New Horror Fiction Writing Course At Stanley Hotel This Winter

Programs: Winter Session

The University of Colorado Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies will offer an advanced horror fiction writing course January 3-27, 2017. A portion of the course includes residency at the Stanley Hotel, said by some to be haunted and famously an inspiration for Stephen King’s novel The Shining.

Acclaimed horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, a CU Boulder English professor, will teach the course. Enrollment is open to current CU Boulder students, visiting students and community members.

The course is designed for experienced writers who want to hone their craft in the horror genre. Jones, who is the author of 23 published books, will lead students through writing workshops and discussions on building suspense, scaring readers and incorporating gore, disgust and revulsion into their plots.   

“The course is both reading and writing, but we’ll start with the reading and address what’s scary, why it’s scary and how it’s scary,” said Jones. “Once we’ve got a handle on that, the class will start trying to scare each other on the page.

“Well, the page is where it starts,” he said. “Where it ends is when you finally turn the lights off at night. Or, when you don’t.”

The three-credit course is presented in a hybrid format with a portion of required coursework online and a portion conducted in person during a one-week residency at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The program costs $3,250, including tuition and a single-occupancy room at the Stanley Hotel during the residency with continental breakfasts and lunches. The deadline to apply is Oct. 31.

Advanced Horror Fiction Writing is part of Winter Session, a new program offered by Continuing Education during CU Boulder’s 2017 winter break. Winter Session offers off-campus learning experiences that allow students and community members to gain field experience while working alongside leading experts.

Other Winter Session courses offered in January include Humans and Wild Animals: Conservation, Conflict, and Coexistence at Cal-Wood Education Center and Mountain Meteorology Lab Experience at the Colorado Chautauqua Association.

For course details visit https://www.colorado.edu/winter/horror-fiction-writing. Learn more about Winter Session at www.colorado.edu/winter.