What We Write in the Shadows: A Gothic Fiction Workshop

The gothic is the past returning to haunt us in the present. Yet like vampires and werewolves, gothic stories can assume different shapes and forms: Bram Stoker’s Dracula involves a supernatural evil unleashed in contemporary England, while the narrator of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is haunted simply by his own guilt. In this workshop, join author and freelance writer Jackson Kuhl for an evening investigating the dark art of gothic fiction writing. We’ll look at some examples of classic gothic literature to inspire us, then brainstorm ideas, sketch a brief outline, and craft a piece of gothic flash fiction to take home.

Author Bio
Jackson Kuhl is the author of the gothic novels A Season of Whispers and the forthcoming The Island of Small Misfortunes, as well as the Revolutionary War biography Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer. Kuhl’s journalism and essays have appeared in Atlas Obscura, the Journal of the American Revolution, National Geographic News, and other publications. His short fiction has been published in Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology, Black Static, Horror Library, Love Letters to Poe, Nightscript, and numerous anthologies. He lives in coastal Connecticut. Visit him online at jacksonkuhl.com.