The Weller House Horror Writing Retreat

Where does your dread live? 🌲🌫️

Escape to the foggy edge of the world for the The Weller House Horror Writing Workshop. Work with horror experts Kate Maruyama and M.M. Olivas in the oldest house in Fort Bragg—a Gothic mansion with a historic water tower, nestled between ancient redwoods and the crashing Pacific.

In this immersive horror weekend, you will have the chance to sink into your writing with two masters of horror in a gothic mansion, and, in the company of fellow horror writers, push your work beyond what you've imagined into the professional realm. You will come away with stronger stories and professional tools that you'll carry into your writing in the years to come.

Come for the craft, stay for the atmosphere. 💀 Masterclasses in horror 🌲 Silent writing in the tower 👻 A venue that screams "Gothic"!

What’s Included:

• 3 Nights Luxury Lodging.
• All Meals (3 Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 3 Dinners).
• Exclusive access to the Library, Ballroom, or water tower for writing.
• 3 Guided Workshops
• 3 Craft seminars
• Group activities such as ghost tours and walks through the redwoods and haunted moors!

Prices range based upon lodging, which is issued in order of acceptance:

• The Writers' Garret (Shared, Twin) – $1,100
  Includes: The twin bed in one of our two luxurious shared rooms.
• The Writers' Garret (Shared, Queen or King) – $1,300
  Includes: The queen or king bed in one of our two luxurious shared rooms.
• The Shadowed Study (Standard) – $1,450
  Includes: A queen or king bed, plus shower.
• The Haunted Stateroom (Premium) – $1,550
  Includes: King room plus clawfoot or jetted tub.
• The Suite of Decadence (Premium) – $1,675
  Includes: Premier King suite, plus double jetted tub.

Info: Learn how to use setting as a character — in a Gothic mansion that is itself a character! After our session, follow us on a candlelight tour of the mansion’s history, ending with a climb to the Water Tower to look at the night sky and fog.

Info: Horror writers are always mining what frightens them to create great horror fiction. In this
generative workshop we will discuss all varieties of hauntings, real and imagined, houses, cities,
buildings, battles, displacement, or the hauntings of trauma within families and relationships or
hauntings of the mind. Writers will explore the many layers of story they already have access to
through their own references, their specific way of thinking and their own lives. They will come
away and come away with tools to mine in their stories that are already written, and ways to
generate new ones.
We will start by workshopping pages that you bring to our weekend. In a nurturing and
supportive environment, you will work with your fellow writers to see your story in a new light,
and become energized to go back to work on it. Any form of horror fiction welcome, from novels
to short stories.

Info: What are our Monsters—internal and external? How do you write about your dread lurking around the corner? In this writing workshop, M. M. Olivas discusses methods for looking into a writer’s own past, their heritage, and cultural background to resurrect those things that follow us and exorcise them onto the page. This workshop will also center on generating the writers’ narrative voices through techniques and exercises that engage with rhythm, grammar, point of view, and sociopolitical background to cultivate one’s authorial voice that is uniquely their own.

Info: A craft talk focused on analyzing the language of cinema as a way to inspire writers to approach
writing like filmmaking. By learning storytelling techniques that exist outside of writing, such as
film structure, genre tropes, editing, framing, and shot composition, M. M. Olivas discusses the

ways writers can build scenes that feel more immersive, vivid, and alive. This seminar will also
discuss the ways writers can challenge what they believe is possible with the written word.

Info: Learn strategies and techniques for submitting your work, from finding publications that might
be a good fit for your work, to writing cover letters, to handling rejection and becoming a
relentless submitter!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

524 Stewart St, 524 Stewart Street, Fort Bragg, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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