The Expected and Unexpected Options for Gothic Writers
The setting of our books can make all the difference in the world to readers. Think of books that have such a strong sense of place that the story and the setting are interconnected. Books like Dracula in Romania (in the beginning of the tale), The Twilight series in The Pacific Northwest, and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles in New Orleans. Something about the setting brings the Gothic to life. But what is that something? Is it inherent in the setting itself? Is it how the writer describes the place? Perhaps it’s something else. Let’s look at what makes the best setting for a Gothic book.
The Obvious
Let’s start with the obvious – but still good! – choices and why they make sense.
Dark & Stormy…Literally
The first category falls under the dark and stormy weather umbrella. Since dark and stormy weather is often used as a trope in Gothic literature (for good reason), it makes a whole lot of sense to set a book in a place in which the weather is generally as moody as the Gothic genre tends to be.
Some books borrow from their setting’s inherently dreary climate. These writers use this type of setting to parallel murky themes such as man’s potentially treacherous attempts to play God (Frankenstein) and the consequential storm that can ensue. They use it to point to the violent and changeable emotional state of their characters (Wuthering Heights). And they use the dark and stormy setting to hint that much of the truth is concealed from most people and that often things aren’t what they seem to be (Woman in White).
Of course, dark and stormy weather plays so many other roles in Gothic fiction. For more insight into how it’s used and why it fits into the genre so well, check out this post: How to Use Dark & Stormy Weather to Enhance Theme.
Dark…Figuratively
Then there’s the second obvious category: those settings that come with a dark history. That includes settings such as Savannah with its history of ghosts and other evil spirits, and New Orleans with its notorious background in voodoo. Whatever you believe about these places or practices, it’s hard to deny that these places are steeped in a history of interaction with the spirit world.
That has more to do with the Gothic genre than simply setting an ominous tone. The Gothic genre is principally defined by its irrational themes – those things that can’t be known through reason or empirically through the five senses. Spiritual themes and tropes fit snugly within this irrational umbrella. Thus, settings that pull from this type of history work well within Gothic writing.
Much of the Southern Gothic subgenre plays off of this figurative history. One of the primary issues explored in these works is the dichotomy between the romanticized southern history with its genteel lifestyles and the oppression of those who were kept as slaves.
Awhile back, I wrote an article about this in case you’re interested. For more information on this fascinating group of writers and works, find it here: The Southern Gothic Subgenre.
In the article, I discuss works and writers such as:
- A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
- The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice
- The writings of V.C. Andrews and Truman Capote
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (which is actually nonfiction)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- The Gates of Evangeline, by Hester Young
The Unexpected
But what about those settings that don’t inherently come with either the dark and stormy weather or some type of dark history? Can those be used in Gothic literature? And how?
Option 1: History
I remember my surprise when The Vampire Diaries television show came out…set in Virginia. I remember thinking, Virginia?? Why on earth would a vampire story be set in Virginia? I’ve watched some of the show and I can see why it works. The show borrows extensively from Virginia’s history both as one of the earliest founded portions of The United States and also as a part of the confederate army during the Civil War.
To get into why it’s Gothic would be an entirely different article – watch for that in the future. However, in short, the author/ screenwriter uses the love-hate relationship between two brothers to parallel the animosity between the north and south in the country. In the middle of them stands Elena, a young woman with a distinct European history. This plays nicely off of Virginia’s tumultuous past as part of the early colonies that revolted against England’s oversight.
That’s a very short summary of a story that entails so much more. However, the point is that if you can find a conflict-ridden piece of history in an area, that can factor into an effective use of the Gothic genre.
Option 2: Human Nature
Another example comes from Shirley Jackson’s writing. One of her most well-known works is The Haunting of Hill House. The exact location of the house is unclear although there’s some evidence that points to inspiration she found in California. (Others say Massachusetts.)
The author decided to write “a ghost story” after reading about a group of nineteenth century “psychic researchers” who studied a house and somberly reported their supposedly scientific findings to the Society for Psychic Research…She later claimed to have found a picture in a magazine of a California house she believed was suitably haunted-looking. She asked her mother, who lived in California, to help find information about the dwelling. According to Jackson, her mother identified the house as one the author’s own great-great-grandfather, an architect who had designed some of San Francisco’s oldest buildings, had built.
Guran, Paula (July 1999). “Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House“. DarkEcho Horror. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018.
Clearly neither of these is necessarily dark and stormy and though Salem, Massachusetts has its history of witches, she doesn’t play off of this. Rather, Jackson uses the entire novel to delve into the depths of Eleanor Vance’s psychological state. She establishes the fact that the house is believed to be haunted, a premise that readers increasingly question as they work their way through the book. Rather, it’s Eleanor’s mind that is most at issue.
Jackson took a similar but different approach in We’ve Always Lived in the Castle. In that novella, she focuses outside of the characters’ (Merricat’s and Constance’s) mental state – though Merricat is a fascinating study! Instead, she deals with more of a sociologial phenomenon: the group mentality that results in the collective being a danger to the individual outsider.
Because either of these – mental illness or a vicious human tendency – creates a treacherous landscape for the character(s), often with strongly irrational themes, these types of stories are also excellent fits for the Gothic genre. And, of course, they can occur in any setting.
Option 3: Fantasy
This last option is especially open-ended and leaves room for many types of settings. It entails engineering any of the above into your work. [The one exception is weather. Unless you’re literally writing in a fantasy setting, readers will struggle to believe that Phoenix is suddenly dark and stormy.]
For example, you can use a place such as Denver or Barcelona or Melbourne and imbue it with a dark history. Alternately, you can use those places to mirror a character’s mental or spiritual state. Perhaps the shimmering desert mirage in a small town in Nevada parallels the protagonist’s wavering grasp of reality. Maybe you decide to play off of a legend or place name such as the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona and give it a Gothic history that works with the story you want to tell.
You could even do as Stephen King does and take the ordinary landscapes of America – a farming town or a sleepy suburb in an out-of-the-way place – and play off of the usual. Make it uncanny. Ooh…another article for you: Stepping into the Void: A Look at the Uncanny. Take the everyday and give it meaning, nuance and distortion.
Example
For example, let’s say you set your story in a Midwestern small town in the 1920s. That’s about as un-Gothic feeling as they come. There’s a creek that runs through the town. It used to be a seasonal creek. A rather deep one, but still, it ran dry every summer around July 4th like clockwork. Until one year when a new family comes to town. They moved in the prior winter. They’re different. Now the creek is full and threatens to flood the town. Several people have fallen in and drowned, including a couple of young boys.
Their deaths seem inexplicable. Something’s clearly wrong. The water is rising and, for some reason, people are drawn to it and led to their deaths. Or perhaps they drink from it and are changed in some way. The creek comes to represent the hidden portion of their nature. The part that they never give vent. Now, as it rises, it threatens to overthrow them and to destroy the others around them.
Once peaceable families are plagued by violence. Fights break out in workplaces. Betrayals tear apart relationships. All because of the creek and this strange new family in town.
What would make this Gothic is if the creek, the new family, and any other tropes you incorporate support an irrational theme. Perhaps it’s a spiritual one: that the things that a person keeps hidden, unaddressed, will always destroy her in the end.
Conclusion
If you’re reading actively you’ve probably noticed that really any setting can be a wonderfully Gothic one if it addresses a Gothic theme. And if the tropes support that. I posit that these unexpected settings could be that much more powerful because they really hit home. There’s nothing like seeing the truth wrapped in the ordinary, everyday setting to shake readers and cause them to stop and consider what you’re exploring as an author.
That’s not to say I don’t love a great dark and stormy setting. I do and so do many readers! But don’t neglect the unexpected. And in either case, remember that the setting is the supporting actor, not the principal agent. The theme has to take center stage regardless of where you set the story.
P.S. I will be on vacation next week, so expect the next post in two weeks.
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