Writing Modern Gothic

Horror KT Wagner

www.northernlightsgothic.com

CAA/SFC Webinar, July 28, 2021

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KT Wagnerwww.northernlightsgothic.com

citizen@shaw.ca

Vonda McIntyre’s First Law:

“Under the right circumstances, anything I

tell you could be wrong.”

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• Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths

• Gothic Architecture 12th-16th Centuries

• 18th Century View of Middle Ages

• Gothic Revival Mid 1700s

• First Gothic Novel 1764

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Historical Context

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• Emotion: dread, terror, disgust, fear, revulsion

• Psychological, Sociological, Allegorical

• The Uncanny: haunting familiarity, return of childhood/primitive beliefs

• The Abject. Abjection: “The state of being cast off” (Julia Kristeva’s 1980 essay The Powers of Horror)

• Supernatural/preternatural not necessary but common in Gothic Horror stories

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Horror

“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” ~ Stephen King

“The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls...” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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Traditional Gothic Conventions

DungeonsCursesTortureVampiresSpiritsCastlesTombsTerrorDamsel in Distress*GraveyardRuinsDeath-like statePhysical decay

MurderDeathSuicideGhostsDemonsGloomy settingsFamily SecretsPriests and MonksAscent and descentInsectsBroken taboosIsolation physical/emotionalMadness*

Severed LimbsGargoylesBonesMirrorsWaxwork dollsAutomataMonstersSpiritual sufferingGaslightingSocial taboosSexual taboosEvil is punished

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Protagonist

Antagonist

Monster (A reflection in some way)

Twisted perceptions

Unreliable narrator

Describe character through setting

Threat can be unseen or unnoticed by MC

Archetypes – try subverting them

• Wanderer

• Doppelganger

• Mad Scientist

• Byronic Hero/Virginal Maiden/Foolish Old Woman

• Evil and/or inept clergy

Character

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Show the deterioration of the world of the story. The ways it is a decaying shell of what was.

Buildings and setting steeped in past sins/evil

Reader experience setting through all senses.

Filter through point of view character.

Play with words/poetic devices: Latinate/Anglo Saxon, Onomatopoeia (word sounds like it means), Homonyms (same sound, different meanings), Metaphor etc.

Metonymies suggesting gloom, terror, isolation, mystery, danger, supernatural • Wind (howling, extinguishing a flame)

• Rain (blowing)

• Thunder and lightening

• Ice and snow

Setting

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Mood is the emotion evoked in the reader by the text and it contributes to atmosphere which is the lingering feeling about the story environment.• Word choice

• Repetition

• Setting

• Imagery

• Tone (narrator’s attitude about the story)

Mood/Atmosphere

Samuel Coolridge

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

I looked upon the rotting sea,And drew my eyes away;

I looked upon the rotting deck,And there the dead men lay.

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• Stereotypes and oppression

• Science without morality

• Cultural contradictions

• Isolation/Alienation

• Obsession

• Death/loss

• Use of power (wealth/politics/social class)

• Insanity *

• Othering *

Theme

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• By country/region/culture

• Southern Gothic

• Northern Gothic (Southern Ontario Gothic)

• By time/space

• Cyber Gothic

• By science/social science

• Environmental Gothic (EcoGothic)

• And more…

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Subcategories to explore and create

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Writing a Modern Gothic StoryShort stories are an opportunity to play with genre, ideas, voice etc. Also consider poetry.

Ideas, Prompts, Prework

• Collect details, snippets, articles, words, images

• Settings that invoke strong emotion (any) in author

• Some familiarity with setting – research/beta readers

• Collections of random elements (lists)

• Idea file – what scares you, what upsets you, political/societal issues that enrage you.

• Free writing/journaling

• Research

• Read

Putting it together

• Building a story in layers

• Starting elements: at least two – setting, character, plot

• Add a random element and/or framing device

• Let the story go where it will in drafting stage

• Focus on atmosphere

• Give your subconscious room to contribute

• Use motifs, symbolism and recognizable narratives

• Time between drafts

• Attention to sentence level/word choice during revision

• Feedback (what’s on the page, what isn’t)

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(Example) American Black Vulture, black birds, birds

Words:

Broken wings

Flock

Swoop

Soar

Riding thermals

Scavenge

Preen

Carrion

Feathers

Beak

Circle

Bald

Dead

Gorge

Talons

Putrid

Migratory

Buzzard

Carnivore

Rotting

Parasite

Aviary

Nest

Wingspan

Eggs

Collective nouns:

A hover of crows

A murder of crows

A horde of crows

A mob of crows

A muster of crows

A parcel of crows

A parliament of crows

A storytelling of crows

An unkindness of ravens

A kettle of vultures

A committee of vultures

A venue of vultures

A volt of vultures

A wake of vultures

Symbols & Mythology

Harpies

Death

Change

Magic

Mystery

Messenger between life

and death/physical and

spiritual world

5 crows = sickness

6 crows = death

Blackbird nest = good

luck

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PublishingThe End. (Or is it?) ☺

KT Wagner – citizen@shaw.ca

Thanks for attending!

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