2026 In-Person Retreat: September 23-27, 2026 in Salem, MA

• What/Who: A 5-day writing retreat (including departure and arrival days) for serious mystery, thriller, and suspense authors who:

• Are not new to writing. You have a solid grasp of scene and story structure.

• May or may not have a full manuscript completed, but you know you have a plot or pacing or suspense or twist/reveal problem.  You have a strong vision but also some critical story questions to be answered. You also want some focused time to plan out your novel.

• Adult and YA welcome. As we’ll be focused on adult fiction, if you’re writing a kid-lit or MG novel, this may not be the best fit.

• Sub-and cross-genres welcome (i.e. historial, Sci-Fi, fantasy, romance, etc.) As long as your story has strong mystery, thriller, or suspense elements, this will be a useful retreat.

• Retreat Goal: 

• With a focus on brainstorming solutions instead of rewriting from the ground up, the goal is for you to walk away from this retreat with a completed, revised or planned-from-scratch outline - with three twists.

• We'll be working on deep-dives into your characters, twist brainstorming, and many other exercises designed to help you get unblocked and on your way as you write forward. You’ll also make a few new writer friends!

• Limit: 8 writers. 2026 applications will open on April 1, 2026 and include a writing sample. We’ll be reviewing and accepting wonderful humans on a rolling basis. The application period will close on July 15 or when we fill up, whatever happens first.

• Good to Knows:

• No jerks :-) 

• If you don’t drink, that’s AOK. Just know there will be alcohol at meals and cocktail hours.

• Serious writers only. This means you’re willing to put in the work. There will be built-in down time, but we’re aiming to get through A LOT in the three full days we have together. This will suck if you’re not all that into writing and craft. 

• It’s a haunted hotel. If this freaks you out, this might not be the best retreat. 

• What to Expect / Agenda:

• 1 Month Before: Each attendee has a 1 hour private coaching session with review of their Story Workbook to establish writer’s vision and goals for the retreat.

  Details below are for 2026 and are subject to change.

• Day 1 - September 23: Arrive; welcome dinner (covered by retreat)

• Days 2-4 - September 24-26: Deep dive sessions into craft; mini-group coaching sessions; group dinners, spooky local walking tour, and ample free time for writing

  • Breakfast 7:30-8:30 AM (included)

  • Mornings: whole group deep-dive coaching, including different craft-focused topics, such as ideating twists, pacing, suspense, voice, character development, plotting

  • Lunch 12-1 PM (included)

  • Early afternoon 1-2:30: writing/alone time

  • Late afternoon 3-5: mini-group coaching and pre-assigned 1:1 time with the coaches

  • 5:30-6:30: Happy Hour

  • Dinner 7 PM (Saturday dinner is included, Thursday/Friday night dinners not included, group dining encouraged but not required.)

• Day 5 - September 27: Farewell group brunch, departure (*lunch to-go will be provided as well!)

• 1 Month After: Each attendee has a 1 hour private coaching session to follow up on retreat goals and progress

• Lodging: Each retreat participant will have their own room with en suite bathroom. The Hawthorne is a historic hotel. Shadows & Secrets reserves a room block and will share room type requests with the hotel (two queens vs. king, etc.) but cannot guarantee final type.

• Investment: $4,750 USD

  • What’s included: Hotel room rate + taxes. All breakfast/lunches/brunches. Dinners on nights 1 and 3. This is a coaching-intensive, masterclass structured retreat. All pre-, during, and post-retreat coaching is included in this investment, as described above.

  • What’s not included: Your travel costs to/from the retreat. Dinners on nights 2 and 4. Any extra costs you might incur from the hotel, such as mini-bar, extra beverages, etc.