Gothic Creative Writing

1

Please give me advice on my creative writing!
It will include the following conventions.
-an old manor
-a legacy or curse following the death of the past owners
-pathetic fallacy
-shadows and ghosts
-moving paintings
-time changes quickly and slowly (it bends unreliably)
-lit by candles
Do you have any suggestions?

Reply 1

CCCU Official

Official Rep

18

Original post by dxisy!

Please give me advice on my creative writing!
It will include the following conventions.
-an old manor
-a legacy or curse following the death of the past owners
-pathetic fallacy
-shadows and ghosts
-moving paintings
-time changes quickly and slowly (it bends unreliably)
-lit by candles
Do you have any suggestions?

Have you read ‘A Haunted House’ by Virginia Woolf? It's a short story that has many of the elements you list.

M R James also has some great works worth looking at; my favourite is 'The Mezzotint', about a haunted picture!

If you have already read these, a book worth looking up is Donald Maass's The Emotional Craft of Fiction. This helps with learning to build up the reader's emotions, a great skill for writing ghost stories.

Good luck with your writing! 🦇

Reply 2

UEA Rep Tiffany

Official Rep

8

Original post by dxisy!

Please give me advice on my creative writing!
It will include the following conventions.
-an old manor
-a legacy or curse following the death of the past owners
-pathetic fallacy
-shadows and ghosts
-moving paintings
-time changes quickly and slowly (it bends unreliably)
-lit by candles
Do you have any suggestions?

Hi @dxisy!

A great book to check out is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, as well as Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Both novels represent the Victorian era and include elements of mystery.

A few others you might want to explore are The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Both of these stories are available in book form and have also been adapted into TV shows or films, offering an alternative, more visual way to experience the tales.

Using an unreliable narrator might also help to add another element of mystery to your work.

I hope this helps, and fun writing !

UEA Rep Tiffany

Gothic Creative Writing

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you