive scares

• How to write across different formats (short story, screenplay, novel etc.)

• Editing hacks to make your process less gruelling