Not a horror fan? No problem! Ghosts — along with haunted houses, objects and places — can be characters in any type of story, from the comedy of Ghostbusters to the gothic romance of Wuthering Heights to Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

Whether it’s magical realism, folk horror or simply putting your own spin on a campfire story, you’ll channel your creative spirit just in time for Halloween. Through in-class discussion about spectres, poltergeists and phantoms in cultural context combined with timed writing prompts and generative writing exercises and even an experimental foray into automatic writing, we’ll come away with the beginnings of our own ghost stories. Special attention will be paid to historical hauntings on Vancouver Island and the relationship between ghosts and technology.