Gory rhyme, fictitious of course (5)
I believe the answer is:
story
'course' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for story that I've seen before include "Rumour" , "See 10 and 19" , "Narrative or account" , "Narration" , "Account, tale" .)