The Art of Darkness: writing ekphrastic horror
Join The Ekphrastic Review for a generative writing weekend, asynchronously online.
Halloween is traditionally a time to contemplate the shadows lurking in the human heart and the spiritual realm.
Art history repeatedly addresses disturbing and dark themes such as ghosts, witches, demons, monsters and murder. These can provide amazing fuel for dark stories and poems.
This workshop includes a live zoom where we will look at the history of horror in art. Trigger warning! The session will take an unflinching look at macabre paintings on a variety of subjects, and talk about ways we can use them to inspire our own horror poems and flash fiction. We will also look at some ideas on what it means to write horror.
Writers will receive the slides from the zoom along with a handout of horrifying art images to choose from, with questions to prompt their imagination. You will write three horror flashes or poems. You will receive feedback on one story or poem per day through Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Writers will work independently from wherever you are and connect and share their stories in a private Facebook group.