For me, a foggy gray setting is an important component of a Gothic romance novel, and I wonder if other readers share this preference. I also wonder if this preference extends to real life for others as it does for me. As an inhabitant of California I yearn for place like the Pacific Northwest, the coast of Maine, Canada, Newfoundland, Labrador, not to mention of course Cornwall, Devon, Yorkshire, the Hebrides, Normandy, Scandinavia . . .
Some readers may prefer Gothic weather only in books, and sunshine in real life. I on the contrary become depressed when the weather gets too warm or sunny, and live for fall and winter. Any other readers share this strange trait?
I'm right there with you. I get so tired of fine and sunny every day. As a friend was lamenting to me the other day, we don't get real winters here any more. I long for the winters of my youth, frosts, fog and rain-how I miss the rain. Oh to put on a jumper.
Give me a gothic climate both in literature and in life.
I live in the Pacific Northwest. It is certainly a great place to read Gothic Romance: rain, overcast. I prefer fall/ winter over spring/ summer as well. I don't hate the summer, but around here, it can't get sunny without being HOT (around 90 or more). Rare is the day when it is sunny and pleasant (around 70). So if I must choose between sunny or rainy, I choose the latter.
Thankfully, the heat lasts for only about 3 months, then it's back to that wonderful, gothic weather. Love it!
My favorite season is winter as well. Nothing beats being comfortable and warm inside while outside it's raining, snowing or storming. I love thunderstorms!
I'm in The Netherlands so thankfully our summers aren't that big.
In gothic stories the cold weather creates a wonderful atmosphere, but it isn't really one of the main ingredients I need. As long as it's well described, any weather type will do for me.
I'm an Autumn person. I prefer my Gothics to have a good amount of weather description, and not the sunny, happy kind. One of my complaints with Victoria Holt is that it never seems to thunderstorm in her books, no ominous clouds racing across the moors.
If a gothic is set on an English moor and there's an old abbey involved, I'm in heaven.
But other locations are suitably creepy as well, like an old cliff side mansion in Maine or an old Southern plantation surrounded by Spanish moss. I love the "creepy" factor. And I love when the location and it's atmosphere is described so well that it's practically one of the characters.
Usually winter is a good time setting for a gothic as well. A warm sunny day doesn't have the ominous feeling to it as when there's a chill in the air or a storm a brewin'.
(07-23-2010, 01:22 PM)gothicromancereader Wrote: [ -> ]If a gothic is set on an English moor and there's an old abbey involved, I'm in heaven.
But other locations are suitably creepy as well, like an old cliff side mansion in Maine or an old Southern plantation surrounded by Spanish moss. I love the "creepy" factor. And I love when the location and it's atmosphere is described so well that it's practically one of the characters.
Usually winter is a good time setting for a gothic as well. A warm sunny day doesn't have the ominous feeling to it as when there's a chill in the air or a storm a brewin'.
I couldn't agree more. And Maine
is creepy. Ever driven down a lonesome road in backwoods Maine just after dusk? Talk about eerie. You really feel like you're in the Shadowlands.
The Pacific Northwest is like that too. I'd love to find a Gothic set on the coast of Oregon, Washington State or British Columbia. Rocky, fog-shrouded cliffs plunging sheer to iron-gray swells, backing into wild dark forests of fir, cedar and hemlock . . . a perfect place to put an eccentric mansion or old lighthouse.
I think a setting in an old Hollywood mansion during the winter rainy season would work well.
It was a dark and stormy night...
I've just watched the movie "Queen bee" because of a review here of the original novel by Edna Lee. The first thing that disappointed me, in the first scene even, was the bright sunny mansion! That's no setting for a gothic story, I thought. Considering my theories on the definition of a true gothic romance, which wants a mysterious setting to have it all take place in, I would say this movie doesn't qualify. Perhaps while reading the book, where you can imagine a gloomy atmosphere and dismiss the sunlight, you'll get the true gothic experience. I can't confirm, as I don't have the book.