Reworked plots/recurring themes

[Penfeather]

Victoria Holt is one who I think reworks her own plots. Personally, when I read traditional Gothic romances I'm reading it for the elements, not the plot, so I don't like ones set in exotic places, or "modernized". I want an old house or castle and lots of sinister goings on with a strong supernatural bent.

I've found that most of our current contemporary fiction writers, of any genre, are more concerned about turning out product rather than quality writing.

I agree emphatically! I don't understand why it's so hard for publishers (or producers of any form of entertainment) to understand the simple rule of "If it ain't broke . . . "

Sure, one reader's traditional elements become another reader's clichés, and there's room for ever new and evolving treatments of subject matter. But that, in my opinion, should be in addition to, rather than instead of, the traditional model.

With Victoria Holt, I avoid those of her books set in places like Australia or Africa. Yes, I know that gothic novels set on the coast of Cornwall or the moors of Devon or Yorkshire are cliché stuff -- but that is what I want when I'm in the mood to read a gothic. And I definitely don't want the setting "modernized" to Los Angeles or anything that terrifyingly real. (Note to publishers: It's the escapism, stupid!)

---

Personally, when I read traditional Gothic romances I'm reading it for the elements, not the plot

I would also like to zero in on this point, because it's an interesting and important one. While I do appreciate a well crafted, page-turning storyline, I also read gothics for those elements, maybe because they're so evocative of a world that seems more attractive than the real one.

One might say the same about many genres which, ironically, are considered essentially plot-driven. Mystery novels in the "cozy" genre -- the Miss Marple type -- are sought out by readers who wish to revisit the quaint and charming setting of a village or small town inhabited by the delicious threat of danger (although they know it'll all work out OK in the end). You could say the same about many genres, such as fantasy.

I think settings and atmospheric elements in a story are just as important to readers as a good plot, and they're important in a different way. Readers in a specific genre tend to focus on those elements consciously, whereas they only really take notice of the plot if it doesn't work. A good plot should be invisible -- it simply means you're living the story as it happens, and are not conscious of the author or this idea of a "plot". At least this is what I've inferred from hanging around reader discussion groups of genre fiction.