Writing Advice for Another Genre Applies to Gothic

A gothic castle or mansion is a common gothic story setting.

My hat is off to Lois Wilson, the author of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series. She wrote the most popular guest post on my blog, in which she discussed how to make a series stand out in a crowded genre. Lois writes a best-selling cozy mystery series, and I met her through Sisters in Crime when I was first experimenting with writing.

The popularity of her post stood out to me when I did a mid-year review of my author site data. Her post got so many views I did a double-take! Then, I reread her post. I quickly realized that while Lois intended her remarks to address writers who are working on cozy mystery series, her wisdom and insight provided useful information to authors who are writing gothic, too.

"One piece of writing advice I had heard for years and years was don’t follow trends. If you want your book to stand out in a crowded genre, you need to put a unique spin on the conventions of that genre. "

Lois Wilson, author of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series

This excerpt resonated with me for my gothic works. Think of all the tropes that are part of gothic romance and mystery! To name a few: Haunted houses. Sinister secrets. Strong, resourceful leading women. Brooding, mysterious leading men. Supernatural objects. But by putting a unique spin on these tropes, the author will hook readers, keep them turning pages, and invite them to reach for another story.

What could a unique spin look like? A spin could be flipping a cliché so that the leading woman must rescue the brooding man. Or introduce an unorthodox character who rejects social conventions and moves through the plot bringing a completely different perspective. Or swap the routine haunted house for a normal, everyday space that is the victim of evil intent.

In BLOOD & WOLF, I did some cliché flipping with my female main character. (If you've read the book, I'd love to hear what you thought!) And as I work on my next novel (estimated to come out at the end of 2027), I'm now thinking about what my unique spins could be. These thoughts could become story experiments on my Substack: ROMANCE AT THE DARK WOOD'S EDGE.

---

Howl at the comments and let me know what your favorite gothic tropes are. And if you've seen an author play around with those tropes, share the author's name or the book title!