Announcing the On-Demand Version of Writing Interactive Fiction with Kate Heartfield

Making Wormhole Lite More Accessible

People told me the way we had Wormhole Lite configured didn’t work so well, because of time differences. So I’ve swapped things around and made it so you can get the recordings and not worry about time zones, but instead watch them at your leisure, because I’ve also extended the amount of time they’ll be available from 30 days to three months.

You can take them individually or as a group – and best of all, we implemented sliding scale so more people can afford it. Please check out what’s available and spread the word if you know people who might be interested.

Details. Registration Link.

Who’s teaching what?

• Sarah Pinsker – Beginnings and Endings
• Cat Rambo – Conflicts in Short Stories
• Tobias Buckell – Plot Your Way to Amazing Characters
• Ann Leckie – Setting & World Building

Results of Our First Pitch Session
Based on a suggestion, The Rambo Academy hosted a special practice pitch session. People submitted their pitches ahead of time and I read each one out loud, then we took 5 minutes or so to discuss each one after it had been read. We had an amazing time with this, and people found that having their pitch read out loud and being able to discuss it without people knowing it was there was comfortable and productive. Speaking as a teacher, it was a great session, full of good energy.

I plan to do one of these every other month going forward, so keep it in mind when you’re getting ready to develop a pitch for your novel.

If you’re a Patreon supporter, remember that this month we’re discussing Karen Joy Fowler’s “Standing Room Only.” There’s a Wednesday session and a Saturday one; both will be recorded for people that can’t make it.

Also for Patreon supporters, we have a special talk this month with Michael R. Underwood discussing American writers and unions – why we can’t unionize, and what we can do about it. The date had to get moved, and it’s now October 24th at 12 PM Eastern time.

Want to join us? Details here.

This weekend’s classes are:

1. Hitting the Road: How To Send Your Characters on a Road Trip with A.T. Greenblatt, Saturday, October 14th, 9:30-11:30 Pacific time.
2. Power and Politics in Worldbuilding: Schemes, Factions, and Culture with Michael R. Underwood, Saturday, October 14, 1-3 PM Pacific time.
3. Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror with Catherine Lundoff, Sunday, October 15, 9:30-11:30 AM Pacific time.
4. Twenty Types of Terror: Exploring Horror Subgenres with Cat Rambo, Sunday, October 15, 1-3 PM Pacific time.

Sign up for both of Sunday’s classes for a total cost of $99! All class recordings are available to Patreon supporters for $40 or $50 for non-supporters.

Find the full list of upcoming classes here.

Find the list of available videos here.

In November, Jennifer Brozek will be leading the Wednesday Writing Games session. Come play and write for an hour in a comfortable and enjoyable session designed to kickstart your creativity! See the Patreon schedule to find out how to join.

Want to find me on your favorite social network? Here’s all the places I have a presence, along with other pertinent links.

This Sunday, Catherine Lundoff will be teaching a class that’s particularly apropos for this Halloween-laden month, on one of my favorite flavors of horror: gothic fiction. She talks about some of the influences that have brought her to gothic fiction, and what she loves about it.

Edward Gorey was one of the guiding lights of my teenage years. I saw his sets for “Dracula” on Broadway when I was about twelve and it was like coming home, aesthetically, at least. I loved his black and white drawings, his weird stories, his obsessions with cats and opera singers. I still do. I like to think of him as my posthumous Fairy Gothmother, who opened the door to a marvelous dark universe where I could wear black all the time and didn’t need to pretend to be happy if I wasn’t.

I read Dracula, of course, and “Carmilla” and Poe and Wilde and Northanger Abbey. Austen turned me on to Ann Radcliffe, but I found Byron on my own. I discovered fashion, the kind where you rim your eyes with liner and wear multiple black on black outfits that have, perhaps, a hint of lace or silk, if you are lucky. And when I got to college, it was 1981 and there I found Adam Ant and Prince and Siouxsie Sioux, along with glorious morbid folk rock bands like Steeleye Span. So many murder ballads! So much gender play and glorious costumes! All of it became a part of me long before I thought of myself as a writer or a teacher or as Goth.

I devoured Gothic romances by the likes of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart, Gothic horror in its multimedia splendor, even more murder ballads, artwork, outfits with all the black lace my teenage heart could imagine. Starting to write ghost stories and tales of haunted mansions could not be far behind, though in my case it started with vampire stories and editing the first (to the best of my knowledge) anthology of lesbian ghost stories. From there, I moved on to writing ghost stories myself as well as monster tales, media tie-ins, psychological horror, each story shaped and honed by my earlier reading and watching.

These days, I’m a huge fan of Gothic horror and romance films and shows like Crimson Peak, Penny Dreadful and The Addams Family. I’ve written horror tales for publications like Respectable Horror, Fireside Fiction and one of the Vampire the Gathering 20th Anniversary tie-in anthologies, as well as my own collection, Unfinished Business: Tales of the Dark Fantastic. A childhood enthusiasm has morphed into a lifelong affinity for ghosts, haunted mansions and various interpretations of the monstrous.

I love watching authors and other creators turn their eye to new interpretations of female and queer monsters and different kinds of outsider survivors. The Gothic Heroine doesn’t have to be a cisgendered white Final Girl or married under dubious circumstances to a love interest who is, perhaps, not to be trusted. I want to read more of these stories, as well as classics like The Woman in Black and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Let me help you bring your dark fiction into the light and help it come alive, no pun intended. Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions is an online class that I’m teaching on 10/13 from 9:30-11:30 PST at Cat Rambo’s Academy for Wayward Writers.. It will include a mix of lecture, discussion and writing exercises, as well as the opportunity to ask questions. I hope you’ll be intrigued enough to check it out!