Description
The beauty of the coming-of-age story is that it has a built-in audience. Everybody was a kid once and everybody remembers both the pain and the almost mystical delight of youth. Your job is to tap the vein of nostalgia that lives in every adult.
Writing Coming Of Age Horror Stories is taught by Tom Deady, 2016 Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Haven. He has published several novels (adult and YA) and novellas, as well as a collection of short stories. He’s also the editor of the award-winning anthology series, The Rack. Tom holds a master’s degree in English and Creative Writing and is a writing instructor at Southern New Hampshire University. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the New England Horror Writers.
DATE: June 26, 2026 – Friday
TIME: 1PM ET | 12PM CT | 11AM MT | 10AM PT | 17:00 UTC
RUNTIME: Approximately 90 minutes
Can’t make the date? No worries. You get unlimited, on-demand access to the recording afterwards. Watch and re-watch at your convenience.
Consider some of the most popular coming-of-age horror novels: It, by Stephen King, Summer of Night, by Dan Simmons, Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon, December Park, by Ron Malfi. Now, think about what makes them so well-loved. It’s not the scary monster (or another villain) and it’s not some mind-blowing plot twist. Then what is it, you ask? It’s the bond of friendship between the characters who struggle to make their way through a grown-up’s world. It’s the magic of childhood itself.
If you’ve always had a story idea that involved a teenage protagonist, this is the class for you. With your instructor as a guide, you’ll explore all the facets of the coming-of-age journey. This genre can be very powerful and evoke strong memories and emotions from readers.
In addition to the ingredients that make a well-loved coming-of-age tale, the gritty essentials necessary to any story – voice, tone, plot, cause and effect, character growth – will also be explored. Each of these is magnified in the coming-of-age story.
Participants may have a short story or novel excerpt already prepared when enrolling. Each section will include handouts, a short lecture, and suggested readings.
During this course you’ll:
• learn how to create and grow a believable, likable protagonist to star in your story,
• develop an understanding of how to use the everyday struggle of growing up as a backdrop to your story,
• leave class with a deeper understanding of the key elements of writing short fiction, regardless of genre.
What this course covers:
PART 1 – WE ARE YOUNG
While creating empathy for your characters is imperative in all fiction writing, it is of particular importance in coming-of-age stories. The genre relies almost completely on the believability and likability of your main character. Remember, the goal is to evoke memories of your readers’ childhood, and to do this, it is critical to create a relatable protagonist.
To do this, the writer needs to revisit some of his/her own memories and distill some of those experiences and feelings into building blocks for their characters. Is your protagonist rebelling against his/her parents or do they have a great relationship? Is there a boyfriend/girlfriend? What does your protagonist do for fun with his/her friends? These are the pieces of the puzzle you need to gather to create your characters.
Coming-of-age horror often puts ordinary kids into extraordinary situations. Once we develop our protagonist, the next step will be to create that extraordinary situation.
PART 2 – THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE
Now that you’ve created the perfect characters to star in your coming-of-age novel, we need to put them in a situation where they can shine. Remember, this is a coming-of-age horror story, so let’s make it good.
A great coming-of-age story doesn’t rely on the villain, though there have been some great ones. Pennywise (It), Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger (Something Wicked This Way Comes), and The Piper (December Park) to name a few. That said, there are just as many great novels in the genre where the story doesn’t have a real villain but is just as effective: Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke and The Body by Stephen King come to mind.
The real magic of the coming-of-age story is how the young protagonist (and his/her friends) reacts to the situation we put them in while still facing their day-to-day struggle of growing up. It is crucial to remember what is important to these characters (aside from defeating whatever evil you face them with). Friends, a boyfriend/girlfriend, school, their parents…these are the things kids are juggling while not battling evil. To touch your readers, you really need to focus in on those real, day-to-day parts of your protagonist.
PART 3 – GROWING UP
Now it’s time to focus on the elements inherent within any piece of fiction, regardless of genre – voice, tone, pacing, dialogue, etc. Voice and dialogue are particularly important in this genre. To build believable and relatable characters, they need to sound like real kids!
PART 4 – VOILA!
For the final section, we will review the key points of what we have learned about the coming-of-age genre and writing as a whole.
