Gothic romance, written for today's reader--broadening the boundaries! WRITING THEMES WHICH NEVER, EVER WOULD HAVE BEEN ACCEPTABLE

[Carole Gill]

 

Now I'm not discussing paranormal romance with racey bits. I'm thinking more about gothic romantic fiction that contains extremely dark themes.

 

It is basically a story that never, ever would have been deemed acceptable in the past.

 

I am basically endeavoring to re-invent the gothic romance genre because I feel it deserves re-inventing. 

 

Yes, I've just written a dark-themed gothic romance novel and I've done just that. I had it in my head to do this for a few years.

 

You see I wondered why the gothic romance novel had fallen out of a favor. I remember reading about that and thinking, 'how sad!'

 

I felt badly it had because it is a tremendous narrative, I've always found it to be.

 

I just feel that the greats like Daphne DuMaurier and the Brontes, if they were writing today,  would write much darker, touching on themes that would never have been considered to be acceptable.

 

Would love to know people's thoughts on this.

 

 

[Keta Diablo]

I have always been fascinated by the Gothic novels. I wish more would be written and then embraced by readers. One would think with paranormal ranking near the top of popularity, Gothic would find its stride.

Can't wait for your book -- hope it's like the old Gothics that once were so popular.

Best, Keta
http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com

[Carole Gill]

Hi Keta, thanks for that.
Yes, paranoraml is a big greatly popular market. and gothic i think could find a place for itself. i mean why not another subgenre even.
it just struck me as such a shame that it kind of stopped.
darker themes i think will modernise it as it were.
my novel has a damaged heroine whose background has been far more disfunctional than a heroine's background could have been in the past (incestuous father) for instance.
mine is very much in the tradition of the old ones, but very dark.
thanks so much Keta.

[Judith]

Strange that you ask about this, Carole. I wrote two romances in the last couple of years, The Witch Within and Hearts' Reunion that has a strong Gothic air about them. I read so many gothics in my teen years and loved them so much, then they stopped publishing them. I moved on to other works but I do miss those eerie and thrilling reads. Thanks for asking.

[Carole Gill]

thank you Judith. I just think the world has moved on so much, we live in darker more violent times and for the gothic romance genre to re-invent itself it has to reach a new readership too.
i mean one of my favorite, if not my most favorite author is Daphne DuMaurier. I think though that if she were writing today, we would have Rebecca (as an example) a far darker story with all sorts of themes that would not have been acceptable in the past.
My publisher has described it on her site as 'paranormal romance' but to me it's that but it's also very gothic!

[Judith]

Oh exactly. I absolutely adore Rebecca. Daphne DuMaurier was one of the first authors I loved. She's at the top of my list of favorites. When I wrote my books, I was aiming for darkness and from the reviewers and readers, I somehow succeeded.

[Carole Gill]

Excellent Judith! that's terrific. I am new to romance really. my horror tends to be very dark horror. am widely published in horror and sci fi anthologies.
but this story was in my head for a few years. i mean there are demons and Satan and huge battle in a church, among other things.
I'm blogging about the storyline and characters on my blog now.
http://demonvampirehorror.blogspot.com/