09-29-2008, 09:19 AM
Penfeather Wrote:Another idea -- islands off the coast. Somehow it seems more believable that some eccentric long ago might have built a European-style castle on a dramatic island setting than on the mainland of the States. Besides, islands are fun because they feel removed from the world, more make-believe.
The book I'm writing (Twisted Oaks) is set on an island....in the Louisiana bayous. The house was built there by an eccentric for his daughter as a wedding gift. Through supernatural circumstances the daughter ends up marrying a man other than her intended and a Family Curse follows him. It's more of a horror gothic than a gothic romance...the lead characters are twin boys (one of which is a werewolf) who are the grandchildren of the eccentric's daughter. The isolation of the island surrounded by endless miles of tangled bayou country has been a fun metaphor for the state of events that transpire at Twisted Oaks. I chose this setting for the precise reason you mentioned...it has allowed me to create a self sustaining world all its own that is not governed by rules of the outside world. (and I owe quite a bit of inspiration to Dark Shadows of course. Collinwood has always seemed to me to be more of a state of mind than an actual place).
