Hello!

[Edgar Theodore Machen]

Hello, Edgar!

I always start with characters when I write, and with Gothic, setting is often a "character." Once you know the who and where of the story, allow yourself to daydream about it for days/weeks, taking notes.
My favorite way to plot is what many people call "story webs." I'll attach a photo to show it in case there is a different word for it in Russian. I start with the character in the middle of the page and add all the information/people around him/her and link them as they relate to each other. When I wrote a Gothic horror, I used the house as the central character and attached the characters to it. Simplistic, but it works for me because I'm a visual learner.

The center of my narration - the Ancient Abbey and the ghost of the master of the estate.