#everyday gothic

[everydaygothic]

hometown gothic

Things aren't quite where you remember them being when you go back to visit your hometown. It's not that anything has changed—nothing ever changes in this town—but streets seem to be in a slightly different order, just switched here and there. Stores are one block over from where you thought they were. Everyone assures you things have always been this way. Have you simply forgotten?

[dying-hemlock]

Any tips on writing gothic literature?

So there is a yes and no to this. The traditional scholarship does not remark gothic as a genre, but as a literary "mode" that changes with time. So it is a really flexible thing leading to genres like gothic romance or gothic horror. Some of the hallmarks though of the gothic genre include the past exerting an influence over the present, anxious characters (particularly in regards to the future), the supernatural (in English traditions, not the American where the antagonist forces as immaterial concepts), and isolating environments.

Some of my personal takes on the gothic though involve uncanny environments, critiques of our world (gothic horror in the 21st century seems to center on critiques of neoliberal capitalism, with tinges of the supernatural and shady characters. For me and the gothic pieces, I write it is more about creating an environment as the gothic literature on here is kinda a unique type of micro/flash-fiction.

TL;DR Gothic changes with time, but creating anxiety-inducing environments, uncanny characters, degrading mental states, and locations, and strong influences of the past are good elements of gothic literature (esp. gothic horror).

[magisterhego]

Someone put a store mannequin's disembodied head outside in my street, and it's been lying there all day being creepy and stuff.

And now it's gone.

Logically I know someone must've picked it up.

But all I'm imagining is it... growing out spider legs and skittering off.

[everydaygothic]

midwest gothic

The line between public road and private driveway is thin and always shifting. The difficulty is that if you find yourself on a private county road, you will not be able to turn around. You will have to go wherever it leads and there is no telling where that might be. Do not try to turn off the road. What lies in the dark fields on either side is worse.

[everydaygothic]

road trip gothic

On the drive out, there was an abandoned gas station just off the road. You remember because you stopped to take a photo of it. On the drive back, you look for the gas station, feeling like you are waiting to spot an old friend. But you drive and you drive and you never pass it. You check your photos to make sure you know what it looks like. There are no photos of a gas station on your phone.

[everydaygothic]

nevada gothic

A desert moon rises over the distant mountains in front of you. It is impossibly big and strikingly orange where it hovers over the horizon. You can almost believe it is the most beautiful moonrise you have ever seen except for the fact that you are facing north and the moon is climbing towards the south.

[everydaygothic]

interstate gothic

The car speedometer says you are going 80mph, but the dotted white lines at the edges of your lane are crawling by. The scenery around you is as distinguishable as if you were standing still. And the music on the radio is garbled, as if you were listening to it at half speed. The mountains in the distance have not gotten any closer.

[everydaygothic]

western interstate at night gothic

The sun sets slowly in the west, seeming to hang in the wide open sky for long hours. You almost don't notice when it finally transitions from twilight to night. In fact, you only realize it is dark when you look around to find yours is the only car on the interstate and your headlights are the only light in a black desert. Ahead of you, a coyote runs across the freeway.