I had my writing workshopped yesterday morning. It was my first attempt at writing straight up horror. I usually write Fantasy with a lot of horrific elements in it. But the piece I submitted for residency was the final paper from the Readings in the Genre class on Psychos. I got a lot of great feedback on how to pull the reader into the psychosis of the character and to heighten the fear of discovery for the character.
The module in the afternoon was Clues and Red Herrings in Mystery with the great Victoria Thompson. We discussed the types of mystery novels and then the rules of writing mystery. We then applied it as a class by creating a mystery setting. I was pestering Victoria with questions because I have a mystery idea but I’m stuck on some parts of the story.
In the evening, after wonderful thesis presentations by the graduating class, the SciFi and Fantasy writers went to Badges Bar & Grill for a dinner and short fiction reading competition. I’m not normally a social person, but it was good to get out of my comfort zone and mingle with classmates and colleagues outside of class.
But sleep deprivation is catching up on me. Residency is fun but exhausting.

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Location:Greensburg, PA