How To Write A Gothic Story

As the carriage stopped beneath the archway, Elizabeth Cockles jumped out and looked around her. Above her head was a tall archway of trees that edged the pathway to the house. As she got closer, Elizabeth realised that “mansion” was a more correct way to describe it.

Poe and Byron are masterful at using vivid, descriptive language to develop the elements of Gothic literature and instill a sense of fear in the reader.

The burning began at the earliest hour. His majesty, king of Otranto watched unsatisfied as the roaring flames licked over what was once the purest of white roses. All composure lost at but a petal unlit, he left no rose in his entire kingdom with even the dignity of coal before dismantling to ash, until alas, they were sealed to their fiery fate. The winds were still now, not even the tweak of a tree for encouragement nor the bravery of a whisper of the surrounding men as they watched in due apprehension to break the stillness. All that remained were the plumes of billowing exhaust tracing upwards into the air, and King Warner, as he watched from his throne until the smog faded into the midst. By dawn the white roses, together with any

Gothic literature has been criticized as being a dreary, dark, and death-involving subset of Romanticism (a literary movement accentuating human individuality, imagination, and subjectivity). In addition, gothic lit incorporates several themes- not all about deathly acts - but includes some emotional and surprising themes such as dreams, nightmares, or hallucinations, and grotesque or bizarre occurrences. Two short stories, both written by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “The Raven,” and “The Black Cat,” as well as the novel The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, all encompass these gothic elements, found throughout each story.

My feet, without any cloths to protect them were bloody and covered in sores from rubbing against sharp stones. Like some of the horrible bed sores one of my many brothers had gotten years ago. At least that is how I am picturing them in my mind, as couldn’t see them in this light, or lack of. My feet ached, hunger pains were beginning to rise, my head, with such intense pain and that awful, awful feeling that I was not alone. I could feel the hairs on my neck stand as the eerie buzz of silence screamed in my ear. Unconsciously my slow pacing of the perimeter broke into a full speed run.

Deafening screams ricocheted off the gray, blood-smeared cement walls.  My body became blanketed with a cold sweat, that made it hard to decide whether I was warm or freezing.  I received small glances of my surroundings as the strobe light blinded me.  My nose was filled with a pungent odor, making it impossible to breathe.  I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but I was wrong.

chest as if it were a newborn child in danger. I'd been following her for

Three boisterous knocks echoed against the walls of my cell as my security guard proceeded to let himself in. The tight grip of the guards hands on my bare skin sent blood pulsating up my entire arm as we made our way down the musty, gray corridor to the television

     The term Gothic refers to a genre that came about in the late eighteenth century. It can be a type of story, clothing, or music nowadays. In this paper it will refer to a style of literature. A very good example of this type of literature is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is a sense of foreboding throughout the whole novel, which is one of the basic necessities of the Gothic. This theme of the Gothic has different characteristics that all fit into the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster and make this one of the first horror stories every told.

Dirt cascaded down from the walls, and as the tremors increased in length and strength, the hallway grew darker around me. This

Stephen King's The Boogeyman was my favorite piece of gothic literature that we read. I was trying to figure the story out all the way until the end and had to re-read some of it to fully understand. It was suspenseful, scary, but also had a good story to listen to. The Boogeyman was full of gloomy settings, monsters, characters in distress, and intense emotions. These 4 things are just a couple elements that make up gothic literature.

'The Tell Tale Heart' is located in a house that is probably old as a

“‘Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.’” The similarities and differences between Doctor Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel by Oscar Wilde, are pronounced and characterized by their underlying gothic theme. These can be seen all throughout both forms of literature, including in both character's’ demise through plot progression and internal struggles.

Gothic literature became prevalent in the late 18th century, but the most popular gothic works were produced in the mid 19th century. This style of writing focuses on gloomy, supernatural, and unsettling themes. Examples of these themes would be an eerie setting or location, and the theme of isolation, abandonment, or entrapment. Notable works that incorporate these themes include Williams Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, Washington Irving’s “ The Devil and Tom Walker”, and Richard Matheson’s “Prey”. These authors use an eerie setting or location in their stories to foreshadow negative or evil events to come. Additionally, the authors use the theme of isolation, abandonment, or entrapment to create suspense for the reader as they feel cut off from reality.

on the aid of Hell itself, and to find things familiar in the world of