Monday, February 20, 2023

How to Give your Writing the Gothic Touch




 How to Give your Writing the Gothic Touch

(or: 13 Ways to Give your Fiction the Gothic Touch)

By Rayne Hall

Gothic sells. Reader demand and book sales for this genre are growing. From a writer’s perspective, the best thing about Gothic is that it combines well with other genres, so you can layer it with the kind of fiction you love to write to create, for example, Gothic Paranormal Romance, Gothic Urban Fantasy or Gothic Cosy Mystery.

Here are thirteen suggestions how you can give your manuscript the Gothic touch. Choose the ones which suit your plot.

1.    Let the story unfold in a sublime, ‘wild’ location, preferably isolated, windswept, battered by the elements: a farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors, a research station in the Antarctic, a castle in the Scottish Highlands, a chalet in the Swiss Alps.

 

2.    Put the characters in an old, dilapidated, gloomy building, whether that’s a private residence, a hotel or a castle. Perhaps it was once a fabulous mansion, but now only remnants remain of its former glory. Show the cracks in the façade, peeling paint, faded curtains, frayed carpets, leaking roof. Let the readers hear the squeal of the unoiled hinges and the creaking of the wooden stairs.

 

3.    Isolate the main character. She (or he) has no friends nearby, no one to turn to for help. Perhaps she’s a stranger in the community, a foreigner in the country, a new recruit to the job. The location is remote, far away from public transport, without phone or internet reach.

 

4.    Give your characters dark secrets. Often, this includes a crime – already committed, underway or planned. Even the main character carries a guilt she hides from others.

 

5.    Motivate your characters with passions and obsessions. Let them be passionate about whatever they try to do. Is the MC passionate about clearing her late father’s name, bringing human traffickers to justice or saving the endangered moorland? Other characters have their passions, too – some of them benign, others dangerous.

 

6.    Create plot twists around loyalty and betrayal. Whom does the MC trust, only to discover that this person betrayed her? Whom does she suspect, realising belatedly that he is on her side?

 

7.    A connection exists between the present and the past, or between this world and the supernatural. This could be through a prophecy, séance, a curse, a reincarnation or a haunting.

 

8.    Madness infuses the plot. A character may be criminally insane, or simply suffering from a mental health problem such as paranoia or schizophrenia which affects her judgement. Maybe the MC herself is a veteran afflicted with PTSD, or perhaps the villain is gaslighting her until she believes she is going insane.

 

9.    An old book, document or work of art gets discovered, and it contains a clue which changes the direction of the plot. This could be an old journal, a treasure map, or a painting of the baron’s real wife.

 


10. The MC discovers a secret room – perhaps a concealed passage, a hard-to-access attic, an underground dungeon or the scientist’s laboratory which she has been forbidden to enter.

 

11. One of the scenes takes place at dusk. Show how the setting sun bloodies the horizon or streaks the sky in purple and pink before darkness descends. Let the readers hear the twilight chorus of the birds and feel how the temperature drops.

 

12. Whip up a storm. This could be an icy, sleet-laden winter wind, a thunderstorm with blinding bolts of lighting, a hurricane or a squall at sea. Let readers hear the wind whining in the chimney and rattle the shutters.

 

13.  Let the novel’s climax unfold against a dramatic backdrop. The house burns, the cruise ship sinks, the tower collapses, the dam bursts, or a tsunami sweeps the settlement away,

 

Have you already written fiction with Gothic elements?  Which of these thirteen suggestions would be a good fit for the novel you’re currently working on?

Tell us about it in the comments below. 

ABOUT RAYNE HALL

 Born and raised in Germany, Rayne Hall has lived in China, Mongolia, Nepal and Britain. Now she resides in a village in Bulgaria, where men perform the annual demon dance,  ghosts and sirens beckon, and abandoned decaying houses hold memories of a glorious past.

 Her lucky black rescue cat Sulu often accompanies her when she explores spooky derelict buildings. He delights in walking across shattered roof tiles, scratching charred timbers and sniffing at long-abandoned hearths.

Rayne has worked as an investigative journalist, development aid worker, museum guide, apple picker, tarot reader, adult education teacher, belly dancer, magazine editor, publishing manager and more, and now writes full time. 

She is the author of over 100 books, mostly Dark Fantasy and Gothic Horror, e.g. The Bride’s Curse: Bulgarian Gothic Ghost and Horror Stories. She is also the acclaimed editor of Gothic, Fantasy and Horror anthologies (e.g. Among the Headstones: Creepy Tales from the Graveyard), and author of the bestselling Writer’s Craft series for advanced-level writers, including and the bestselling Writer’s Craft series e.g. Writing Gothic Fiction.

 Find her on: Website: www.raynehall.com
Newsletter: https://rayne.substack.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RayneHallAuthor
Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@Rayne_Hall_Author
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https://www.instagram.com/rayne_hall_author/

19 comments:

Rayne Hall said...

Thanks for featuring my post.
Questions, anyone? I'm happy to answer any questions readers may have.

Anne said...

Really interesting stuff Rayne, thank you

Cage Dunn said...

I like the isolated setting, the rambling shamble building, the dark secret, and secret places. A good storm gives me shivers, especially at dawn or dusk when the crepuscular critters are out and about.
Great article, Rayne. Thanks.

Juneta key said...

Thank you so much Rayne for being our guest. As a teenager I was nuts about Victoria Holt and her Gothic Romance. Great Stuff.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I never would've thought of those things as contributing to gothic. Thanks!

Raineysplace said...

Love these "How-to's!"
Especially:

7. A connection exists between the present and the past, or between this world and the supernatural. This could be through a prophecy, séance, a curse, a reincarnation or a haunting.



8. Madness infuses the plot. A character may be criminally insane, or simply suffering from a mental health problem such as paranoia or schizophrenia which affects her judgement. Maybe the MC herself is a veteran afflicted with PTSD, or perhaps the villain is gaslighting her until she believes she is going insane.



9. An old book, document or work of art gets discovered, and it contains a clue which changes the direction of the plot. This could be an old journal, a treasure map, or a painting of the baron’s real wife.

Kyra Lennon said...

Great tips! <3

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

These were terrific tips! Thank you!

Pia Manning said...

I've used several of your tips when I write. I find they contribute to building the overall tension in a subtle, but very real, way. Thank you for sharing!

Cameron Trost said...

Great tips. Thanks, Rayne.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I like a little madness. Great tips.

Unknown said...

It was difficult to choose which tip was most helpful - they all were! Thanks Rayne.

Avery Daniels said...

Thank you for this article. I have used some of these (A raging blizard that confines people to the hotel in one novel and a supernatural element with a Native American indian legend that seems to be at play in a murder for another novel). I appreciate the list since I love gothic touches and this will aid me in adding more.
Avery Daniels
www.Avery-Daniels.com

baili said...

hi here from Elizabeth place .

what a wonderful place you talented people have arranged here dear Friends !
incredibly helpful for simpler people who are desperate to write something but have no clue what and how
thank you for this valuable insightful post !
more blessings and more shower of talent to all of you !

Aedyn Brooks said...

Great tips, Rayne!

Unknown said...

I think this would even work with an old abandoned mansion in the southern states of the US. Tall oak trees with moss hanging low, a full moon...

Unknown said...

Such a shock to see most of Christie's stories have these same elements. I'm going to watch out for them in other stories now!

Sherry Ellis said...

I did not know that goth was a growing literary drama. So interesting! Thank you for sharing your writing tips.

Cara Crescent said...

I love the idea of layering gothic with other genres. Great overall advice, Rayne!