Learn how to create your own gothic fantasy novel!
Rebecca Stirrup: Creative Writing Workshop
Brontë Parsonage Museum, 10.30am - 1.30pm
'When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes the malignant devil' (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley).
Gothic fantasy is that wonderful combination of horror, folklore, fairytale and myth. Monsters may exist in these worlds, but often it is the humans that are monstrous. There is a potency to gothic fantasy that, in our attempts to tame the beasts, is often lost today. Vampires should not be considered good boyfriend material, werewolves are not our friends (at least not during the full moon), and while our heroes strive for goodness they do so at a cost. This workshop will explore gothic fantasy through excerpts and through writing exercises. You will develop ideas for your own gothic fantasies, and generate and develop the motifs and symbols of the genre in your writing.
For everyone from the budding to the experienced writer.
Tickets: £12
To book tickets contact louisa.briggs@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188 or book online
Rebecca Stirrup is the Programme Leader for Creative Writing in the University of Leeds’ Lifelong Learning Centre. Rebecca enjoys writing across a number of forms: prose, poetry, script and comics. She has a particular interest in fantasy, and especially fantasy as it merges with gothic literature. JRR Tolkein referred to gothic fantasy as a 'higher form of Art' which is firmly rooted in human identity, struggle and fear. It can express both the best and the worst of us, and as such it can be one of the most unnerving and engaging forms of writing. Rebecca is currently editing an e-book, Intergalactic Fly-Fishing, in which she has drawn on some of the techniques of gothic fantasy.