The Scary Story Sprint: Write (& Submit) Four Freaky Flash Pieces This Month
Discover the craft of super short horror in our October workshop
Hey lil’ pumpkins,
It’s time to let your skeletons out of the closet and write some spooky short stories with Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s Freaky Flash workshop — starting 1st October.
Workshop Overview
Join our favourite horror queen Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya for a month-long masterclass in writing freaky, fun and frightening flash fiction.
In this four-part course we’ll explore tips and techniques for crafting super short horror stories that will haunt your readers forever — from immersive settings you wouldn’t want to find yourself alone at night to the dark shadows hiding within character psychology…
Using generative prompts and masterful examples, you’ll write and revise a new piece of flash fiction each week, so by the end of October you’ll have four finished horror stories!
Takeaways
Develop a range of literary horror craft skills to apply to your flash fiction
Learn how to build immersive horror worlds and unsettling atmospheres
Play with sensory details and manipulate time to freaky effect
Borrow cinematic devices from classic horror films
And explore what makes effective eco-horror and take inspiration from the literal horrors around us
This workshop is geared toward taking creative risks and writing bold, imaginative, scary flash that combines the impact of horror and the subtle efficiency of microfiction.
Meet Your Instructor
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is a lesbian writer of essays, fiction, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. Her queer horror novelette Helen House was named one of the Best LGBTQ Books of 2022 by NBC News. She is the managing editor of Autostraddle, an assistant fiction editor at Foglifter, and the former managing editor of TriQuarterly. Her short stories appear in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Catapult, The Offing, Joyland, The Rumpus, Cake Zine, and others. Some of her culture writing can be found in The Cut, The A.V. Club, Vulture, Refinery29, and Vice, and she previously worked as a restaurant reporter for Eater NY. She has held fellowships with Tin House and Lambda Literary. Find out more at her website.