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(09-03-2010, 07:52 AM)Monique Devereaux Wrote: I've re-read two Holts this year, Bride and Kirkland. Ultimately I was disappointed because, while the plots have all the Gothic tropes, their was ZERO atmosphere...I think it rained for one sentence in Bride. I need storms (and darkness). Give me STORMS!!! I'm quoting you here, Monique, as it seems this post was meant for this topic.
I've been thinking about the weather issue a little. In movies it's kind of a cheap trick to add atmosphere, obviously because the audience can hear the wind and the thunder as a background to the story. Creepy music does the same. In books the author would need to describe the bad weather, but why should she? It probably has nothing to do with the story. I think it's a bigger accomplishment for the author to create a scary mood by the circumstances that involve the storyline, than to revert to writing about short term weather conditions.
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I live in the Deep South. Do you remember Hurricane Katrina five years ago?
Well, so do I !! We experienced her devastation first-hand.
Our summers are for the most part hot and humid, and hurricane season is not yet over, but we are starting to see a slight change in temperature. Fall is very pleasant and quite lovely in this area.
I've often thought that the physical weather elements, strained conditions and drama of a hurricane and its aftermath would make an interesting backdrop to a Southern American gothic romance. Does anyone know if there is such a story?
For the most part, I favor British gothics. I have read a few gothic stories that have attempted to depict the 19th century American South, but nothing very memorable. Any recommendations?
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Quote:I've been thinking about the weather issue a little. In movies it's kind of a cheap trick to add atmosphere, obviously because the audience can hear the wind and the thunder as a background to the story. Creepy music does the same. In books the author would need to describe the bad weather, but why should she? It probably has nothing to do with the story. I think it's a bigger accomplishment for the author to create a scary mood by the circumstances that involve the storyline, than to revert to writing about short term weather conditions.
Call me cheap, but a bit of atmospheric description goes a long way for me in visualizing a story, and enhances the mood. I can see your point, though: simply writing "It was a dark and stormy night" is not enough to generate atmosphere, and if the judicious use of description is not in the service of a strong story, well-realized characterization and circumstantially generated tension, it amounts to very little.
In the best Gothics I've read, the weather and geography can even play an active role in the plot. Inclement weather can isolate the cast of characters from the rest of the world if roads or bridges are closed, or if they're flooded or snowed in, or stranded on an island. A storm may be a good opportunity for a crime to be committed, especially if the power goes out. And of course we all know what happens if a heroine is foolish enough to wander out in a pea-soup fog.
Like good cover art, a little word-painting about the weather never hurt a good Gothic Romance novel. Of course the quality of the story can never depend on it, but for me it's the icing on the cake.
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I have lived in Louisiana all my life, and have experienced several hurricanes. There is nothing romantic about no electricity, standing in line to get gasoline and groceries, and the sound of generators (if you're lucky enough to have one!). Maybe that's just a bit too real for me. Give me the fantasy! 
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(09-26-2010, 03:50 PM)Gothic Tiger Wrote: I have lived in Louisiana all my life, and have experienced several hurricanes. There is nothing romantic about no electricity, standing in line to get gasoline and groceries, and the sound of generators (if you're lucky enough to have one!). Maybe that's just a bit too real for me. Give me the fantasy!
I can hardly blame you for being unable to share my sentimental views on weather, given what you have experienced personally. What then are your weather/climate/geography preferences in Gothic reading, if any?
For myself, dramatic weather is the traditional backdrop for a Gothic story and sets the tone I expect. I also happen to like inclement weather in real life -- to a point. I thrive in a climate of overcast skies, rain, sharp air, cooler temperatures. I suppose I like this sort of weather because I can afford to -- having never really experienced the horror of nature's forces at their most destructive and devastating, as you have.
It's sort of analogous to the way I can enjoy a Hollywood western movie, and believe the myth of "the old west". In reality, life in the old west was miserable. Most of us would find it intolerable. But -- from the safe distance of modern life -- we romanticize the picturesque elements. This process of myth-making is one of the joys of period fiction for me, and I prefer the romanticized sort over the postmodern "realistic" approach. This is because, when it comes to entertainment, I'm a shameless escapist. I like to dwell in the world of human imagination, with its gratifying imposition of order on a chaotic world; and I don't read fiction for soul-searching, I read it for fun.
I suppose it's possible that a Gothic could be set in San Diego or the middle of Nevada, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as one set in Cornwall or Yorkshire or some foggy New England coast.
This brings up the old question about how to define Gothic. In Faulkner and Tennessee Williams the "Gothic" quality is more about the internal strife and dysfunction of the characters and their relationships, and a grotesque or extreme element to the drama.
Forgive my rambling. **End of ramble.**
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No, certainly not romantic when you describe it that way!
But I was thinking more of a story in the historical past. (18th or 19th century, for instance.)
I usually do mean that when I talk about gothics. But you couldn't know that. I should have been more specific.
Gothic stories that take place in the more recent past hold less appeal for me. Although I have read some very good ones.
Remember, also, that in historical times electricity, gasoline and generators were not in use. So the inconvenience from their absence would not have arisen.
By the way, it's interesting to have a fellow Louisianian on this forum.
And a Tiger fan as well?
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(09-26-2010, 05:29 PM)AliceChell Wrote: Remember, also, that in historical times electricity, gasoline and generators were not in use. So the inconvenience from their absence would not have arisen.
Alice, do you include the gaslight era in your preferred historical bracket, or confine it to candlelight?
Although there is nothing scholarly in doing so, I tend to classify Gothics into three periods: Candle, Gaslight and Modern Era. The "Gaslight" period has a certain appeal for me because I associate it with Sherlock Holmes and the 1944 movie Gaslight, which was based on the 1938 play (and, it appears, later novelized). I agree that modern-era Gothics are less usually less atmospheric, though many of the better Holts and Stewarts take place in the 20th Century.
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Just a footnote. The above post was meant for Gothic Tiger, not you, Penfeather! But while I have you on the line, Gothic Tiger has hit on a truth, at least about me.
I can romanticize about what was really in many ways a horrific experience. I just distance myself from what were the harsher realities of Katrina and imagine it all happening suspensefully in a more interesting and distant time to others. I obviously did not enjoy Katrina, but I could enjoy a good gothic story involving a hurricane.
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(09-26-2010, 05:45 PM)AliceChell Wrote: Just a footnote. The above post was meant for Gothic Tiger, not you, Penfeather! But while I have you on the line, Gothic Tiger has hit on a truth, at least about me.
I can romanticize about what was really in many ways a horrific experience. I just distance myself from what were the harsher realities of Katrina and imagine it all happening suspensefully in a more interesting and distant time to others. I obviously did not enjoy Katrina, but I could enjoy a good gothic story involving a hurricane.
I know it was meant for Tiger. But in case you haven't noticed, I have something to say about everything!  It's a vice borne of enthusiasm, but I am slowly learning the wisdom of counseling oneself to occasional silence . . .
But first . . . I think we're saying the same thing. Horrific events in a fictitious story -- even murder -- exist for me in another mental compartment, and don't really correspond to their counterparts in reality.
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The gaslight era is more than acceptable for a gothic story, Penfeather. I don't always think carefully through the details. I guess I was thinking about gasoline in terms of cars and generators. I hope all of this makes sense!
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