Gothic-Inspired Creative Writing Assignments
October is one of my favorite times of year because it’s a perfect time to get into one of my favorite genres of all time— the Gothic genre. However, when is there a wrong time of year for Poe? The Gothic genre became one of my favorite genres because students love it! And when students engage with the content, they tend to be more successful. Besides that, there are just some incredible Gothic authors such as Mary Shelley and Stephen King that are worth the study.
Here are THREE Gothic-inspired writing assignments… great for anytime of year, but especially October!
“Diary of a Madman”
This writing assignment takes inspiration from the spooky stories entitled “Diary of a Madman”— three ways— by Gogol, Guy de Maupassant, and Lu Xun. In all three versions of the story, there is a disturbed narrator that is either going insane, has committed murder, and/ or showcases a chaotic mind. Nonetheless, each story is written in a diary format from the perspective of some sort of “madman.”
The Assignment
Students read and discuss at least one of the three stories. My first choice would be the Guy de Maupassant version, which is written from the point of view of a judge who writes about committing murders and watching other people be imprisoned for what he has done. The story is like seeing inside the mind of a serial killer, which is quite disturbing!
After reading at least one of the stories, students can work in groups to write their own versions of “Diary of a Madman.” Allow students to be creative with the narrator and experiment with the concept of a “madman’s” diary.
Allow students to share their stories and discuss how they created an unreliable, insane narrator.
Redrum writing
This assignment gains inspiration from Stephen King’s novel The Shining, specifically Chapter 16 when Danny sees the word REDRUM and then Chapter 50 when Jack attacks his family. We all know from our middle school slumber party days that REDRUM is “MURDER” spelled backwards. Even if students haven’t read all of King’s novel, they can read these chapters or even watch the REDRUM scene from Kubrick’s film version. It can be found here.
The Assignment
Students should read the two chapters from Stephen King’s novel and/or view the scene from Kubrick’s film so that they have some context for the word “REDRUM.”
Then, have students get into groups to create their own “REDRUM” stories. There are two options for this.
Option #1). Students can write a new story in which the word “REDRUM” is used and then revealed to mean “MURDER.”
Option #2). Students can write an original story in which any word of their choice is initially said or read as backwards and then is revealed correctly in a dramatic way.
Again, allow students time to share and respond to their peers’ stories.
Frankenstein and Villains
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a phenomenal pice of writing, but whenever I’m teaching it, I can’t help but feel like I am seeing how a murderer is created by rejection. This is a frightening concept but rings true for many true-life murder cases. For this creative story assignment, students can take inspiration from reading the parts of the novel that show Victor Frankenstein’s rejection of his monster (chapter 5) and then the monster’s murder of Elizabeth (chapter 23) in order to observe the cause/effect relationship of the monster’s story arc.
The Assignment
Students can read and discuss the two chapters from the novel Frankenstein.
Then students write the creation story of a villain. They can create a monster similar to Frankenstein’s monster, or they can create any villain from their imaginations. You can also have students follow the same character arc and theme as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: “rejection leads to murderous consequences.”
Student share their villain origin stories with the class and provide feedback accordingly.
As an extension to this activity, students can listen to a true crime podcast episode that connects to a similar concept of rejection and murder. There are several options from Crime Junkie or Wicked Words.
Do you have a favorite Gothic-inspired creative writing assignment? Please share in the comments below!
Related Resource
If you’re interested in an entire Gothic unit for your high school students, please click here to check out the The Complete Gothic Unit for High School-- Close Readings, Creative Writing, Assessments + MORE!
Meredith is the founder and creator of TeachWriting.org and Bespoke ELA. She has taught high school English for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City and holds a M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. She has always had a connection to the written word-- through songwriting, screenplay writing, and essay writing-- and she enjoys the process of teaching students how to express their ideas. Meredith enjoys life with her sweet daughter and insane Yorkie.