the gothic novel part I

For those of you who notice the changes on my blog reading list, you’ll see that I read quite often. I also enjoy a variety of genres, though I do go through phases where I tend to read one particular type of story, author, or theme, fast and furiously.

Lately, I’ve been on a gothic kick. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the term “gothic” unless it refers to (as my previous post mentioned)…black hair, vampires, and morbid obsessions with death and tragic romance, I’ll enlighten you.

Actually, I’ll let Wikipedia do a little enlightening for you:

Gothic fiction is an important genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. The effect of Gothic fiction depends on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of essentially Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel.

Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

Important ideas concerning and regarding the Gothic include: Anti-Catholicism, especially criticism of Roman Catholic excesses such as the Inquisition (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain); romanticism of an ancient Medieval past; melodrama; and parody (including self-parody).

There is just something about a good old fashioned spooky gothic that gets me all hyped up. And I’m sure it’s the sense of danger, deceit and the Byronic hero, a.k.a. the tortured, sexually magnetized, mysterious man of the manor. Now, the original gothics weren’t really true “romances” in the commercial definition at all. I mean, they weren't required to have a happy ending and usually the endings were more tragic, like a combination of a bad horror movie and Romeo and Juliet. But as most things do, the gothic romance evolved with the times.

Enter Ann Radcliffe (late 18th century), the supposed creator of the gothic novel in its now-standard form, which I would even say has evolved from that, but I’ll hold off on that theory. She introduced the brooding villain, which turned into the tortured hero. I think one of the reasons I’m so fascinated by gothics is this fine line between the villain and hero, and eventually this line blurred within the hero alone. He must constantly struggle between the good and bad sides, the good usually (hopefully) winning in the end.

Anne Radcliffe’s books were best sellers, unlike previous gothic novels, though much of high society looked down upon the stories as “sensationalist women’s entertainment.” Sounds kinda familiar to what romance is today to some of the more ignorant types, don’t you think?

Anyway, as the Victorian period came about we had Poe, the Bronte sisters (Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre), Stoker (Dracula), Dickens, Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), and Wilde (The Portrait of Dorian Gray). Yes, some of these author’s may not seem to be gothic, but the influence is there more than not.



With the arrival of the 20th century, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca kept the gothic torch alive and ushered in the “woman in peril” concept that most gothics are associated with today.



In the 1950’s the gothic made a huge comeback in popularity, Victoria Holt leading the pack. Now, Victoria Holt is one of my all time favorite authors. I’d say after the young adult horror/romance novels I began my love of reading with, Victoria Holt was the first gothic author I fell in love with. After reading her first gothic work, Mistress of Mellyn, I cried. Basically for two reasons: 1) The narrator is looking back on her life and telling the story as an old woman. This tactic gives the story a timeless, more grandiose feel, and its makes me feel small and insignificant. Don’t ask me why, it just does. But I do love it, even though I cry :-) 2) Victoria Holt is a master storyteller and I fear that I’ll never be as amazing as she was! HA! She had written over 50 gothics AND more than 100 historical fiction and non-fiction novels. Talk about productive. She’s my hero!



I have a few other authors that do the gothic proud: Anne Knoll, Beverly C. Warren, Eve Silver, Lydia Joyce and Diane Tyrrel. I plan on continuing this post with a short review of what I’ve read of their work so far. So until next time….

grand total: 40015

Quote of the Day: Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain

loss of my gothic youth

Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions. This weekend I had to make a decision that reminded me just how old I really am.

I used to be borderline Goth about 10-13 years ago. I began my Goth phase nearing the end of high school and had the tendencies off and on until my junior year in college. I never wore the black lipstick or nail polish, but I had the long dark hair, the whiter shade of pale skin, the 18 hole Doc Martins and the vampire obsession. I was also heavily into the Gothic music scene, from hard-core obscurities like Nosferatu and the Virgin Prunes, to more popular stuff like The Cure and Bauhaus. And sheesh, I knew Bram Stoker's Dracula, with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, like the back of my hand. I'm still in love with Gary Oldman.

I'm not sure who first introduced me to the band Type O Negative, a goth metal group with blasphemous, vampiric and romantically morbid songs, but I was instantly hooked. Their melodies and lyrics spoke to me at a time when I was "finding myself." Not to mention their lead singer, Peter Steele, is a six foot six sex god with long black hair and a deep penetrating voice that would make any woman quake in her boots. I had the privilege of seeing them twice in concert. Both times in L.A., but years apart. I noticed a few months back that they put out a new CD (mighty amazing since reports said Peter was on the verge of committing suicide a year before).

Well, to make a long story possibly shorter, they are touring and happened to be at the House of Blues here in Las Vegas last Saturday. I didn't go.

Here are the reasons why:

1) I had to work at 7am the next day and put in 10 hours.

2) They were touring with two other bands, whose music I happened to listen to and could not get into.

3) I didn't think my boy friend could handle the Goth scene.

4) Because of 1) I wouldn't have been able to drink profusely, which may have helped with 2) and 3).

5) It might have been too loud.

Reviewing these reasons, I began to feel old. I chose responsibility and reality over youthful pleasure. Because really, the one reason I wanted to go, was to hold onto something from my youth that, like so many other things, is slipping away faster than I had anticipated.

I will always love Type O and their music because it reminds me of a different time in my life. It wasn't necessarily a good or bad time, but it was a time when I could go to a loud, drunken, metal concert and then survive a 10 hour day as the sun rose. You know why? My body could take it. I was young and full of energy. Now I'm reliant on a pillow-top mattress for quality sleep so that I can wake up without an aching back or head and make it through 8 hours of sitting at a computer, so I can come home and relax on the couch before dinner, TV and doing it all over again. I'm depressing myself.

Watch a Type O Clip and you'll make me feel better. Warning, it can be a little hard to take, but this isn't the full video and he had to change a few of the lyrics for the mass video.



grand total: 35219

Quote of the Day: Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'Brien

tribute to count de monet

It's a sad day. One of the comic greats, Harvey Korman, passed away today. He was an amazing 81.

This man was a standard in many of my favorite Mel Brooks movies. He had timing, grace and flair and never ceased to make me laugh.

I know he was most famous for his roles in the Carol Burnett Show and in Blazing Saddles as Hedley Lamarr, but I loved him for his role as Count De Monet in History of the World Part I.

I will always remember him and how I grew up admiring comedy just that much more because of him. He will be missed.

Here is a great clip. Enjoy!



grand total: 34199

Quote of the Day: It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-West

back to the daily grind

It's been a long weekend and boy, has it been luxurious. I saw a couple movies, did a little shopping, and ate a few late, and I mean late, breakfasts. Sleeping in is something I look forward to and I cherish the days I can get up whenever I please. So what if breakfast happens to be at one or two? :-)

I was behind on the writing as of Thursday, or maybe Friday, but somehow as the weekend progressed, I got myself back on schedule. It will be a tough week at work with the coming end of month, but I have a day off in the middle to compensate.

At this point in my novel, I realized that a scene I'm writing should be earlier on in the story. I plan on writing it anyway and noting the page where it should be. I really do love this moving forward thing. Before, I would have fret over going back and revising it. Now, I just note it and move on. I wonder why I didn't think I was allowed to do that before. You live, you learn.

Anyway, Happy Memorial Day and welcome back to the daily grind. Now, where's my coffee??

grand total: 31547

Quote of the Day: The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. ~Norbet Platt

david cook and the pips

I haven't gotten as much writing done as I'd like in the last couple of days due to an overwhelming urge to take naps. But, I feel that when your body is tired you gotta listen. Fighting it will result in one of two things: sickness or sloppiness. I don't want sloppy writing (okay no jokes about my writing after margaritas!) and I don't want sickness, so I indulged in naptime.

Also, I had an idea for another novel, so I grabbed one of my handy dandy notebooks that I have just for such an occasion and madly scribbled (because happy scribbling is just plain weird) everything I could about the idea, like character names, back story, plot, scene snippets, etc. It would be a historical romance set in (when else?), the Regency period with gothic elements, you know, heroine in peril, murder, mayhem, and mega steaminess! I already have another gothic novel in the works, but you can never have too many ideas poised for action.

Well, now I'm ready for my real bedtime. Hopefully, my dreams of meat will cease and desist.

grand total: 27073

Quote of the Day: What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~Logan Pearsall Smith, "All Trivia," Afterthoughts, 1931

Oh and congrats to David Cook, the new American Idol. Here is the absolute funniest thing from the finale. Watch in its entirety....

sorry PETA..i tried

On January 1st of this year I made a resolution to eliminate red meat and poultry from my diet. And on May 17th, I caved. I had a Club sandwich and it had turkey and bacon on it. And it was...delicious.

I did great for the first three months. I didn't even have cravings for meat. But then the dreams began..... the ones where I accidentally eat meat at a social event or with my best friend at a reverse racist restaurant. Don't ask. They got pretty weird. In the dreams I would stress out because I was eating meat and end up spitting it out. But I never stressed like that in real life. I guess it was my subconscious reaching out. No wonder my back would hurt when I woke up.

My reasons for the meatless decision was based on my disappointment and disgust with the way we harvest animals, breeding them for slaughter. But it's not the slaughter, per se, that bothers me, it's the life the animals live while awaiting their fate. Forced in cramped, inconceivably small pens; pushed, shoved, kicked and beaten until their bones are broken, these animals are in constant pain. It makes me cry as I sit here writing about it. How can we do this to living things? Well, I know why. Money and convenience. People want meat, and farmers provide it. But not necessarily the farmers we think of, like Old MacDonald. Actually, he may be related to his corporation cousin in some incestuous Kentucky bred way, but I digress. The real farmers are business men who don't look at their livestock as living things, but as product. And that is truly sad. It's also where our humanity begins to crumble.

Money isn't the only reason we treat animals with cruelty. It's because we can. We think our evolved brains give us some sort of right. That's proven by the idiot soldier who threw a puppy over a cliff for fun and videotaped it, or the perv who enjoys "trampling" videos, where women stomp on baby bunnies and chicks to get off. If people want something, someone will provide it for them, no matter how horrible it is or who it might hurt.

OK, now I'm depressed. Moving on. Instead of feeling incredibly guilty for my failure and turning to heavy desserts or large amounts of carbs, I want to say, hey, I made it almost five months! That's gotta count for something. And it's not like I'm going to go on a meat rampage and stuff myself with everything bloody. I just need to have the option of eating meat, so I don't crave it in my dreams. My diet used to consist of roughly 80% meat before this year. Now it will consist of only 5-10% max. I still don't plan on eating veal or pate. And I advise you all to reconsider indulging in those. (Don't make me have to tell you what they do to geese and calves!)

Anyway, I didn't mean to get everyone either upset with me or bummed. If I were Monty Python, I would make a sudden interlude of gratuitous images of penises. But all I have is a bunny.




daily total: 1153
grand total: 26305

Quote of the Day: If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison

shah...push it

I made it through the road block! I'm not particularly happy with the scenes, but first draft, people...first draft. Whenever I say it, I feel dirty. Dirty in a haven't taken a shower for four days kinda way, not dirty in a getting spanked by David Duchovny kinda way. If that were the case, I'd be saying it until my mouth went dry.

I'm reading Stephen King's book "On Writing" and I believe he says something about giving yourself permission to write crap when it comes to your first draft. Hallelujah! Because I'm pretty darn good at writing crap :-) He has some interesting insights so far and some great tips. I just watched The Mist and I hate him. His endings can be soooo depressing. I want to cry all night. So I took all that emotional energy and I turned to my book. It's still crap. But hey, it's 1472 more crappy words than before.

You heard about my May 17 goal of 20,000 words that I accomplished. Well, I made a new goal and it's even more of a doozy. 40,000 words by June 21. Seeing that it's 35 days away, that's 1150 words a day until then. I kicked butt today, but I'm not going to lie, it was tough. This will be quite the test. And remember didn't I say 120,000 word novel by August?

grand total: 25152

Quote of the Day: I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard