What Makes it Gothic?

It was a dark and stormy night . . . . .

As we are nearing Halloween, people are getting more excited about turning to scary and spooky stories as a form of entertainment. I enjoy a good scary story every now and again myself. And recently, I have been more particularly interested in stories that have a more Gothic feel. It got me to thinking about what narrative elements make a story really Gothic as compared to just spooky or horrific.

According to Wikipedia, “Gothic fiction is distinguished from other forms of scary or supernatural stories, such as fairy tales, by the specific theme of the present being haunted by the past.” It is also much more reliant on the setting and atmosphere of the story to bring the terror rather than it coming more from the action and plot. Gothic fiction also contains more heightened (even melodramatic) emotion. Common characteristics include a gloomy, decaying setting, supernatural beings or monsters, women in distress (perhaps not as politically correct these days), and some kind of romance.

Since Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers, I guess it makes sense that I enjoy that type of story so much, compared to some of the more modern thrillers and horror stories. Atmosphere makes such a big difference for me, and I love the spooky settings. Maybe someday I’ll be able to edit a Gothic novel myself - I wouldn’t mind if that genre made a big comeback.