Writing Workshops

Nighttime Logic: Exploring Uncanny Spaces in Fiction with Melissa Lozada-Oliva (June 2025)

$345

4 sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Thursdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT June 26 to July 17, 2025

The Center for Fiction

In daytime logic, a creepy house is creepy because someone died and now their ghost lives there. The logic is linear; what you are presented with is what you get. In dream logic, a house where the walls are made of spaghetti is obviously a dream because that doesn’t make any sense. But nighttime logic fills us with a greater sense of unease. You arrive at a house and it’s filled with people. Everyone knows you, but you don’t know them. Reality is a little unmoored. There’s something missing, but you can’t put your finger on it.

Coined by Kelly Link, “nighttime logic” explores the sticky space between “daylight and dreaming” in fiction. It’s used to unsettle us into finding a complicated, emotional truth while not having all the answers. In this class, we’ll explore the uses of nighttime logic through prompts, workshop, and discussion. We’ll read Joyce Carol Oates, Pemi Aguda, Mariana Enriquez, Kelly Link, Terrance Hayes, and more.

Upcoming Event: Join Lozada-Oliva at The Center on September 4th to celebrate the release of her new short-story collection.

Course Outline:

Week One: Introduction to Nighttime Logic—The Fairy Tale
- Read “Rumplestiltskin.”
- What are the rules of this story? What is scary, if anything, about the little man?
- Write a 500-word story in which a character fails to complete a task. The task cannot be something attainable in the real world: boiling an egg, doing laundry. The task has to be impossible. What is it?
Week Two: Nighttime Figures
- Read “Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates and “Masquerade Season” by Pemi Aguda.
- What is simply accepted in these stories, though they are impossible? What scares you and why? When do characters feel like they are moving towards destiny?
- Prompt: Recall a person from childhood who you only remember a little bit. Use all the details you can muster but also work with all you can’t remember. Make that be present. You encounter them again in your house. What do they want from you?
Week Three: One Perfect Image
- Read “Hyena Hymns” by Mariana Enriquez.
- Let’s focus on the single moment of terror. What exactly is happening and how is it described? How is it a different kind of terror than a regular ghost?
- Prompt: Create a monster that’s a combination of what your best friend is afraid of and what you are afraid of. Now have that monster arrive at a wedding.
Week Four: The Unnameable
- Read “Stone Animals” by Kelly Link.
- What was frustrating about this story? What did you grow to accept as it went on? How did it teach you to read it? Let’s name what she never does. What is the use of omitting the wordsfor these kinds of traumas?
- Prompt: Write about a painful moment without addressing it at all.

Level: Intermediate

This course will be held in person at The Center for Fiction.

Led by

Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the author of Dreaming of You and Candelaria, named one of the best books of 2023 by Vogue and USA Today. Her book of short stories, Beyond Reasonable Doubt Jesus is Alive! will be released through Astra House in 2025. Her commentary has been featured in Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, and the New York Times. She runs a substack called READING SUCKS. She holds her MFA from NYU and lives in Brooklyn.

About this series

Writing Workshops

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