“I took the class about 6 months ago and I feel like I'm still learning from the course materials...it's like a horror survival guide!”
Joshua Sterling Bragg
Creator of the Haunting Season Podcast
Horror is often a cathartic creative endeavor, but we want to be fair and safe with you.
This course is not designed to be therapeutic.
Please be sure you are 100% confident that writing impactful horror is for you. By registering for Nightmare Fuel, you agree that AutoCrit, including its staff and contributors, cannot be held responsible for any emotional or physical distress suffered as a result.
During this course, we'll work together to develop ideas, pick apart themes, and sharpen the technical skills most horror writers never get taught. Interaction is key, and you will maximize your chances of success by engaging with assignments, workshops and discussion throughout the entirety of the four-week period.
Every horror writer knows a specific flavor of disappointment...
When the idea feels brilliant at midnight, as caffeine courses through your veins and something scratches in the darkness of the hallway...
But two weeks later, you read it back and it's another haunted house with the lights off. The villain is Michael Myers in a slightly different mask. The dread you felt when writing hasn't made the leap to the reader's chair.
What you've written is almost there, but not actually frightening. Something's missing. Is it atmosphere? Creep factor? Lack of surprise? Why doesn't this sequence feel as terrifying as it should?
Is the problem even deeper than the words on the page?
Call it the Scare Gap. The distance between the terror you felt when writing the scene and the flat, dutiful reaction it gets from a beta reader.
It's the most common reason horror manuscripts get polite rejections instead of requests for the full: prose that's fine, but fear and dramatics that don't stack up.
Starting with the grim idea explosion of the GHOST Foundation, genre consultant Gareth Jones is here to guide you through closing the gap, with four weeks of video lessons, hands-on live classes, exercises, scene dissections and hours of bonus craft exploration...
All to help you build your own unique engines of fear – or dial your existing ones up to 11!
Because while soulless AI slop floods the marketplace, publishers and readers across the globe are crying out for new blood, true craft, and high-quality horror with real, human bite.
It's time you left an impression.
The Ideal Course For:
• Beginners looking to take their first clear steps in the horror genre.
• Intermediate writers seeking a stronger understanding of structure, a more confident approach to storytelling, and to refine their technique to publish-ready standards.
• Experienced authors who could use a creative boost, some dedicated working time, and alternative techniques to adopt.
Whether you prefer rampaging monsters and buckets of blood, the quiet chill of a classical ghost story, or slow-burn cosmic dread, Nightmare Fuel gives you the mechanics to make it land.
Join our resident horror expert, Gareth – a genre journalist, critic, author, ghostwriter, and creative consultant with over two decades of experience working with all things horror across the worlds of publishing, film, and games.
A self-professed "ghost in the machine," Gareth hails all the way from Northern Ireland. His guiding hand (and big ol' beard) is yours to hold throughout candid video lessons plus in-depth live workshops, discussions, and feedback throughout the month.
Live session dates and times are:
Session 1 - Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 at 6pm Eastern US time.
Session 2 - Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 at 6pm Eastern US time.
Session 3 - Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 at 6pm Eastern US time.
Session 4 - Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 at 6pm Eastern US time.
Session 5 - Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 at 6pm Eastern US time.
If you can't make it to a live session, don't worry – recordings will be uploaded for you to enjoy at your own pace alongside the rest of the course.
Publishers always need new ideas. In this foundation-setting introductory module, we’ll walk you through:
Planning can be a contentious issue for authors, which is why this second module probably isn’t what you think…
Here, you’ll get a thorough understanding of:
Little is more important to the success of a horror story than the quality of its characters. In this module, you’ll undertake a complete exploration of:
Backed up with pre-made custom worksheets, this module will turn all of your character- and creature-building duties into a straightforward, resistance-free process.
Join us live on Week 3 for a further discussion on the intricate nature of conflict in storytelling – including the common pitfalls you need to avoid and how to “stack” conflicts in horror to build an unforgettable climax.
No horror story is complete without a defined style – and while style can be a personal tool, specific to any given author, there are key concerns you should be aware of. In this module, you’ll discover:
LIVE CLASS: Put your new stylistic skills to the test with a live group rewrite, as you take a disappointingly flat passage and turn it into something that snaps at your heels and gets the blood rushing! We’ll have talked the talk… and now it’s time you walk the walk.
In this module we take things closer… and lay bare the building blocks for a truly terrifying scene!
Whether you’re planning to write a story that’s 100% horror, or just looking to add a few isolated moments of shock and fear to your adventure, sci-fi, or fantasy tale, this is the module for you.
The nine crucial choices laid bare right here will make conjuring your future scary scenes as simple as 1-2-3 (4-5-6-7-8-9)…
Here’s a brief hint of something you’ll need to think about:
Are you frightened by what you’ve created?
Finally, no author’s toolbox is complete without a number of easily accessible utilities they can take into the action when and where the need arises.
In this last module, we round off with a series of tips and techniques that will add that final knockout punch to your prose – completing your transformation from a writer who struggled to frighten a skittish rodent, to an uncompromising architect of thrills, chills, and kills.
By the end, you’ll be an author that horror fans know is guaranteed to deliver the sleepless nights they crave… and the kind of writer who cannot, under any circumstances, be replaced by a prompt.
To get you started on the road ahead, we’ve even included an expanded set of 66 exclusive writing prompts – so you can flex those macabre muscles right away.
Forget the fluff. Let's forge some frights.
6 modules of icy pure horror that walk the journey from idea to finished draft – featuring video lessons, live classes, module assignments and feedback if you need it!
Pre-recorded course modules with activities to complete, plus weekly live sessions and Q&As that will see you put what you're learning directly into action in real-time.
Easy-to-follow, building block worksheets you can use throughout your career – including the Character Creator, Creature Creator, Scary Scene Planner, and more.
66 killer writing prompts to fire up your imagination – perfect for those times when the muse ain't singin' and the coffee (or whisky) ain't workin'.
Connect with like-minded authors and teachers who care about the horror genre in all its forms. Interaction is 100% encouraged during live sessions, and no topic is off limits!
Messages from those who lived to tell the tale...
Nightmare Fuel is built for your success – and that means our guidance comes from tutors who actually live and breathe the genre.
This isn’t a simple "one and done" course or "time's up, please leave" seminar. Once the four-week period is over, you’ll retain access to our learning platform and all course materials plus bonuses (see below for more details) – so you can work at your own pace and continue to reference everything you need to craft spine-chilling fiction as your career in horror continues.
Further contextualize the core teachings of the Nightmare Fuel course as we guide you, scalpel in hand, through dissection of selected scenes from works including:
Develop stronger insight into the storytelling techniques and psychological triggers at play within works from some of the most effective horror authors in the business – so you know exactly how and when to deploy them yourself.
Catch up with a gigantic selection of recorded discussions between Gareth and a host of horror luminaries.
From legendary figures to modern breakthrough artists and fan favorites, you're free to explore 15+ hours of insights into the thoughts, techniques, and literary advice of bestselling writers from every corner of the horror genre – entirely on-demand.
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Carved with sickening glee from the annals of AutoCrit's long-running "Members Only" Horror Club, enjoy more than 13 hours of informative talks, story readings & dissection, technique lessons and more.
All material is available on-demand whenever you want it.
Sessions include:
- Dissecting The Monkey's Paw
- Exploring H.P. Lovecraft's The Hound
- Filtering Fear
- Mad Monster Lab
- Liminal Space
- Killer Openers
- Writing Dialogue
And lots more!
Carved with sickening glee from the annals of AutoCrit's long-running "Members Only" Horror Club, enjoy more than 13 hours of informative talks, story readings & dissection, technique lessons and more.
All material is available on-demand whenever you want it.
Sessions include:
- Dissecting The Monkey's Paw
- Exploring H.P. Lovecraft's The Hound
- Filtering Fear
- Mad Monster Lab
- Liminal Space
- Killer Openers
- Writing Dialogue
And lots more!
Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger... all have distinctive characteristics that make them unforgettable.
Join us starting Tuesday, October 14th for this two-part online writing workshop as we explore the world of the slasher villain. We'll study popular and cult favorites, while you piece together inspiration to create your own memorable icon.
Explore the psychology and traits that make legendary villains unforgettable. Craft conflicts that drive the narrative and build to a memorable face-off between killer & survivor. Form a combination of specific characteristics that will make your villain stand out among the crowd... and then bring it all together in a stalk 'n' slash sequence that gives slasher fans exactly what they crave!
Register for Nightmare Fuel now, and you'll get an exclusive $30 discount coupon for the Iconic Killer Workshop sent right to your email.
Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger... all have distinctive characteristics that make them unforgettable.
Join us starting Tuesday, October 14th for this two-part online writing workshop as we explore the world of the slasher villain. We'll study popular and cult favorites, while you piece together inspiration to create your own memorable icon.
Explore the psychology and traits that make legendary villains unforgettable. Craft conflicts that drive the narrative and build to a memorable face-off between killer & survivor. Form a combination of specific characteristics that will make your villain stand out among the crowd... and then bring it all together in a stalk 'n' slash sequence that gives slasher fans exactly what they crave!
Register for Nightmare Fuel this October, and you'll get an exclusive $30 discount coupon for the Iconic Killer Workshop sent right to your email.
The Full 4-Week Course
+ Live Sessions (with recordings)
+ Bonus: Scene Autopsy Collection
+ Bonus: Author Interview Archive
+ Bonus: Tales From The Horror Club
$298 $149
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Nightmare Fuel: How to Write Horror That Guarantees Sleepless Nights is our longest-standing genre course for a reason.
We think it’s scary good.
But if you don’t believe that anything you’ve encountered throughout the course has helped make you a better horror author, we’re not going to put you on the rack. Your purchase is an investment in your skills as a writer – so it’s only fair you expect an improvement in your abilities.
If you feel that hasn’t happened, just let us know within 60 days of purchase and we’ll be happy to offer you a full refund. It’s as simple as that. Gareth is also on hand as your personal confidant throughout the course, should you wish to ask questions in private or get feedback on excerpts. Not everyone likes to speak up or stand out in the crowd, and we get that.
So don’t be anxious. Save that for the readers you’ll terrorize...
