Friday, October 19, 2012

EXPLORING THE CRAFT


As I prepare for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I find myself researching how to write a Gothic Romance.  Why?  Because I have never written one before, though I read them voraciously as a teen.

I knew I needed a strong female character, or at the very least a heroine who is able to overcome a frightening situation.  I knew I needed a brooding male character.  I also thought to bring in another male who might vie for my heroine's affection.

Though I will not be using a gloomy castle, I will set mine in a remote location in a creepy house.  I am choosing to have a modern Gothic Romance set in the USA, so I am diverging from the ones I read many years ago.

Still I want to have the same feel that I remember when I used to read the genre.  So, I have been researching so that I will know what elements to include.  Fortunately, the internet makes this research available at our finger tips.  Now that I have collected the information, I will go over it and jot notes into my limited outline. (Remember, I am a pantser, so the fact that I have been able to develop character sketches and a rough idea of what will happen is new for me.)  This way I can look at the pseudo-outline to keep me on track for bringing in the elements that I will need for each scene.

My friend and fellow NaNoWriMo'er, Karen Mitchell, has developed a Plotting Chart based on the W Plot that I will be using.  This way I will know how many scenes I need per chapter, approximately 8 scenes in each chapter with a total of 10 chapters.  (As with everything this is subjective.)  It will help me keep things in perspective.

Now I have to find my house that I am setting the story in.  So, I will research online to find a perfectly creepy house, hopefully nearby so I can take pictures.

I am looking forward to writing this story.

Rita

1 comment:

April_Baby10 said...

There used to be an old, dilapidated house along 22 that had fallen into disrepair. As you're heading toward Lancaster, it was on the right not too far beyond the turn-off for the high school. Don't know if it's still there and still in disrepair or not, but it was interesting. There are probably lots of others if you take a drive.