Fiction defined by atmospheric dread, dark secrets, decaying settings, and the tension between past and present.
Gothic fiction is one of the oldest and most enduring literary traditions, originating in the 18th century with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. It's defined by atmosphere rather than plot: looming architecture, buried secrets, oppressive settings, unstable boundaries between the natural and supernatural, and a pervasive sense that the past is alive and dangerous. The gothic is a mode as much as a genre, and it shows up across horror, romance, literary fiction, and fantasy.
The gothic tradition has influenced virtually every genre that deals with atmosphere, dread, or mystery. Understanding its conventions helps you write settings that feel alive and menacing, create tension through environment rather than action, and tap into the deep psychological appeal of secrets and forbidden knowledge.
A governess, a brooding employer, a locked room, and a secret that quite literally haunts the house.
Gothic horror meets science fiction: the creation of life as an act of transgression with monstrous consequences.
The new wife haunted by the first wife, with Manderley itself as the gothic antagonist.
Gothic fiction transplanted to 1950s Mexico, proving the tradition thrives outside its English-language origins.
Write a scene where a character enters a building for the first time. Through the building's details alone (architecture, light, sound, temperature, smell), create a growing sense of unease. By the end of the scene, the reader should feel that the building doesn't want this person here, or wants them here too much.