Ever wondered how the story of "Frankenstein" was dreamed up?

I recently picked up a copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for $3 from a clearance bin. I figured that over a glass of red wine on a cold night i would re-acquaint myself with this classic. Upon reading the introduction I came across this:

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was begun in the summer of 1816, in response to a challenge. The poet Lord Byron sought to discover who amongst his friends could write the best horror story."

My curiosity had been peaked , so I set out to find the back-story to this classic tale.

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The Villa Diodati

The scene is set at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. Lord Byron had taken up residence at the Villa on the shore of Lake Geneva. Several friends, including Percy Shelley, Mary and her step-sister and Byron's doctor, John Polidori were all in residence during May of 1816.

The Weather

The weather was to play a large part in the creation of this classic tale. The summer of 1816 was cold, wet and miserable. At that time it was one of the worst summer's on record and the continual rain confined the guests to the villa for long periods of time. It was during these spells that the somewhat creative house-guests would entertain themselves poetry, readings, and ghost stories.

Lord Byron's Challenge

It was after an evening of German ghost stories that Lord Byron came up with his challenge. He decided that each of the guests and himself should each pen their own terrible tale. The winner would be whoever could write the most chilling, the most haunting, the most original ghost story.

Mary Shelley's Dream

Mary Shelley's dream is best told with own words:

Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by, before we retired to rest. When I placed my head on my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw – with shut eyes, but acute mental vision – I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantom of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror-stricken. He would hope that, left to itself, the slight spark of life which had received such imperfect animation, would subside into dead matter; and he might sleep in the belief that the silence of the grave would quench for ever the transient existence of the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as the cradle of life. He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains, and looking on him with yellow, watery, but speculative eyes.>

At first, Mary Shelley wished if only she could think of something as frightening as her dream for her own ghost story. She soon after had the epiphany that ‘What terrified me will terrify others', and soon began to compose her own ghost story based upon her dream.

Publication: 1818

Mary Shelley began work on Frankenstein during this cold, wet summer of 1816 and continued to work on it through into autumn after she had returned to England. Personal events in her life then intervened to prevent her writing for some time. The story of "Frankenstein" was completed on the 10th of April 1817 and by May had finished a copy ready to be submitted to the publishing houses. After two unsuccessful submissions, the novel was accepted for publication by Lackington, Allen and Co.

The novel was eventually published on the 11th of March, 1818 and was dedicated to Mary's father, William Godwin.