Writing the Gothic romance.

I used to read Gothic romances when I was a teen and young woman, checked out everything my local library (and all the branches) had, even bought some. I loved the spooky feel of the books, the supernatural overtones really hooked me. I also liked how the women may have started out weak, or timid or shy, but they mostly grew up and took charge.

Later on, I found the "bodice rippers" and romantic suspense books, even a few true romances. Add in all the science fiction and true horror books I was reading, and my imagination was in overdrive. Truth be told, I still mostly love SF and horror -- more what's called quiet horror than the gory stuff, though I get into that sometimes as well.

When I started getting back to writing, and learning about self-publishing, I knew I'd someday write at least one Gothic romance (you can use the lower case g, but your spell check will nag you). I've got one in the works, which I hope to finish this year. It's currently called "Widow's Peak", and is set in Arizona at the turn of the last century:  the early 20th, that is. The main character finds herself in a bad situation when her husband is killed trying to rob a bank. Turns out he was a well-known and much-sought-after robber. She miscarries their child, loses the farm, and is left without any money or family to fall back on.

When a man who says he's her husband's cousin turns up, she's left without much choice and returns to his ranch to help him raise his children and run the household. Of course, there's the mysterious death of his wife and other perplexing events to get to the bottom of.

I set the book in Arizona, in that time period, because it's a close approximation of the traditional setting:  isolated, unknown and with a rich background of the American settlers against the local residents, not to mention the harshness of the desert.

I hope I can get the feel of uneasiness that is the usual with Gothic romances, and stay true to the tropes without writing a TSTL -- "too stupid to live" female lead. And I don't want to have a man for her to fall for that is too damaged to be real. Hopefully it's only his heart that is broken, and not his mind!

Once this book is done, I have a couple of more ideas that would fit the genre that will likely have to wait until next year to get written. Lots of stuff on my plate right now, including getting my first novel rewritten, and the followup book finished. There are five books in this series, which I'd like to get halfway through this year, along with a SF novel and maybe a slightly erotic horror tale.

Anyway, that's my Gothic project in a nutshell. I'm thinking I might look for a gloomier blog background, as this one seems too -- oh, I don't know -- happy? Another task for another day!

I've added some more sites to the links page, though one of them is in the process of being redone due to a server loss.