What are some tips on writing a good gothic story?

Answer 1

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Gothic stories are psychological Horror tales. The best way to write a good Gothic tale is to read lots of them! Here are some more tips:

• Use the unseen - Gothic horror relies less on blood and gore and more on spookiness! You are going for psychological thrills in this type of story.
• Develop good characters. These characters should be the type of people who will succumb to their negative thoughts and give in to their amoral desires. but should also be believable to the readers - click on the related links on more information about making characters.
• Pick a good setting - Gothic horror relies more heavily on location than other horror stories. A physically decaying setting will mirror the decay of the character's mind, emotions, morals, and whatever else you are writing about.
• Throw in the supernatural - ghosts, vampires, demons - Gothic tales almost always have some sort of supernatural element.
• Throw in some sex - not cheesy romantic sex, but dark forbidden sex. It doesn't have to be graphic, but it should be disturbing - incest, fetishes, forbidden relationships, violence, obsessions - whatever would best add that psychological thrill to the tale.
• Use the taboo - whatever you write should make your reader squirm.
  

Here are some additional tricks of the trade from E-How.com:

Have death make a cameo or make it a starring role. Whichever you choose make sure it appears in some manner. It could be the main character's death, someone close to the main character or maybe even just a terribly significant event in which one of the characters comes across a dead animal. Make sure it's there, and make sure it's poignant.

Revel in the "human-ness" of your characters. Exaggerate the wonder that is the body by making one of your characters strangely deformed or bring minute attention to biological functions like eating, drinking, defecation and anything else that the human body can do.

Appeal to all the senses. Gothic writing is very sensual in that it evokes images, smells, tastes, textures and sounds for the reader, spreading the experience around instead of offering something flat.

Wrap it all up in a story that exemplifies the uncanny or surreal. Remember that it must be something either just believable enough or well-written enough to provide for what critics call the "suspension of disbelief." Obviously if your audience doesn't buy into the story then it just won't work, but even the most fantastic things can be made believable with a strong, skilled writing style.
More from other Wiki Contributors:Gothic stories (in order to be classified as a Gothic story) include certain elements.

• Gloomy and foreboding atmosphere
  
• Usually a large Victoria style mansion with lots of secrets
  
• secret passage ways, rooms, attics, graves either secret or misidentified etc.
• Curses, spells, or terrible personal secrets, skeletons in closets
  
• Usually a Heroine - a girl protagonist who's in some sort of trouble or grave commitment.
  
• The heroine is usually aristocratic in status or at least behaves that way.
  
• Love interests, of many different types and intensity.
  
• Obstacles to love. All over the place.
  
• The threat of grotesqueness or death.
  

Answer 2

This is how I write my novels. I begin by choosing how many chapters I want in

my novel. This number can change as the novel progresses. But by choosing a

number of chapters it helps in two ways.

1) The number of chapters I decide to put in the novel. Will give me a goal to reach.

2) The number of chapters I decide to put in the novel. I will add an extra 10 to it and that will be the number of characters in the novel.

I'll go with 34 chapters for the novel. I add my 10 to the 34 and I need to come up with 44 character. There is two reason why I add 10 to the amount of chapters.

Reason 1) I do this so that it gives me a safety net in case I go over the 34 chapters. Because 34 is only a guess so I can get started.

Reason 2) I add 10 to the 34 to give me 44. 44 is the number of characters I need to create. By using 44 characters I should be able to add a new character to each chapter. This is to keep the reader interested.

The next step is to decide out of the 44 characters. How many are male and

how many are female. When I do this I make more male characters, then I do

female characters. The reason I make more male then female. Is because if the

novel starts to lose its interest. I might be able to save it by killing off some of

the male characters. So by having more male characters I should still be able to

make it to the end of the novel with a couple of male characters. That way the

male characters can return if there is a part 2 to the novel. So now either on

the computer or on line paper start building each character. I give each one a

name, I give each one there own look and style. I give them an age. Some

times I give one a disability. Character can become more life like to keep the

readers interested. If the writer takes his time and pays attention to what is

around him, and then convert to the novel. to surround the character. One

problem I do have is I am always rereading what I write and constantly

changing or adding new things. To me I always think I can do better. So when I

write a novel I can never seem to finish it, because I keep finding new and

different ways to either improve on the novel. Or to improve on the character,

so that the character seems more life like to the reader.

I also give them each a back ground. It doesn't have to be long or full of

detail. Because you can add to the back ground of the character as you are

writing. This can make the character more lovable or more hated by the reader.

For example one male character is listening to what a female character has to

say. With out warning something triggered in his head. Making images flash in

his eyes. Like watching a slide show in fast forward. He is 30 years old and for

the first time in 25 years has he ever seen images of his parents flash in his

eyes. Doctors have told him that he might start to remember things from his

past the older he gets the trauma well decrease. The cause of the trauma was

from watching from the back seat of his parents family car a man walked up and

tried to mug his parents before they were able to get in the car. When the man

with the gun got upset thinking there was more money to be had. He raised his

arm and pointed the hand gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Then before

the ringing stopped in his ears. There was another loud bang and his father hit

the ground. The man with the gun didn't know that he was in the back seat of

the car. He waited for the man with the gun to leave. Then he opened the back

door of the car and slide out. He stepped over top of his dying dad and sat

down between his mother and father. His mother was all ready dead, His father

reaches out his hand and he grabs hold of his fathers hand. His dad takes a

deep breath and as he lets it out he whispers I love you. But be for he could

say it back his dads eyes close and he passes away. He was to young to know

what to do so he just sat there between his parents. It wasn't till three days

later when he was discovered he was sleeping and still holding his fathers

hand. When the people that found him tried to take him away from his two

dead parents. He just kept saying. My mom and dad are sleeping I need to

wake them up. Please help me wake them up I want to go home.

He has never been the same since that day 25 years ago. He might have been

only 5 years old but a peace of him died with his parents that day. Even today

when you look into his eyes you can see that he still carries around the hurt.

Ok I'm going to stop, now before I end up writing a hole novel.

So do you see what I was talking about. When you give a character a back

ground and you start to learn more about his life and struggles. The character

starts to become more real and you might find that you and the character have

somethings in common. Just by giving him a bit of a back ground store, it allows

the reader to connect to the character. It makes the character more believable

to the reader. Now it is up to you some characters can have a big back ground if

you want. Or you could even bring into the novel someone from one of the

characters past if you wanted to. For me I feel that by doing this it opens new

paths for the novel to take. Making it less likely to hit a dead end. So now that I

have the characters built and ready to go, I need to take a minute and decide

witch character I'm going to start the novel with or I could start the novel with

two or more characters. That way the first chapter will have more conversation

in it. And I wont have to depend on the back ground characters as much for

conversation and interaction. Once I have decided on the characters I'm

starting the novel with. I can pick and choose witch characters I want for each

chapter. This also allows me to introduce the character to the reader when ever

I want. I know it might sound like a lot of work to do before I even start writing

the novel. But trust me, it is a lot easer to write a novel when I have most of it

laid out in front of me. And if you are like me, when I start writing I have a hard

time to stop. I get so many ideas coming into my head and so many ways I can

see the novel going. If I didn't do all of this first and plan out what

characters go with what chapter. And what characters like each other and witch

ones hate each other. And witch male character ends up with witch female

character. To me this is the most important part about writing a novel. Is

having the different parts of the novel laid out in front of me. Also by doing all

this it gives me a point of direction. Because with out it the novel will twist and

turn in so many ways that you will end up losing your reader. So now you know

how I write my novels. I don't know if it is the right way to do it. But it is the

right way for me. So you never know it might just work out for you to. Because

once you get down the steps I should you. The rest is just a matter of filling in

the blanks with your novel. I hope this helps you in someway or another. You

are the first person that I have ever told, how I write my novels. So if you get a

chance let me know if this helped you. Cause I'm dying to know

Answer 3

For a vampire story nowadays, you have to make a decision first! Do you want romantic, sexy vampires or do you want the real old, traditional, scary vampires?

Once you make that decision, you can start making your story. Here are some links to help you write different types of story for different types of vampires.
If you're a good writer anyway, you can do it without too many problems. Don't rip off Twilight, Dracula or Anne Rice because everyone will spot it, and otherwise do what you want to.

Answer 4

Here are some things you'll find in gothic stories and books:

• Romance! Gothic stories are a mixture of horror and romance.
• Horror! Put in some spooky stuff to thwart the hero and heroine as they fight to survive and fall in love along the way.

Answer 5

To write a good gothic story, focus on creating a dark and eerie atmosphere, with elements like mysterious settings, powerful emotions, and a sense of impending doom. Use vivid and descriptive language to enhance the sense of foreboding and tension, and incorporate elements of horror, suspense, and the supernatural to keep readers engaged. Finally, explore themes of madness, isolation, and the macabre to add depth to your story.