Continuing from last week’s post, here are two more reasons why I love writing gothic fiction:

3. The Feels

When I say that I write gothic fiction, often the response is “oh, like gothic romance?”

No. Or at least, not in the sense that most people think of “romance.”

Anne Radcliffe, gothic fiction writer extraordinaire and in many ways definer of the genre, tapped into the social vein at her moment in time and recognized that people wanted simply TO FEEL. Yes, personal intimate romance was part of this, but she wanted people to feel all the emotions.

Lust. Jealousy. Rage. Anxiety. Joy. Disgust. Hope. Surprise. Horror (probably the biggest one).

So in that sense “romance” = feeling. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

One of my favorite things as a writer is to write emotionally complex and both emotionally aware and unaware characters. I want to write those emotions and feel them right alongside my MCs. I want my writing to make me cry, make me scream, make me happy. It’s how I connect with my own writing, and how I connect with other writer’s works too.

4. The Tropes (oh, the tropes!)

If there is one thing gothic fiction is known for, it’s the crumbling castles and fainting heroines. At least traditionally. But my goodness does gothic fiction have some fun tropes! Here is a partial list (of my favorites):

The Supernatural: See part 1 of this blog.

Setting as character: Think of Ann Radcliff’s descriptions of the Apennines. Shirley Jackson’s harrowing and claustrophobic descriptions of Hill House. The bleak, windy heathlands of Wuthering Heights. You feel those settings as acutely as the MC’s emotions. As a visual person, I need a setting to really make the story come alive, and I want the same for my reader.

Isolation: Back in the day, when letters were your primary form of communication and there were no trains or planes, isolation was a part of daily life. Post-COVID, I think isolation has come to the forefront for modern audiences. And I, for one, love to feature it in my writing.

As a writer of female gothic, especially, isolation is a huge theme in my writing. Female experience dictates many reasons for isolation, from being left out of boardrooms to nobody taking our experiences seriously (e.g. pain in the emergency room) to poor support for postpartum depression to limited research on menopause (oh, I could go on!). Sure, maybe we aren’t locking women away in nunneries anymore (right?), but being female can still isolate.

One way to stop isolating women is to tell their stories!

The woman in the attic and/or the dead first wife: How creepy! Yet still so relatable. We are all haunted by our poor choices, or by the poor choices of others, sooner or later. Of course, let’s hope those poor choices don’t involve keeping a mentally ill first wife locked in the attic (ahem, Mr. Rochester).

Maniacal Plots: Where to begin? Body swapping. Sewing people together from corpses. Giant helmets falling on the heir to the throne. Wow, I do love a sensational plot. Gothic fiction is a place to let the weirdest dreamy thoughts you have at 4am come out to play. Yes, to all of this.

Found Footage, Letters, and Other Framing Devices: Come on, is there anything creepier than the immediacy of found footage? You really feel like you’re there. And, again, as somebody who gets REALLY into my writing/reading, I love using these to tell a story.

So, tell me, dear writers and readers, what are your favorite gothic tropes?

Stay tuned for Part 3 next week!