07-28-2010, 10:58 PM
I agree, Charybdis, it seems like cheating to me as well. When the supernatural is brought into a gothic romance, there are no real constraints on an author's imagination--anything goes. It seems to me that we then enter the genre of fantasy.
And that's fine, if it's what you want. But it's not what I like a gothic romance story to be.
Not that I don't believe in the supernatural. I believe, as a Christian, in both God and the existence of our enemy Satan. But the way his power works on earth seems to me unknowable, whereas the evil in human behavior is, alas, all to familiar. At least it's in the realm of our experience.
This may sound like a contradiction, but I think it is an enhancement to a gothic story if it appears that the supernatural is at work--as long as it isn't!
And that's fine, if it's what you want. But it's not what I like a gothic romance story to be.
Not that I don't believe in the supernatural. I believe, as a Christian, in both God and the existence of our enemy Satan. But the way his power works on earth seems to me unknowable, whereas the evil in human behavior is, alas, all to familiar. At least it's in the realm of our experience.
This may sound like a contradiction, but I think it is an enhancement to a gothic story if it appears that the supernatural is at work--as long as it isn't!
