Writing Under the Skin: A Spooky Writing Workshop with Sophie Nikitas

This two-part workshop invites adults with various levels of writing experience to explore the uncanny, spooky, and horrific. We will read samples from impactful authors, use a series of short exercises to stimulate our creative brains, and help each participant begin to craft a spooky story of their own. Reading samples will include excerpts from “The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson, “All’s Well” by Mona Awad, and “The Reformatory” by Tananarive Due. Writing exercises will include “What Truly Scares You,” an exercise to channel personal fears into a narrative journey; “Two-Sentence Horror Stories;” and “Rewrite Your Kitchen,” turning an ordinary setting into a terrifying one. The final part of the first workshop will give participants time to outline a spooky story they’d like to write and to share their initial thoughts. The second session will focus more on developing each individual person’s story with time for group feedback. Each participant should leave the workshop with at least one page of a draft story.

Class meets online via Zoom. A link to join the class will be sent within 24 hours of each session.

Class meets Thursdays, January 23 and 30, 6:30 – 8 pm Central.

Class size: Minimum 5. Maximum 15.

Member discount: Members of Write On receive a 10% discount on all classes and workshops. To become a member, please click here. To receive the discount, members must log in to the website using their unique password and enter member10 in the promotion code box. The code is case sensitive.

Teaching Artist: Sophie Nikitas is a podcast producer and emerging author. Her first podcast, a nonfiction series called “The Zoo,” was named one of The Atlantic‘s “50 Best Podcasts of 2017.” In her newest podcast, the anthology series “Out Cold,” she uses the sound design skills honed in nonfiction to create an immersive horror experience. She is working on a novel that expands on the first season’s final episode, tracing the story of a young woman caught in a horrifying institutional bureaucracy during WWII, and the reprecussions that haunt the present day. She is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and rides her bicycle through the winter.