Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction

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Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction

Genre focus

Length

6 weeks

Location

Online

Writing Goal

Start writing

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Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction

Bewitch your readers with dark and haunting stories that will delight and unnerve in equal measure.

Tutor

Kirsty Logan

Length

6 weeks

Location

Online

Writing Goal

Start writing

Exclusive video lessons from the award-winning novelist and short story writer.

Genre focus

Learn how to write the strange and make the uncanny feel real.

The course was great . . . I liked the writing prompts, the feedback, the encouraging atmosphere, and the videos.

Jane
Former Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction student

Welcome to the world of the nightside, and learn how to write your own ghost stories, witches, horror, creatures of transformation and the occult.

Discover why we’re drawn to the darkness and embark on a journey deep into weird and wonderful lands – whether you’re opening the door to your haunted house, wafting through your gothic ruin or giving fairy tales a new skin, all your own.

Across six weeks, award-winning novelist, short story writer and enthusiast for all things weird, Kirsty Logan, will help you take a walk on the nightside. You’ll learn how to tell stories slant by taking the real and shifting focus just a little to discover the unheimlich. You’ll discover how to breathe new life into well-known figures such as the witch, the ghost and the werewolf, and how to successfully execute the balancing act between the horrifying and the ridiculous. You’ll also discover the ways the nightside can be used as a space to explore queer identities, question and expose inherited ideologies, reclaim stories lost to history and reimagine mythologies. As Kirsty says: In the night-side, the only limit is your imagination, and the only thing not allowed in is the ordinary.

By the end of the course, you will have developed your world of the weird, with well-defined characters and creatures, evocative settings, and a deliciously dark atmosphere to entice your readers in.

Tutor

Kirsty Logan

Kirsty Logan is the author of three novels, three short story collections, a memoir, two chapbooks, a 10-hour audio play for Audible, and several collaborative projects with musicians and visual artists. Her latest books are the novel Now She is Witch and The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir. Her books have won the Lambda, Polari, Saboteur, Scott and Gavin Wallace awards. Her work has been optioned for TV, adapted for stage, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine. She lives in Glasgow with her wife, baby and rescue dog.

WHAT DOES THIS COURSE GIVE YOU?

Video modules: Work through six modules comprising teaching videos and substantial notes from Kirsty. Topics range from how to put your own spin on familiar nightside creatures to how to reinvent and transform the meaning of a traditional fairytale or legend to by changing just one or two of its features.
Writing tasks: Weekly writing tasks to help you explore and understand the teaching topics and progress your novel or stories.
Resources & notes: You’ll get access to extensive teaching materials, including writing prompts and a list of recommended reading.
Professional feedback: An expert CBC editor will give brief written feedback on several of the students' practical assignments every week, with all students receiving feedback on one of their writing tasks. Students are also given the option to purchase additional end-of-course feedback from our expert editors.
Student forum: Find your writing community on our private student forums. Upload your completed writing tasks, give and receive peer-to-peer feedback, and discuss the week’s topics with your fellow students and the CBC team.

COURSE SCHEDULE & DELIVERY

Follow the course at your own pace. Our online courses are designed for flexible study – you can take part at times that suit you, wherever you are in the world. To get the best out of the course, we recommend spending four to six hours working through the notes and writing tasks each week.

Week 1
Writing the nightside
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Week 2
Come into my world
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Week 3
Old tales in new skins
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Week 4
Creatures as characters
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Week 5
Settings for the night side
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Week 6
Balancing act
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ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK

All students will be given the option to purchase feedback on their final task from a CBC editor.

CBC report: For an additional fee of £155, you can obtain a detailed 500-word report on your work (of up to 3,000 words) from one of our editors.
CBC report + tutorial: For an additional fee of £260, you can obtain a 500-word report from one of our editors and have a 30-minute video or telephone tutorial with them to discuss your work.

Do you want to know more about the contents of our end-of-course reader reports? Click the button below to download and read an example report.

View Example Report

GIFT THIS COURSE

Encourage your writerly friend or loved one to get creative! We have £230 digital gift vouchers available, enabling you to buy any six-week online course as a present.

Buy Voucher

Start Date

Package

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Refund guaranteed if requested before course starts

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