Starts Thursday, May 1st, 2025

Open to All writers!

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Taught by Lauren Davis, author of the short story collection The Nothing (YesYes Books), the poetry collection Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press), the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize short-listed When I Drowned (Kelsay Books), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press), The Missing Ones (Winter Texts), and Sivvy (Whittle Micro-Press). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. She is a former Editor in Residence at The Puritan’s Town Crier, and she is the winner of the Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest. Her stories, essays, poetry, interviews, and reviews have appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies, including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere.

Read an Interview with Lauren on Shirley Jackson as Muse.

Step into the haunting and captivating world of Shirley Jackson in this 8-week generative fiction workshop. By tapping into Shirley Jackson's unique style and themes in the short story collection The Lottery and Other Stories, Davis will help writers learn how to infuse their work with depth and complexity.

Through reading, analysis, and generative writing exercises, students will gain a deeper appreciation for Shirley Jackson's writing and develop practical skills for crafting narratives that grip readers' attention.

This course invites you to explore the chilling brilliance of Shirley Jackson's writing.

Guided by instructor Lauren Davis, participants will delve deep into Jackson's unique blend of dark themes, psychological exploration, and horror, using her work as a catalyst to spark their own creativity.

Course Objectives:

• Reading and Analysis: Through a comprehensive reading and discussion of Shirley Jackson's acclaimed short story collection "The Lottery and Other Stories," students will dissect her narratives, characters, and themes. By analyzing Jackson's storytelling techniques, students will gain insights into her mastery of suspense, psychological tension, and eerie atmosphere.

• Exploring Dark Themes: Participants will explore and identify the underlying dark themes and psychological nuances that permeate Jackson's stories. By unpacking the intricacies of her writing, students will gain an understanding of how to infuse their own work with depth, complexity, and a touch of the unsettling.

• Generative Writing: Using Jackson's stories as inspiration, students will embark on a journey of creativity, generating their own first drafts of short stories. Through various writing prompts and exercises, participants will harness the power of Jackson's literary legacy to create new and original fiction.

• Technique Integration: Building on the knowledge gained from studying Jackson's works, students will learn how to incorporate her horror writing techniques into their own drafts. From creating suspenseful scenes to crafting memorable characters, participants will develop a toolkit for infusing their stories with tension and intrigue.

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Week 1: Read Section I and Discuss Stories
• Week 2: Generate and Submit Short Story Draft
• Week 3: Read Section II and Discuss Stories
• Week 4: Generate and Submit Short Story Draft
• Week 5: Read Section III and Discuss Stories
• Week 6: Generate and Submit Short Story Draft
• Week 7: Read Section IV and Discuss Stories
• Week 8: Generate and Submit Short Story Draft

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Close reading of Shirley Jackson’s only short story collection.
• Knowledge and appreciation of psychological and dark fiction theory.
• Generation of four short story drafts.
• Private instructor feedback on four short stories. 
• Peer feedback on one short story.

Join us for an immersive exploration of Shirley Jackson's literary legacy, where you'll not only uncover the secrets behind her chilling tales but also harness her influence to ignite your own creative spark.

Under the guidance of instructor Lauren Davis, you'll craft your own stories that resonate with darkness, suspense, and the enigmatic allure that defines Jackson's writing.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class is entirely asynchronous which means you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with Lauren and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback within the online classroom environment.

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. Lauren engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from all assigned writing activities.

HOW DOES WET INK WORK?

Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.

• Instructor: Lauren Davis
• Class starts Thursday, May 1st, 2025
  
• Course is fully ONLINE; students can work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Once you have enrolled the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.

Instructor Lauren Davis is the author of the forthcoming short story collection The Milk of Dead Mothers (YesYes Books) and the poetry collections Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press) and When I Drowned (Aldrich Press), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press), and The Missing Ones (Winter Texts). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. She is a former Editor in Residence at The Puritan’s Town Crier, and she is the winner of the Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter and elsewhere. She reads for the Maine Review. Davis lives with her husband and two black cats on the Olympic Peninsula in a Victorian seaport community.