Dark Fiction Short Story Writing Course with Matt Wesolowski

Over 6 sessions, we will study the craft of dark fiction. We will be looking at structure, characters, atmosphere, folk beliefs, pacing, and modern phenomena. Each session will involve a discussion of literary techniques, examples from renowned authors, and writing tasks. The last 30 minutes will be spent workshopping our own pieces - critiquing each other's works-in-progress constructively. Our goal is to produce compelling short stories for a horror anthology, published in ebook form by Comma Press. Join us as we delve into this shadowy genre and emerge with fresh, spine-tingling tales to tell.

Dates:

June: 25th

July: 9th and 23rd

August: 6th and 20th

September: 3rd

6-8 pm

Week 1

Structure and characters - We will look at the overall structure of short fiction and how to create believable characters.

The last 30-45 mins of each session we will share what we have written with the group and receive constructive criticism.

Week 2

Atmosphere and place - we'll look at how some of the best dark fiction authors create atmosphere and the techniques we can use in our short fiction.

Week 3

Folk belief, the occult and modern day horrors.

In this session we'll explore how cautionary folk tales in different cultures endure into fears in the modern world and how we can layer these fears in our dark fiction stories.

Week 4

Pacing - we will look at how to pace our stories - how to build tension and stoke fear.

Week 5

We will look at modern day phenomena such as The Backrooms, Slenderman and Momo and how we are still telling stories to reflect societal fears.

Week 6

This week will be a showcase of our final pieces where we can receive constructive critique from the group to help refine what we will be including in the anthology.

For bursaries without eventbrite fees, feel free to email basma.ghalayini@commapress.co.uk

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, the third book in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His fourth book, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Independent Voice Book of the Year award in 2020. Matt lives in Newcastle with his partner and young son, and is currently working on the sixth book in the Six Stories series. Chat to him on Twitter @ConcreteKraken.