WRITING THE GOTHIC
This writing course offers six two-hour workshops from March to September, learning the craft of gothic fiction from author and Gothic PhD candidate Bronte Schiltz.

Participants on this course will create up to three short stories (up to 5k words) over the duration of this course. Your best story will be published in a Comma Press eBook to be sold online.

Open to all levels of experience.

COURSE OUTLINE

As well as learning the genre conventions and techniques of body horror, writers will learn the basics of short storytelling that are applicable to all genres. In between sessions, participants can work on their stories and workshop ideas with fellow participants via a private Slack channel.

Week by week, we will cover the following areas:

What is the Gothic? What is the short story?

This class will introduce the Gothic mode and the short story form, exploring their history and effects and why and how they work together.

Creating Gothic affect

This class will explore the four principal affects associated with the Gothic: the sublime, the uncanny, the weird and the eerie.

Epical Gothic

This class will introduce the concept of epical stories and focus on developing narrative voice and character.

Lyrical Gothic

This class will introduce the concept of lyrical stories and focus on developing imagery.

Artifice Gothic

This class will introduce the concept of artifice stories and focus on developing plot.

Final Workshop

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their feedback and to work on their stories. Bronte will also invite volunteers to submit a section of their story for group discussion, which she will moderate to ensure that discussion is kind and constructive. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask Bronte any questions they have about their stories or about the Gothic, short fiction, or writing more generally.

VENUE

Sessions 1, 3 and 6 will be held in-person at

Manchester Metropolitan University

Room 4.05, Grosvenor East

Cavendish Street

Manchester

M15 6BG

Sessions 2, 4 & 5 will be held online via zoom.

DATES AND TIMES

6:00-8:00pm on Thursdays

March 27th (Room 4.05, Grosvenor East, M15 6BG)

April 24th (online)

May 22nd (Room 4.05, Grosvenor East, M15 6BG)

June 19th (online)

July 17th (online)

September 25th (Manchester Metropolitan University. Room TBC)

PLEASE NOTE: Sessions 2, 4 and 5 (Held April 24th, June 19th and July 17th) will take place online. Please also note that there will be no session in August in order to give participants time to work on their submissions.

Tickets are £170 for the whole course. We do not offer partial tickets.

A limited number of bursary tickets are available for £140 for underrepresented writers or those on a low income. To book without Eventbrite fees, or to apply for a bursary discount, email commapublishing@yahoo.com.

PLEASE BE AWARE: If the minimum number of attendees is not reached by 2 weeks from the course start date, Comma Press may cancel or postpone. At this point, attendees will receive a full refund.

Comma Press is not-for-profit publisher and development agency specialising in short fiction from the UK and beyond.

Brontë Schiltz is a journalist with The Big Issue and Big Issue North, a freelance contributor to Horrified Magazine, and a PhD candidate with the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she researches the Televisual Gothic (horror on and about TV). She is a writer of short stories, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and theatre, and her work has featured in publications including Lotus Eater Magazine, Olney Magazine, The First Line and Hungry Ghost Magazine. She has also appeared on podcasts including The Ghost Story Book Club, Victorian Legacies, BERGCAST and Chronicles of the Quarter Life.