Today I will be livetweeting highlights from @clundoff 's class on Writing Gothic Horror with the hashtag #writinghorror
@clundoff International class today! Includes someone from Belgium. Talking about what gothic is, and how its style/atmosphere -- blood and black lace, decaying houses, multitudes of tormented ghosts. #writinghorror
@clundoff One text she'll mention several times this class is @RealGDT 's Crimson Peak, she says, which encapsulates the intensity and intricatet nature of the genre. #writinghorror
@clundoff Making the setting a character is often part of this, so we're doing an exercise that focuses on making the setting come alive. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT In thinking about setting as character, I'm thinking of Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House, and the intense, claustrophobic nature of the student's rooms, or The Rats in the Walls, where the setting is alive beneath the surface. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT Or Shirley Jackson's amazing The Haunting of Hill House, where the house shifts, changes, is filled with secret rooms and hidden hallways. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT The house and the setting reflect each other, often landscapes of decay and downhill change. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT Often in gothic fiction there's a feeling of growing dread and a character in a state of heightened awareness to that atmosphere. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT We're referencing the idea of the "final girl", which reminds me of @SGJ72's The Last Final Girl, a novel that plays with that concept. amzn.to/31byTFJ #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 "A chest full of old lace and decaying limbs" is definitely my next story prompt. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 Time for another writing exercise, this time on figuring out and enhancing your story's emotional climate. I'm digging the exercises she's come up with for this class. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 Can you set a gothic horror story in a split-level ranch house? Sure! @clundoff is talking about how she'd do that and what she'd do to create an uncomfortable emotional atmosphere in the story. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 Post-break, now we'll talk about plot, point of view, and unreliable narrators. What if your protagonist misreads or misinterprets something important? #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 You can have gothic horror set in a spaceship or in fairyland, as with @jeannette_ng 's Under the Pendulum Sun. (so good) #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng We're talking about resources and I wanted to point to this one: hbl.gcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=339697… #writinghorror
Lots of reading suggestions coming up too!
Lots of reading suggestions coming up too!
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng Project Gutenberg has a TON of books as well. A student suggests going on there and searching on gothic-associated keywords. #writinghorror
gutenberg.org/catalog/
gutenberg.org/catalog/
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng I mentioned @JoyceCarolOates 's Bellefleur as a beautiful example of playing around with some of these tropes and themes; it's wonderfully creepy. #writinghorror
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng @JoyceCarolOates Wrapping up now! Follow @clundhoff here on Twitter and find her website at catherinelundoff.net If you’re in the Atlanta area, she and I both will be at Multiverse Con next week!
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng @JoyceCarolOates Want to check out the other live classes that are coming up for the Rambo Academy? Here’s the list. kittywumpus.net/blog/upcoming-…
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng @JoyceCarolOates Or if you want writing classes you can take at your own pace, in your own space, here’s that list: catrambo.teachable.com
@clundoff @RealGDT @SGJ72 @jeannette_ng @JoyceCarolOates Feeling isolated and looking for a writing community? Check out the Rambo Academy’s new Critclub! Critiquing is optional; come for the motivation, support, and random cat pics. kittywumpus.net/blog/2019/09/0…
