Tuesday 7-9pm EST, 1 session, May 2

online

$75

A haunting can be a very useful metaphor. A ghost in a story can deliver information living characters lack access to, so it’s no wonder spirits have apparated throughout Western literature, from Hamlet’s truth-telling father to the psychological spirits of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. And just as houses are literally shaped by the habits and treads and movements of the people that live in them, our selves are molded into shape, in part, by that which we have lost. Fictional ghosts can deliver messages from the beyond, add a historical layer to a story, or reveal something about a living character’s consciousness.

Whether you want to write about a psychological haunting that may or may not be real, or to create a solid and scary horror-story ghost to add intrigue and tension to your story, this course will add some haunting tools to your writing toolbox. You’ll come away with an understanding of the ways that having a ghost in your story can open up your narrative, and how to write it.

This class is full.

Amy Shearn is the award-winning author of the novels Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and How Far Is the Ocean From Here. She has worked as an editor at Medium, JSTOR, Conde Nast, and other organizations, and has taught creative writing at NYU, Sackett Street Writers Workshop, Gotham Writers Workshops, Catapult, Story Studio Chicago, The Resort LIC, and the Yale Writers' Workshop. Amy's work has appeared in many publications including the New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Coastal Living. Amy has an MFA from the University of Minnesota, and lives in Brooklyn with her two children. You can find her at amyshearnwrites.com or @amyshearn.