Writing Ghost Stories with June Caldwell
Info
Date: September 9, 2025
Time: 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm
Duration: 6 weeks
Level: Intermediate | Beginner |
Cost: €190 (€171 Members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
This course will take place in-person on Tuesdays (six sessions in total).
Find further information on our building access here.
Course Summary
Do you believe in ghosts? Are they mental or physical? What is the definition of a ghost story? This six week in-person course will provide the building blocks for writing and completing a solidly spooky story. From dreaming up your phantom and letting them cause havoc on the page, to the final eerie moment when realisation drops and the reader is left feeling the chill. We will look at classic 19th Century short stories, Irish literature, and contemporary tales from further afield. There will also be opportunities for peer feedback in the final three weeks to make sure your story is progressing.
Course Outline
Week 1: Finding Your Ghost: locating character, foreshadowing. Who is your ghost and what is their preoccupation? Why does their story need to be told and who gets to tell that story? In this first session, we will read and discuss a classic short story to see how it’s done. There will also be writing exercises to ‘search out’ your ghost and start your own story in the workshop.
Week 2: Ancient to Modern: how ghosts have moved and grooved over time. Nailing the structure of your story through place and situation. The importance of setting in a ghost story is vital. As is atmosphere, building a sense of dread in the realm of spectres. There will be writing exercises to move your ghost from place to place to see where s/he might desire to settle! We will also have a look at a contemporary ghost story.
Week 3: The Irish Púca: cultural relevance of ghost stories and the relationship to now. What kind of world is your ghost observing today? What ghostly traditions from Ireland can be used to move your plot/story forward. We will also discuss modern influences on the ghost story from poltergeist tropes to reality TV dopes!
Week 4: Your Story So Far: you are aiming for well-paced understatement, convincing background and a slow climb to terror. In this session we will begin to peer-review work in progress, discussing issues such as pacing, rising action, conflict and working towards the crest of change for the main character.
Week 5: Spectres on Screen: the influence of cinema on the telling of ghost stories. Can anything beat The Sixth Sense moment? In a world of non-stop desensitisation, what are you doing in the second half of your story to shape and retain a psychological thrill or surprise? Deciding on the fate of your protagonist and the fate of your ghost.
Week 6: Floating Off in Style: revelations and resolutions. Where is your ghost at the end of your story and did they find peace? As well as discussing story endings, there will be a focussed reading from participants from their stories.
Course Outcomes
By the end of the course, you will be sufficiently spooked and have a decent draft of a ghost story in time for Halloween!
June Caldwell is twice a prize-winner of The Moth Short Story Prize (2024 & 2014) and a 2025 awardee of the International Lamplight Fellowship. Her short story collection Room Little Darker was published in 2017 by New Island Books to critical acclaim and in 2018 by Head of Zeus, UK. June has facilitated workshops at various literary festivals, libraries, at Circle of Missé, France and Mountjoy Men’s Prison. She has also judged numerous short story competitions. Her debut novel Little Town Moone is forthcoming from John Murray.
Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.
