WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.530 --> 00:00:08.490 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Welcome. Welcome back to horror. Writers fest 2 00:00:08.570 --> 00:00:18.129 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: welcome as everyone filters in. If you can see and hear me drop your location in the chat so we can see where you are joining us from. 3 00:00:21.580 --> 00:00:24.089 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and I will drop some links for you. 4 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:35.240 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Hello! From California, the Netherlands, Seattle, Scotland, the Uk. 5 00:00:35.610 --> 00:00:54.220 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: It looks like everyone can see and hear me. Just fine, so welcome back to another session in horror. Writers fest day one I'm Michelle with pro writing aid, and we are so happy to have you back with us, just to go over a few quick announcements first, st and then we will jump right into our session with Hannah. 6 00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:56.130 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So 1st off 7 00:00:56.260 --> 00:01:18.559 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: to access your replays, you will want to go to the Hub page. It is in the links here that I'm dropping for you. This is where you can find your session resources. Any offers, your replays. They will be uploaded as soon as they are done processing between zoom and Youtube, the time can vary. So if you just refresh throughout the day, you should see them all popping up there. 8 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:28.309 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and these replays will also be moving to our community page by November first, st in the event recording space, so that you can watch them indefinitely there 9 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:47.069 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: as a thank you for joining us for horror. Writers fest we do have a special offer for you, and that is exclusive. Early access to our Black Friday sale. This is our largest sale of the year, where you can get 50% off both premium and premium pro plans for yearly and lifetime. And this. 10 00:01:47.357 --> 00:02:06.059 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: like, I said, is our biggest sale of the year. So if you would like to take advantage of that, you will receive an email with the information to access the sale. If for some reason you don't receive anything. By November 16, th please get a hold of us at helloprowritingaid.com, and we will be happy to pass along the info to you. 11 00:02:06.610 --> 00:02:30.029 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: If you would like to keep talking about horror, writing and just writing in general, we'd love to have you in our private online writing community joining is very simple. You just log in with your prowritingaid account information. It lets you write in. It's free to join, and you can go to the live event, chat to talk to other attendees. You can see the event recordings from previous writers, events in our event, recording space. 12 00:02:30.170 --> 00:02:34.959 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and we will be planning some more fun things there. So we'd love to have you join 13 00:02:35.260 --> 00:03:00.620 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: if you would like to provide your feedback for what you thought of horror. Writers fest this week we would love to have you provide that in a very brief survey. I'm going to link that again in the chat. Now. Keep that link handy. I know that it's early on in the event, but we would appreciate it if you could provide your feedback you know, tomorrow or later on this week, at some point, after you've gotten a chance to see everything. 14 00:03:00.810 --> 00:03:13.039 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: tell us what you love, what you think we could improve upon, and what you'd love to see in in a future event, because your feedback is super important for our future event planning, and we really appreciate you taking the time to do that. 15 00:03:13.650 --> 00:03:30.280 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Lastly, we have a fun new writing challenge that is starting very soon. November 4.th Through the 8.th It's called 5 K. In 5 days. This is a brand new writing challenge. We are hosting in our community where participants will write 5,000 words or more in 5 days. 16 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:54.869 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: This is going to have live write-ins with members of the Pro writing Aid staff who are also participating in the challenge, because we do have a lot of writers here on our team, and there will be daily teachings, discussion, forums, prompts, and different things like that to kind of boost your inspiration. So we would love to have you, whether you are just starting out or you are working on a progress 17 00:03:54.870 --> 00:04:07.510 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: project that's been in progress for a while. You're welcome writers of all genres, every stage of the journey are welcome to come. Please sign up using the link in the chat, and is also on the Hub page for you 18 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:32.920 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: reminders for our session today. Please use the Q&A. Box. If you have any questions for our speaker. If you have a question about your account. Please refer to hello@prowritingaid.com. If you would like to chat with other attendees today, please use the chat to do that, and but you'll want to select everyone in the drop down, menu beside 2. Otherwise your messages will not be visible to anyone but the host and panelists. 19 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:41.500 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and as a reminder, any special links that are being dropped in the chat will also be on the Hub page for you today as well. 20 00:04:42.160 --> 00:05:11.620 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So I am so excited to introduce our speaker, Hannah Kate Kelly is a developmental editor and author, accelerator, certified book coach helping fiction. Writers write, revise and launch their stories. She lives in New York City with her partner and for more writing resources. You can head over to her website, which is kellyeditorial.com, and that is in the chat for you and I will drop that intermittently throughout our session today. But welcome, Hannah, we're so happy to have you back with us for another event. 21 00:05:12.070 --> 00:05:18.270 Hannah Kelley: Thank you. And Hello, everybody. I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen for the deck. 22 00:05:21.770 --> 00:05:23.849 Hannah Kelley: Okay, we've got canva. 23 00:05:24.520 --> 00:05:27.920 Hannah Kelley: There we go. Okay, hopefully, you can see everything. 24 00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:30.300 Hannah Kelley: And 25 00:05:30.820 --> 00:05:35.009 Hannah Kelley: I'm gonna go ahead. Oops already. Lost my screen. Okay. 26 00:05:35.270 --> 00:05:42.369 Hannah Kelley: alright, everybody. Thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and get started. I'm gonna stop my video. So you can just see the screen here. 27 00:05:42.420 --> 00:05:58.619 Hannah Kelley: And Hello, thank you so much, Michelle, for having me back and the pro writing Aid team. I am really excited to be here today and talk about one of my favorite subgenres, the Gothic story. So without further ado, let's jump in. This is how to outline a Gothic novel 28 00:06:04.370 --> 00:06:23.839 Hannah Kelley: and moving on. Okay. So by the end of this class, I hope that you'll have added these 3 things to your story writing arsenal. First, st we're going to talk a little bit about the Gothic story where it came from, and then we're going to get into the 9 genre conventions and characteristics of Gothic fiction. 29 00:06:23.840 --> 00:06:39.960 Hannah Kelley: And then we're going to talk about how to outline your own Gothic novel, using the 3 act structure and breaking down each plot point for your own story. And alongside that we're going to be looking at 2 different Gothic novel examples to see how they break down their own outlines. 30 00:06:41.490 --> 00:06:47.139 Hannah Kelley: So again, Hello, everybody, I'm Hannah. I'm a developmental editor and a book coach. 31 00:06:47.290 --> 00:07:12.569 Hannah Kelley: If you are not familiar with what developmental editing is, I'll just explain. This is someone you go to when you are ready to polish your story, whether you're trying to self publish or you're trying to publish traditionally, and we help writers with high level items like outlining and structure for your story. And also we work with things like character development, pacing tone. All that good stuff 32 00:07:12.760 --> 00:07:31.259 Hannah Kelley: a little bit about me is, as Michelle mentioned. I live in New York City with my partner. Also I have a little experience here that I've listed of my background, working at publishing houses and few magazines, and also where I'm a guest editor and a guest writer on a few places in the writing world. 33 00:07:33.140 --> 00:07:45.109 Hannah Kelley: so I wanted to kick things off by starting with my favorite Gothic story. If I had to choose one, I'd probably say, it's this book I mean short story, the Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 34 00:07:45.380 --> 00:07:47.580 Hannah Kelley: This was written 35 00:07:48.840 --> 00:08:02.230 Hannah Kelley: in 1892, and it's a feminist psychological horror story about this woman's descent into madness while she's trapped in this haunted house. It's exciting. It's creepy. I would recommend it if you have not read it yet. 36 00:08:03.340 --> 00:08:11.339 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so now we're going to talk a little bit about Gothic fiction, what it is and where it came from, and why? It's still so popular today. 37 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:29.169 Hannah Kelley: So what is a Gothic story? Well, it's also called a Gothic horror story, because it's also called Gothic horror, because it is a sub genre of the horror genre, and a subgenre of romantic literature which came out at the end of the 18th century. 38 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:45.980 Hannah Kelley: There are 3 big things, I think, that pop up when you're like thinking about a Gothic story. The 1st one is that there are these hauntingly massive, dilapidated settings, right? So like an ancient medieval castle or a mansion, perhaps, is something that comes to mind. 39 00:08:45.980 --> 00:09:09.109 Hannah Kelley: Also, there's a lot of suspenseful narrative devices that Gothic writers like to use, such as foreshadowing symbolism, plot twists and also unreliable narrators are really big in Gothic fiction, and then, lastly, they love to explore dark themes, so these will be like oppression, morality, themes of guilt, insanity, and also love, or like the dark side of love. 40 00:09:11.180 --> 00:09:24.610 Hannah Kelley: And next, I want to talk about horror, fiction in general versus Gothic fiction. So again, Gothic fiction is like this subset of horror, and I think it differs from your classic horror story in a few big ways. 41 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:50.050 Hannah Kelley: So if you're thinking of like a Slasher book or a Slasher film. For example, it's probably going to be a little more direct. You have this very visceral body fear when you're reading through it or watching it, there's going to be faster pacing. And then the ending is typically going to be a little bit more clear cut and clean where you know. Okay, the protagonists have defeated the villain, or they have defeated the villain, for now. 42 00:09:51.180 --> 00:10:07.439 Hannah Kelley: whereas Gothic fiction is a little more ambiguous. There's more subtlety here, and instead of such a fast pacing like you'd see in a Slasher movie or in a in a book, there's going to be more of a creeping dread associated with these stories instead. 43 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:22.529 Hannah Kelley: and the endings also usually are going to be left a little bit ambiguous as well like. We may have the main thread of the story tied up, but there might be still some threads loose, and writers are left with this like gut, wrenching feeling. 44 00:10:24.710 --> 00:10:32.590 Hannah Kelley: I have pulled a few examples here of some Gothic fiction stories. Hopefully, you are familiar with a lot of these titles. 45 00:10:33.020 --> 00:10:54.900 Hannah Kelley: I also spent a long time finding the prettiest versions of all these book covers, which just happened to be a lot of red here, which happened to me the last time I presented for Sci-fi week. So, anyway, you might be familiar with a more modern story like the Shining by Stephen King up here on the left, and also probably an older classic like Dracula by RAM Stoker. 46 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:06.300 Hannah Kelley: Today we're going to be talking about these 2 examples in more depth. So I've pulled a classic Gothic story, and also a more modern one. So we can look at both. 47 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:31.670 Hannah Kelley: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, was written in 1847. This is primarily a love story, and then on the right. Here we have Mexican Gothic, written by Sylvia Moreno Garcia. This is written in 2020. It takes place in 19 fifties, Mexico, though. So this is a historical novel, but it was written very recently, and I'm excited to look at both of these 2 side by side. 48 00:11:31.670 --> 00:11:42.079 Hannah Kelley: Mexican Gothic has a romance subplot, but the main plot here is escaping the evil of the mansion that the protagonist has found herself in. 49 00:11:44.020 --> 00:11:52.249 Hannah Kelley: Next, I want to talk a little bit about Gothic fiction where it came from. And then we can understand a little bit better why it's still so popular today. 50 00:11:53.260 --> 00:12:03.809 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so 1st up. The 1st ever book is said to be from Gothic fiction is said to be the Castle of Toronto by Horace Walpole, and there's the cover right there. 51 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:21.690 Hannah Kelley: So there's a few interesting things to know about this story. First, st the writer was a really interesting guy and very wealthy as well. He at the time was living in Europe in 1764, and he loved Gothic architecture at the time. Gothic architecture 52 00:12:21.760 --> 00:12:42.779 Hannah Kelley: was centuries old, so it was medieval right, and they were bringing it back because they loved. How dark and mysterious it was even then just how we feel about it now. He had a home called Strawberry Hill House, and he decided to have it all renovated in this style. So he got stained glass, and like arch windows, the big castle like turrets. 53 00:12:42.900 --> 00:12:51.929 Hannah Kelley: and he, in true Gothic fashion, had this nightmare one night in his renovated home, which actually inspired the castle of Intronto. 54 00:12:53.040 --> 00:13:06.019 Hannah Kelley: The story. I won't spoil it for you, but you should know that it is full of supernatural prophecies, really strange, inexplicable events. There is an evil prince who is lusting after this virginal 55 00:13:06.230 --> 00:13:24.190 Hannah Kelley: character, this woman, this damsel in distress, who is fleeing from him out of this medieval castle? There's battles in dark corridors, and there's plot twists as well. And this really set the genre tone and a lot of the characteristics for the genre we're going to cover later. 56 00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:31.320 Hannah Kelley: Another thing to note here, and then I'll move on is that in 1764 across Europe and other areas of the world. 57 00:13:31.430 --> 00:14:01.040 Hannah Kelley: they were in an era of cultural, societal, religious upheaval that was just making all the people so afraid of all these changes going on, and so interestingly, they turned to horror, and we saw this with the the pandemic recently, too, is that a lot of people were also turning to horror stories. And they've done some studies on this. And they realized that people who read horror and consume horror. Media are actually more resilient in the face of fear than those who don't read horror, which I thought was kind of cool. 58 00:14:02.710 --> 00:14:06.923 Hannah Kelley: Next up we have this, the female Gothic 59 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:29.330 Hannah Kelley: era, in which a few of these stories emerged, which you might be familiar with. So Jane Eyre, which we're going to talk about later. But basically gone is the flat characters of the damsel in distress who is a victim. And now these women are writing stories with women protagonists who are complex characters, sometimes romances, sometimes not. 60 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:33.400 Hannah Kelley: Next, we have 61 00:14:33.420 --> 00:14:35.680 Hannah Kelley: the Southern Gothic. 62 00:14:35.790 --> 00:14:51.050 Hannah Kelley: which is kind of a subgenre of Gothic fiction itself. And this came out of the Us. So it's written about the Southern States of the Us. And they explore the area's cultural and social issues like the haunting of slavery. 63 00:14:53.660 --> 00:15:09.890 Hannah Kelley: and next, we have the golden age of pulp fiction. Which are these really fun book covers? These stories were kind of shorter, very lurid, very sensational, and readers like to pick these up when they wanted a quick thrill. Shock value. 64 00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:28.689 Hannah Kelley: And next, we have the new Gothic romances. I absolutely love these book covers. They're so fun, so dramatic, just like the stories so often. There's going to be a heroine, a woman protagonist who is fleeing some threat, supernatural or otherwise. 65 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:58.730 Hannah Kelley: And lastly, we have our modern Gothic fiction. As I mentioned, we have Stephen King, who wrote the Shining. It was nice to see how he brought the the genre into the modern age by placing the story in a hotel rather than like massive, haunted mansion. I mean, they're very similar, and then also over here we have Mexican Gothic on the right, and that is going to be one of the stories. As I mentioned that we are going to get into a little bit later. 66 00:16:00.250 --> 00:16:26.519 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so why is Gothic fiction still so popular today? I think for 2 big reasons, one, as I mentioned it came out of an era of all this unrest, and I would say that we are also still in an era of major unrest. If you are living in the United States, as I see many of you are, and you are preparing for the upcoming Presidential election. You will know that this feels very real. 67 00:16:26.630 --> 00:16:38.379 Hannah Kelley: And then the second point I have here is that readers will probably always love horror stories just like they did back then, and just as they will in the future, and I'm excited to see where this subgenre is going to go. 68 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:54.880 Hannah Kelley: Okay, now we are going to talk about the genre conventions a little bit further. So why do I think it's so important to talk about this? Well, I think it's really vital that writers learn how to use conventions because you have to satisfy reader expectations. 69 00:16:54.970 --> 00:17:09.580 Hannah Kelley: So let's say you're setting out to write yourself a Gothic novel, and you give your story to a reader, and they're like, Wow! I loved it. But it was a cozy mystery. Actually, I didn't think it was a Gothic novel. So you just want to know what readers are going to expect so that you can deliver. 70 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:22.700 Hannah Kelley: I've pulled the 9 tenants of Gothic fiction that I think are really important to the genre. We are going to go ahead and look at each one of these and see how they relate. 71 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:36.350 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so 1st up, I wrote the Consolidation of past and present. So this is when the past starts to feel like this living, breathing thing that is being brought forward into the into the present. 72 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:49.789 Hannah Kelley: and so I put here that this often happens through spirits, apparitions, prophecies, curses, or even secrets from the family being brought forward. 73 00:17:49.890 --> 00:18:11.425 Hannah Kelley: Interesting, too, to note, is that there's usually a lot of unresolved cyclical trauma, cyclical family trauma that just keeps getting regurgitated time over time. And oftentimes as we're going to see in Mexican Gothic. The protagonist has to come in and stop this cycle of trauma, or danger, or violence, or whatever, in order to 74 00:18:11.860 --> 00:18:13.540 Hannah Kelley: you know, save the day 75 00:18:14.800 --> 00:18:17.019 Hannah Kelley: next we have the supernatural. 76 00:18:17.330 --> 00:18:44.109 Hannah Kelley: I always think of Van Helsing. If you have seen that movie, it's very campy, very wonderful. Any type of creature from Van Helsing like a vampire, some type of werewolf or a doctor, and Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. Situation that's going to be part of the creatures that Gothic fiction will explore also other elements, too, like ghosts and apparitions, perhaps, like hearing a voice in the distance. 77 00:18:44.110 --> 00:18:48.280 Hannah Kelley: or maybe sentient houses that have their own agency. 78 00:18:49.020 --> 00:19:02.780 Hannah Kelley: These elements can be literal or symbolic, so you might have literally a vampire coming after your protagonist. Also, the vampire might represent something like the repressed sexuality of the protagonist. 79 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:14.350 Hannah Kelley: And then, lastly, you can have 2 sources for your supernatural elements. Perhaps they'll be magical. So maybe, like a witch has created a monster that is now wrecking havoc. 80 00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:18.630 Hannah Kelley: or they might be grounded in scientific explanation. So. 81 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:39.050 Hannah Kelley: like Frankenstein, for example, is created apparently by this scientist, we know, of course, that this is not possible. It's not very possible yet. So that means that they can both come from these different types of sources. And yes, it does kind of bridge into sci-fi if it's grounded in scientific explanation. 82 00:19:40.280 --> 00:19:54.009 Hannah Kelley: Here we go next to dilapidated settings. Okay, so readers really like to read quite a little bit about your settings. So it's okay to lean into these and give a little more extensive description because they want to feel immersed. 83 00:19:54.590 --> 00:20:10.250 Hannah Kelley: Also, the dilapidation is an important aspect of the settings, because again, we see the symbolism. This usually represents something like the societal decay, or maybe even the decay of the character's mind as they start to lose their sanity over the course of the story. 84 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:35.299 Hannah Kelley: And lastly, I've included some examples here. These are mostly Western inspired Gothic settings. Of course I'd love to see more non-western settings as well. So we have the typical medieval Gothic castle, some underground passages running through it. Graveyards are a big one cathedrals, fast oceans, creepy forests, and any other type of isolated space is good, too. 85 00:20:36.820 --> 00:20:38.849 Hannah Kelley: Next we have the sublime 86 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:53.350 Hannah Kelley: which you may have heard of. If you haven't. It's like an aesthetic or like a mashup of extreme emotions. So really intense emotions. And these are like suspense, terror. The macabre 87 00:20:53.360 --> 00:21:01.920 Hannah Kelley: disgust, shock, dread awe, but also pleasure. So this is something that's going to be both terrifying, but also really amazing. 88 00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:27.279 Hannah Kelley: If you're like, okay, what does that mean? A good example I like to give is, if you've ever stood in front of the ocean before, you might have felt this feeling. So picture yourself all alone, standing in front of an ocean stretching miles and miles around from you. Maybe it's dark, or it's about to be dark, and there is just like this magnificent, deadly thing in front of you. Maybe the waves are crashing violently. 89 00:21:27.280 --> 00:21:35.610 Hannah Kelley: but it's also incredible. It's beautiful, right? So this kind of mashup of feelings is something I think you should try to 90 00:21:35.730 --> 00:21:39.779 Hannah Kelley: evoke in your own stories when it comes to the sublime. 91 00:21:41.350 --> 00:21:49.129 Hannah Kelley: Next, we have these, these really important characters that came up in the 1st genre 92 00:21:49.360 --> 00:22:12.980 Hannah Kelley: in the 1st Gothic fiction. Stories, and I think, are here to stay, and there's also some tropes that are being, you know, turned around and recreated, which I like as well. So 1st up we have the bionic hero also known as the Anti-hero. This is someone who is going to be flawed lonely. Maybe they're going to be a lone wolf, bad boy type of character. 93 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:25.240 Hannah Kelley: and this is also a really popular character in romantic stories. So if you've ever read like 4th Wing, or a Court of Thorns and Roses, then you know exactly what I'm talking about here. 94 00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:49.449 Hannah Kelley: and next we have a tall, dark, and handsome monster. So back then, readers knew, used to know pretty much right away who the villain was, because they would be conventionally unattractive, and therefore obvious to readers. So the genre did something new for them, and gave them these really charming, wonderful, beautiful creatures, who, little by little exposed their true nature. 95 00:22:50.220 --> 00:23:10.499 Hannah Kelley: And then down here, at the bottom, we have the damsel in distress, classic, trope, and archetypal character. This is gonna historically be someone who was very pure, innocent. She was a victim, yes, often a woman who was fleeing away from men and then being saved by men. And now we see this damsel in distress. 96 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:20.989 Hannah Kelley: you know, obviously has agency. Now, this is no longer such a sexist trope. We're starting to move away from that. But writers do still like to play on this and these characters. 97 00:23:22.850 --> 00:23:34.650 Hannah Kelley: Next, we have secrets, and I think there are these 4 types of secrets, so one character can keep a secret from another character. They can also keep secrets from themselves, so, lying to themselves. 98 00:23:34.820 --> 00:23:46.459 Hannah Kelley: Society can keep secrets from the individuals, and then vice versa, so the individual can keep a secret from society. For example, perhaps they are keeping their sexuality a secret from their community. 99 00:23:47.260 --> 00:24:09.140 Hannah Kelley: What does this mean? What kind of secrets can can you have? Well, maybe you can have, like concealed family ties, incest, sexual assault. Those are quite big, actually, in term in Gothic fiction. You can have buried events that are now coming to light, and you can have shapeshifting characters who begin to reveal their true nature slowly over time. 100 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:35.559 Hannah Kelley: A portent is a sign or warning that something terrible could happen, and often we see this with like an omen, a curse, a superstition, etcetera. And I put a crow here to remind myself. I think you know we've heard before that if you see a certain amount of crows or ravens, or a type of bird on a certain day in a certain number all at once. That it probably means something bad is going to happen to you 101 00:24:37.880 --> 00:25:04.499 Hannah Kelley: next. We have romance. This usually isn't going to be a super feel good, sappy romance like you might see in a contemporary romance novel. This is going to be more passionate and troubled than anything so, and there are things threatening it. And oftentimes the protagonists themselves, as I mentioned, are going to be very morally complex people, and their love is going to be complicated as they work out their morality as well. 102 00:25:04.760 --> 00:25:16.730 Hannah Kelley: And then I've also said that sometimes this little romance can be motivated by obsession, lust, and coercion. This gets a little bit into dark romance, which is its own 103 00:25:16.870 --> 00:25:30.579 Hannah Kelley: subgenre of romance, but I would also say it's a subgenre of Gothic fiction as well. There's a lot in common here. If you haven't heard of dark romance, this is typically a love story between 2 or more people who 104 00:25:31.350 --> 00:25:37.200 Hannah Kelley: centered around taboo content. There's usually gonna be content warnings or trigger warnings. 105 00:25:38.370 --> 00:25:47.269 Hannah Kelley: anyway. Just wanted to mention that as well. Moving along to the last point. Here we have our dark themes again. So this is usually going to be 106 00:25:47.270 --> 00:26:13.999 Hannah Kelley: showing what we bury into deep, deep in our human psyche. But really, it's just a part of our nature. So you know, guilt and shame that won't go away looking at vanity like the picture of Dorian Gray. For example also, we have mortality, sexual repression, and good and evil. Those are some big ones. As I mentioned before, these themes are often used through symbolism and allegory literary devices. 107 00:26:16.370 --> 00:26:20.349 Hannah Kelley: Great. All right, we are about halfway through. 108 00:26:20.970 --> 00:26:23.660 Hannah Kelley: And I'm just gonna take a sip of water. 109 00:26:26.990 --> 00:26:30.369 Hannah Kelley: Okay? Awesome. So now we are gonna move on to 110 00:26:30.570 --> 00:26:32.939 Hannah Kelley: the Gothic novel outline. 111 00:26:34.340 --> 00:26:54.879 Hannah Kelley: Okay? For the rest of this outline, we are going to be using something called the 3 Act structure. Many of you have probably heard of this. If you have not, it's fairly simple, and that's why I love to use it. There are other outlines out there, for example, save the cat is a good one, but I wanted to choose something that was simple enough. We could go over in this 112 00:26:54.930 --> 00:27:06.999 Hannah Kelley: this time Slot, and I also recommend this to all of my readers. No matter writers, I'm sorry, no matter what genre they are writing, because it really does work for just about any genre. 113 00:27:07.470 --> 00:27:08.440 Hannah Kelley: So 114 00:27:08.690 --> 00:27:30.049 Hannah Kelley: here we have the 1st 3 acts, or sorry, the only 3 acts. The 1st act is recommended to be about a quarter of your story. This is just a guideline. You do not have to follow this to a T. But I just want to show you what is recommended in Act one. We're going to have the setup. We'll meet our protagonist, and then we're going to get into the inciting incident. 115 00:27:30.450 --> 00:27:46.740 Hannah Kelley: Act 2 is the biggest act usually, and we get all the fun and game stuff happening. Now we get to our midpoint, where everything gets more serious and then rising tension until we get to what seems like the hero's darkest hour at the end of Act 2. 116 00:27:46.830 --> 00:27:49.900 Hannah Kelley: And lastly, in Act 3, we have 117 00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:59.430 Hannah Kelley: the intense climax. Usually this is a big scene or a handful of scenes, and then we get our resolution. So we see what happens after. 118 00:27:59.580 --> 00:28:05.269 Hannah Kelley: And again, this is probably going to be about a 4th of your story's length as well. 119 00:28:06.850 --> 00:28:09.259 Hannah Kelley: I've broken down these 120 00:28:09.590 --> 00:28:15.989 Hannah Kelley: plot points. We're going to be looking at. You don't have to write any of this down. I'm going to be going through all of them. 121 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:23.509 Hannah Kelley: So act one has 4 plot points. Act 2 also has 4 plot points we're going to look at and then act 3 has the final 3. 122 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:33.379 Hannah Kelley: Also, as we go along, you're going to see in blue here these percentage markers of when would be a good time, for these plot points to happen in your story 123 00:28:33.530 --> 00:28:43.979 Hannah Kelley: again. These are guidelines. These are not requirements. So I'm just including them in case you're getting stuck, or you want to see if you're too far too early on something. These could be helpful for you. 124 00:28:45.150 --> 00:28:46.179 Hannah Kelley: All right. 125 00:28:46.530 --> 00:28:55.789 Hannah Kelley: Now we're gonna get into Act one. I also wanna mention that I have this Freebie which Michelle and or I are gonna gonna drop in the chat. 126 00:28:56.050 --> 00:29:01.980 Hannah Kelley: This is helpful. I think I created this for writers to help them 127 00:29:02.060 --> 00:29:14.630 Hannah Kelley: make their outline, no matter what genre they're writing in, and we're going to be following along the steps that I have here in this outline. So if you want a companion to this to create your own story, I do recommend downloading it later. 128 00:29:15.730 --> 00:29:21.100 Hannah Kelley: All right, let's get started on act one. So we're gonna go ahead and get into the hook. 129 00:29:21.980 --> 00:29:28.950 Hannah Kelley: The hook I put here as the 1st pop point, because I think it's really important, especially in stories today. 130 00:29:29.380 --> 00:29:40.529 Hannah Kelley: Look, is something interesting. It just has to be interesting enough to draw in, or, as we say, hook the reader or the agent you're querying to. Perhaps before the inciting incident starts. 131 00:29:41.040 --> 00:30:02.310 Hannah Kelley: this could be something like an interesting protagonist, perhaps like a very surprising 1st line. It could also be like an interesting or creepy opening image. Also it could be a conflict the protagonist has to solve, though this probably won't be the main conflict just yet, because it probably won't be the inciting incident just yet, although it could be. 132 00:30:02.910 --> 00:30:13.569 Hannah Kelley: This hook can come as early as I said, as your 1st line, maybe the 1st paragraph, the 1st page. But probably it's gonna fall somewhere into your 1st scene of your story. 133 00:30:15.260 --> 00:30:27.030 Hannah Kelley: So let's look at our 2 examples. Now, first, st we have the hook for Jane Eyre, and I'm going to go ahead and read this to you. So young Jane Eyre lives in an oppressive environment with her cruel, wealthy aunt and her cruel cousins. 134 00:30:27.040 --> 00:30:38.350 Hannah Kelley: Readers are hooked by the intelligent, mistreated narrator, and also getting hints of these supernatural forces when they stow her away in this red room for this horrible punishment. 135 00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:50.119 Hannah Kelley: So already we're hooked by this interesting protagonist, and we have questions in mind. We want to know what's going to happen with this room with the supernatural forces, and what's going to happen with 136 00:30:50.280 --> 00:30:52.820 Hannah Kelley: her awful aunt and cousins 137 00:30:53.300 --> 00:31:01.828 Hannah Kelley: also on the right here. I'm including illustrations for each of these examples, and I just love this artist makes all of these artwork for 138 00:31:02.830 --> 00:31:06.170 Hannah Kelley: Jane Eyre, that are so lovely. So I've included her name at the bottom. 139 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:31.120 Hannah Kelley: Okay, moving on. We have the hook here for Mexican Gothic Noemi Taboada is a glamorous playgirl like a playboy Socialite in 19 fifties, Mexico, and she gets summoned home from a costume party by her father's pressing news. She doesn't know yet what it is. Also she's interesting. She smokes cigarettes, she toys with her boyfriends. She has a flippant, self-indulgent side. 140 00:31:31.300 --> 00:31:42.319 Hannah Kelley: and readers like again, are drawn in by this interesting protagonist, and they also have questions. They want to know what is so important that she has to go home. What does her father have to tell her 141 00:31:44.630 --> 00:32:13.759 Hannah Kelley: next? Up. We have the setup, and this encompasses everything pretty much in the 1st act from the very start. So, including the hook all the way up until your inciting incident. This is getting the reader ready to understand what the protagonist ordinary world is like before it is interrupted by the inciting incident, and this can be a scene. It can be a series of scenes. It can be relatively short. It could be several chapters long. It depends on what your story needs. 142 00:32:13.850 --> 00:32:17.219 Hannah Kelley: The protagonist at this stage, though, needs to be active 143 00:32:17.230 --> 00:32:24.869 Hannah Kelley: so they can't just be waiting around for life to finally happen to them. They need to be going and getting things and living their life. 144 00:32:26.020 --> 00:32:42.470 Hannah Kelley: even if they haven't encountered the main conflict yet. So what does this look like? Well, here are some things you can write about in your own setup, so you could have an introduction to the protagonist harrowing background. For example, you can showcase their greatest desires, fears as well as their fatal flaw. 145 00:32:42.630 --> 00:32:48.819 Hannah Kelley: Also you can hint at the story central theme which will likely be related to this fatal flaw, that they have 146 00:32:48.830 --> 00:32:58.120 Hannah Kelley: also, you need to include important important world building details. So they understand how your world works before you go ahead and launch into the next act. 147 00:32:58.140 --> 00:33:01.079 Hannah Kelley: And lastly, you want to make sure that you set the tone. 148 00:33:03.280 --> 00:33:06.305 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so the setup for jadeer 149 00:33:06.810 --> 00:33:36.310 Hannah Kelley: is several chapters long, so as tension escalates with her cool Foster family. Jane is sent away to this disciplinary Lowwood school, which you can see pictured, is terrible. Over here on the right. She spends 8 years here. That's why we have so many chapters. A lot goes on, and she develops a strong sense of her morality and her values. And then at the very end she becomes a governess. She is now set up after all these chapters, and is ready to encounter the inciting incident which is going to come up next 150 00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:53.429 Hannah Kelley: with Mexican Gothic, our setup looks a little bit different. There is that much setup needed for the story. So that's why the inciting incident actually happens in Chapter one, and we have a little tiny bit of setup here before we launch into the rest of the story. So 151 00:33:54.142 --> 00:34:07.920 Hannah Kelley: readers learn that Naomi struggles with her impulsivity both in love and in life in general. She wants to get her master's in anthropology so degree, and she loves to play the piano and is a popular socialite. 152 00:34:10.949 --> 00:34:29.699 Hannah Kelley: Next up we have the inciting incident. Again, this is at the 10 to 12% mark, but it can come earlier. It can come later. I'll talk about that in a second. So this is going to be a life changing event for your protagonist. They either cannot go back to life as they know it, or it is going to be very difficult to ever go back to life as they know it. 153 00:34:30.150 --> 00:34:40.769 Hannah Kelley: And this is going to be the 1st time your protagonist faces the primary antagonist. If there is a villain, a physical villain, or the conflict itself, whichever one you have in your story. 154 00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:57.220 Hannah Kelley: As I said, this can come at the 10 to 12% mark, but it can also happen before then. It can also come a little bit after, though I would recommend not too far after. And it can also happen before your story even begins as part of the backstory. We see that sometimes 155 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:20.240 Hannah Kelley: the inciting incident for Jane Eyre is depicted here on the right. So, after completing her education at Lowwood 8 years later, Jane accepts a governess position at the isolated Thornfield Hall, where she soon encounters the mysterious owner, Mr. Rochester. They meet here when he falls off his horse, and she helps him get back to Thornfield Hall, his home. 156 00:35:20.890 --> 00:35:30.339 Hannah Kelley: I will say that if you're writing a romance the moment the 2 lovers meet each other is almost always going to be the inciting incident in your story. 157 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:32.440 Hannah Kelley: and it is for Jane Eyre. 158 00:35:33.660 --> 00:35:47.269 Hannah Kelley: Next we have again this chapter, one inciting incident in Mexican Gothic. So Noemi's father receives a disturbing letter from her cousin Catalina, claiming that her new husband, Victor, and his estate are killing Catalina. 159 00:35:47.880 --> 00:36:09.570 Hannah Kelley: No, Emmy is obviously very concerned, but she has a bit of a debate here. She's choosing, if she wants to go, help her cousin or not, and then her father finally motivates her by saying, Well, I will fund your anthropology degree if you go. So the inciting incident is, she gets this letter and then promptly decides she is going to go to see if her cousin is okay at high Place. 160 00:36:11.720 --> 00:36:28.890 Hannah Kelley: Next, we have the turning point. I call this the turning point because we are turning from one act into the other. So we're turning from Act one into Act 2. And in order to get to this point, Act 2, the story. I'm sorry the protagonist needs to commit to their story goal. 161 00:36:28.890 --> 00:36:51.359 Hannah Kelley: or they need to step away. So it's kind of a big decision because we're reading this story, and it's not going to end right here. Your protagonist is going to commit to their story goal. But before this point they might be debating. You know, what am I going to do? Or I know what I want to do? But how am I going to do it? They also might be dragging their feet. They really aren't ready. And now they are going to be ready. 162 00:36:53.910 --> 00:37:00.990 Hannah Kelley: Okay? So the turning point here in Jane Eyre is that she begins to have these feelings romantic feelings for Mr. Rochester. 163 00:37:01.660 --> 00:37:28.469 Hannah Kelley: however, so she sorry, so she is committing, choosing to go forward with this relationship. However, Thornfield Hall is littered with strange happenings like this mysterious laughter that she's hearing. And the housekeeper is really dodging a lot of her questions about this, and she knows maybe there's some kind of dark secret here that they are not telling her she is still committed to her romance, and she's moving forward, even though she is ignoring these 164 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:30.240 Hannah Kelley: secrets that are 165 00:37:30.710 --> 00:37:32.780 Hannah Kelley: that are going to come up later 166 00:37:33.290 --> 00:38:01.809 Hannah Kelley: next, we have the turning point in Mexican Gothic, so Noemi is at high place now. She's beginning to suspect that her cousin is not actually suffering from tuberculosis, like the family, is telling her this creepy family, but she thinks that something else is going on something dangerous is happening at high place. So at this point she could still leave high place, but she chooses to stay and uncover the mystery. So again. She is committing to her story goal to help Catalina. 167 00:38:02.060 --> 00:38:04.800 Hannah Kelley: And she is not going to leave. 168 00:38:06.250 --> 00:38:15.980 Hannah Kelley: Okay, great. Now we're moving into Act 2. This is the biggest act of your story. And this is where a lot of the fun things are going to happen. 169 00:38:16.300 --> 00:38:27.170 Hannah Kelley: So a little bit into your story, I mean into your second act. You're going to get to Pinch Point One. This is typically where the central conflict is going to strike or strike again. 170 00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:32.860 Hannah Kelley: And this can be an external conflict. Internal conflict, or both, really depends on what your story is. 171 00:38:33.540 --> 00:38:49.689 Hannah Kelley: This is just how readers are going to remember that there is a growing threat, and also might be a moment where the protagonist is urged to face their fears, their fatal flaw, their internal conflict, and they are probably not going to be ready to face that just yet. 172 00:38:50.980 --> 00:39:01.999 Hannah Kelley: So, Jane Eyre, we have this pinch point. It's very sudden when Jane saves Mr. Rochester from this inexplicable fire in his bedroom, deepening their emotional connection. 173 00:39:02.250 --> 00:39:20.460 Hannah Kelley: But again, she's puzzled because Mr. Rochester says that the fire was set by this maid, and she doesn't think he's being fully honest with her. So again, she's starting to suspect that something is going on because something did set this fire in the house. She just doesn't know what it is. Yet. 174 00:39:22.210 --> 00:39:37.070 Hannah Kelley: similarly, in Mexican Gothic, we have Noemi starting to experience these really vivid what she thinks are dreams that warn her that high place is a danger, and she starts to sleepwalk. So the external threat here the conflict is closing in 175 00:39:37.470 --> 00:39:45.990 Hannah Kelley: also. Noemi is faced with her fatal flaw when she insults her newest love interest, and his feelings are hurt, and she regrets that 176 00:39:46.220 --> 00:39:53.619 Hannah Kelley: so this is her facing her internal conflict here as well, both of these things happen around this time. 177 00:39:55.250 --> 00:40:19.709 Hannah Kelley: Next up we have the midpoint. So we're about halfway through your story now, and I do recommend trying to keep your midpoint relatively close to the halfway point, if you can, 3 big things are typically going to happen at this point. So 1st you'll have the stakes will rise. They're going to increase. The tone is going to darken, get more serious. And then the protagonist is going to transition from a reactive to a more proactive role. 178 00:40:20.630 --> 00:40:41.490 Hannah Kelley: Also something that you might have in your story is that you may have a false, high, or a false low. This is where the story seems to be like trending upward at this point, or conversely, trending downward. And it seems like the protagonist has reached their highest point, or maybe they've reached their lowest point. But of course we still have 179 00:40:41.570 --> 00:40:44.879 Hannah Kelley: half of the story to go. So it's not over yet. 180 00:40:47.000 --> 00:41:09.729 Hannah Kelley: The midpoint for Jane Eyre is when Mr. Rochester proposes to Jane, and she gladly accepts. She's going to finally marry the man that she loves. But it's a false high. It's not actually the end of the story, because there's still this underlying tension, this conflict that she is ignoring, and she hasn't uncovered what is going on here, causing all this eerie stuff at Thornfield Hall, so she still doesn't know. 181 00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:13.460 Hannah Kelley: but she thinks everything is going just peachy. 182 00:41:14.710 --> 00:41:40.419 Hannah Kelley: Then we have the midpoint for Mexican Gothic. This is not a false high, it's actually very creepy. So Noemi still refuses to believe in the supernatural. But she's understanding that something airborne is affecting not only Catalina's mental health and physical health. But now Noemi's own health. So she's becoming personally affected. The stakes are raised here, her life is now on the line. 183 00:41:40.550 --> 00:41:52.399 Hannah Kelley: Frances, her love interest, as you can see here, warns her to leave high place before she gets hurt, killed, though he still isn't telling her what the true antagonist is, or what it wants. From her 184 00:41:55.430 --> 00:42:01.559 Hannah Kelley: we have Pinch point 2, as we saw in Pinch Point one. We have the protagonist 185 00:42:01.720 --> 00:42:18.540 Hannah Kelley: meet the conflict again, and this is going to happen again. But it's going to be even stronger this time, and this is going to push the protagonist closer to the final confrontation with the main conflict. So again, as I said, the conflict is going to rear its head here at this point 186 00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:35.789 Hannah Kelley: with Jane Eyre, she finally meets. What the the conflict, or the person behind some of this conflict here? So Jane believes that she's dreaming up this monstrous creature towering above her bed, and when she thinks she wakes up, her wedding veil is torn, and her wedding is just 187 00:42:35.930 --> 00:42:53.369 Hannah Kelley: just around the corner. Mr. Rochester again provides this really weird explanation about his maid being the scaring her. And Jane still doesn't quite buy it, that it's the maid. But she decides to let the matter go, and she continues to prepare for her wedding. 188 00:42:55.190 --> 00:43:24.020 Hannah Kelley: Then we have here in Mexican Gothic. Noemi gets in this trance, likes trance like sleepwalking, and it's getting worse, she finally gets drawn out of her private bath and goes into Victor's bedroom, where he waits with predatory intentions. She has no proof he's behind anything at all including her or her cousin's weakening minds and bodies. But she knows she cannot trust him, and she now just wants to get out of high place. 189 00:43:26.860 --> 00:43:45.859 Hannah Kelley: All right, and then we have the turning point. We are ready to turn into Act 3 away from act 2. This is the point where everything seems to fail. The darkest hour, the lowest point. So the worst possible thing that your protagonist thinks will happen to them finally does happen to them. 190 00:43:46.350 --> 00:43:53.630 Hannah Kelley: and this could include, perhaps uncovering the darkest part of a mystery. It might be discovering. 191 00:43:53.820 --> 00:44:01.380 Hannah Kelley: making a crucial discovery that's finally unraveled, or maybe even a plot twist. This can be a really good place for 192 00:44:01.450 --> 00:44:04.700 Hannah Kelley: a plot twist to to finally happen 193 00:44:06.140 --> 00:44:14.089 Hannah Kelley: in Jane Eyre. It is her wedding day, but then she discovers that Mr. Rochester's big secret is coming out. He has 194 00:44:14.150 --> 00:44:23.559 Hannah Kelley: a 1st wife, Bertha Mason, who he keeps hidden in Thornfield Hall because of her dangerous mental illness to protect 195 00:44:23.730 --> 00:44:38.450 Hannah Kelley: his wife and to protect others. So this is his legal wife. He's already married, and Jane is devastated by this betrayal, so she decides to leave Thornfield Hall forever. She chooses her moral integrity over her love of him. So 196 00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:47.609 Hannah Kelley: she was so happy. It was her wedding day. This thing happens, she is now at the lowest point ever she has lost the man that she loves forever, or so she thinks. 197 00:44:48.750 --> 00:45:02.430 Hannah Kelley: and similarly Noemi tries to escape from high place with her cousin Catalina, but then, at the last moment, always at the last moment, she is trapped physically by the cruel family's supernatural abilities. 198 00:45:03.140 --> 00:45:24.030 Hannah Kelley: They plan to use Noemi as a living host for the forced insemination of their supernatural rebirth. That's a big sentence. But basically they are immortal beings. And the way that they keep coming back is they keep having these women rebirth them against their will, so that they can live forever. Nasty stuff 199 00:45:24.030 --> 00:45:33.770 Hannah Kelley: with the estates fungus. They have been poisoning her into submission all along, and now she fears she will never be able to escape with her cousin. 200 00:45:36.070 --> 00:45:39.319 Hannah Kelley: and we are going to get into Act 3. Now. 201 00:45:39.790 --> 00:45:41.359 Hannah Kelley: last act. 202 00:45:41.500 --> 00:45:48.420 Hannah Kelley: So whether this is a few scenes or one scene or one big moment, you're going to have your writer have a crisis. 203 00:45:48.440 --> 00:46:11.160 Hannah Kelley: This is the big emotional payoff from the start of the story to the end, because readers want to see how your protagonist is going to change. How have they been forced into change by all of this mounting conflict? They're going to face a crucial decision. Will the protagonist succumb to their fears? Or are they going to rise against their greatest conflict? Which one is it going to be? 204 00:46:11.180 --> 00:46:19.610 Hannah Kelley: This might feel like an Aha moment depending on the genre, you know, this might feel a little bit more obvious in some stories than in others. 205 00:46:20.630 --> 00:46:38.770 Hannah Kelley: and then the protagonist is gonna dig deep down, probably to uncover the lesson of the story, the secret to defeating the villain. They're gonna see how their fatal flaw has been holding them back this entire time. And again, as I mentioned, this is the big payoff. So they're proving how they have changed throughout the story. 206 00:46:41.870 --> 00:47:00.549 Hannah Kelley: The crisis moment here in Jane Eyre is that we have a couple chapters here. So she flees Thornfield Hall and finds refuge with this kind clergyman, St. John and his wonderful sisters. Then miraculously, she gets a huge fortune, and so she finally has independence. Yay, yay, for Jane 207 00:47:01.755 --> 00:47:19.869 Hannah Kelley: and things seem to be going well. But then Saint John asked her to marry him, and she nearly accepts because he's a safe option, even if she doesn't love him until she hears Mr. Rochester's voice calling out to her in a supernatural manner. So he's calling her name, or so she thinks 208 00:47:19.870 --> 00:47:32.320 Hannah Kelley: she debates accepting the proposal from St. John, or going to see if Mr. Rochester as well. What is she going to do? This is her crisis. What does she value most? We're going to find out. 209 00:47:33.520 --> 00:47:45.639 Hannah Kelley: And then here in Mexican Gothic. Similarly, Noemi is struggling under Victor's brainwashing, growing weaker and weaker every second. He's about to take over her mind forever. As far as we know. 210 00:47:46.060 --> 00:47:57.309 Hannah Kelley: however, her crisis here is, though, as much as she hates Victor, and having, you know, her autonomy taken over his power, is starting to appeal to her greed, and in her impulsivity. 211 00:47:57.630 --> 00:48:02.899 Hannah Kelley: So she is facing a similar crisis moment as well. What is she going to choose? 212 00:48:04.800 --> 00:48:19.100 Hannah Kelley: And next we have the big climax. And this is really fun. This can be either one scene or it can be several scenes, and it's going to be the final decisive confrontation between the protagonist and whatever their primary conflict is. 213 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:37.550 Hannah Kelley: the protagonist will either achieve their primary story goal or not. So we'll get the answer to the question we've had since the beginning and back to finally at the end of the climax, scene, or cluster of scenes. So what could this include? Well, it could be defeating the villain again, either now or forever. 214 00:48:38.270 --> 00:48:54.589 Hannah Kelley: It could also be overcoming their inner conflict. At last, finding true love at last, and often there's going to be a lot of fanfare here. So gore, big violence, flashy action, all the bells and whistles. You can go ahead and bring them out for this big send off 215 00:48:56.870 --> 00:49:21.859 Hannah Kelley: in Jane Era. The climax is when Jane chooses to go turn down her proposal and go after Mr. Rochester and see if he's okay. But she's shocked to find Thornfield Hall is burned down. Bertha Mason, this hidden wife is now dead from a suicide and from setting the building ablaze, and Mr. Rochester is also sadly now, blind and disabled for trying to save 216 00:49:21.860 --> 00:49:28.239 Hannah Kelley: his wife when she was on the top of Thornfield Hall, about to jump off. 217 00:49:28.910 --> 00:49:40.939 Hannah Kelley: So Jane then finds Mr. Rochester. He's still unmarried. He's still in love with her, and she finally agrees to marry him, finally balancing her sense of self-worth and independence with her love for him. 218 00:49:41.680 --> 00:49:48.429 Hannah Kelley: So we have this big moment. You know, it's not necessarily we don't get to see the building. 219 00:49:48.965 --> 00:49:56.050 Hannah Kelley: Catch fire. But still this is the climax moment where readers are at their highest moment of tension, wondering what is going to happen. 220 00:49:57.210 --> 00:50:12.229 Hannah Kelley: Same thing here with Mexican Gothic. So at last Noemi breaks free of Victor's mental hold on her, and she burns down high place, defeating Victor and the supernatural threat. So Noemi, Catalina, and Francis all finally escape. 221 00:50:12.490 --> 00:50:19.810 Hannah Kelley: Alas! She has saved her cousin. She's found a worthy lover, and she's overcome her external and internal conflict 222 00:50:22.080 --> 00:50:38.560 Hannah Kelley: all right, everybody. And now we have reached the resolution. This is the last part of your story, but also very important part. So what happens is you're gonna tie up all the loose ends of your story, or, as I said, most of the loose ends of your story. 223 00:50:38.860 --> 00:50:50.850 Hannah Kelley: you might leave some things untied, because readers do like a lingering sense of ambiguity or unease with a Gothic fiction story as we talked about earlier. 224 00:50:51.450 --> 00:51:02.770 Hannah Kelley: And then I've said here, even if the ending is happily ever after, the characters rarely emerge physically or emotionally undamaged. And we're going to see that in both of these examples. 225 00:51:03.480 --> 00:51:04.869 Hannah Kelley: So in Jane Eyre 226 00:51:05.120 --> 00:51:13.479 Hannah Kelley: the good news is that 10 years later. She's so happy in her marriage with Mr. Rochester, who actually has regained some of his sight in one of his eyes. 227 00:51:13.530 --> 00:51:38.479 Hannah Kelley: They have a son together also the Sisters of Saint John like to visit her often, which she loves, and she and Saint John have remained on good terms, however sadly. I don't know why I laughed at this sad Saint John is actually going to die from overworking himself, as we learn at the very end, and also Mr. Rochester is still disabled. When he tried to help Bertha Mason. 228 00:51:39.190 --> 00:51:55.009 Hannah Kelley: he ended up losing, I believe, one of his arms. So he is still going to be, you know, physically hurt for the rest of his life, and, as we can see, neither of them emerged unscathed at the end of this story. 229 00:51:55.760 --> 00:52:06.880 Hannah Kelley: Next, we have the resolution here for Mexican Gothic. So we know Noemi, Catalina, and Francis are all safe for now, and Noemi and Francis can finally be in love together. 230 00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:35.989 Hannah Kelley: However, the bad news is is that Noemi cannot be sure. She or Francis are ever truly going to escape the influence of high place because they were there for so long, breathing in this fungus air, airborne thing that has messed with their minds. They don't know. The threat may return. They may have limited time together. So we're left with this feeling of like, okay, things are good, but only for now we don't know what the future is going to hold. 231 00:52:37.730 --> 00:52:48.010 Hannah Kelley: And voila! That is all of the major plot points for our 3 act outline of the Gothic novel. Thank you all for bearing with me there. 232 00:52:48.010 --> 00:53:12.330 Hannah Kelley: So you're going to be leaving this webinar with again, I hope, an understanding of the Gothic genre conventions and characteristics. We talked about how to outline your own Gothic novel with each of these plot points, and we also looked at both Jane Eyre and Mexican Gothic as examples. I also want to mention if you would like to work with me on your story. If you have a manuscript that you would like to be evaluated 233 00:53:12.330 --> 00:53:28.309 Hannah Kelley: and polished for publication, I would love to hear about your story, whether it is a genre, a Gothic fiction story, or another genre, I would still love to hear about it. So please reach out to me, and I'm happy to give you a 10% off as well. 234 00:53:29.840 --> 00:53:41.020 Hannah Kelley: Okay. And now we have reached Q&A, just before we jump into questions. I want to say one more time here. I think the link is either going to be dropped in the chat, or it already has 235 00:53:41.430 --> 00:53:53.359 Hannah Kelley: for the 3 act outline workbook that I've created. If you would like to plot your own story on these plot points, I recommend using that it really breaks it down easily for you. 236 00:53:54.860 --> 00:54:00.319 Hannah Kelley: okay, and great. That is now time for Q. And a. Thank you. Everybody. 237 00:54:07.650 --> 00:54:11.110 Hannah Kelley: all right, and let me pull up my questions here. 238 00:54:12.710 --> 00:54:22.099 Hannah Kelley: Okay, so 1st question, yes. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. How do you make Gothic romance? In the 1st place, great topic. 239 00:54:22.580 --> 00:54:28.800 Hannah Kelley: Okay, how do you write a Gothic story with a romance, perhaps, is the primary plot. 240 00:54:29.080 --> 00:54:58.610 Hannah Kelley: This question was sent in 2 16. So this was a little bit before we started to talk about the plot for Jane Eyre. But basically, I'll just recap if you want to write a Gothic story with the romance as the primary plot, you absolutely can do. So. That just means that you're going to be writing a love story. So you're going to be using a lot of the same conventions and pop points that you'd see in a romance. But it's going to be probably a little darker. There's going to be more drama and conflict. 241 00:55:00.260 --> 00:55:10.069 Hannah Kelley: if you have any other specific questions to ask me about this, please do. But I do recommend reading. Jane Eyre is a good Gothic romance to to get started with. 242 00:55:10.510 --> 00:55:16.710 Hannah Kelley: And again, yes, thank you, everybody. Yay, I'm so glad it was helpful. Okay, the next question here. 243 00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:22.270 Hannah Kelley: how do you know if your story is too similar. 244 00:55:24.270 --> 00:55:35.750 Hannah Kelley: how do you know if your story is too similar to something already out there, especially a story still copyrighted, sure setting, including setting descriptions, plot percentages, and how you measure. 245 00:55:36.180 --> 00:55:56.239 Hannah Kelley: Okay, you know, this happens all the time, as I will tell writers. You think of any idea you're going to find it done at least once, if not like 20 times, 100 times before. What is important is that you write a story with an idea that you like, and then the execution that is the part that is going to be. 246 00:55:56.420 --> 00:56:12.530 Hannah Kelley: That's the original part of your story. So as long as your execution is different from that story. You know. It's fine. You can still write that book. You don't want to have characters with the same names, or keep the same title right? But you can still write your story idea, even if it's been taken by someone else. 247 00:56:13.290 --> 00:56:21.190 Hannah Kelley: Also, you can write a retelling. I wrote an article about this for Jane Friedman site, which I'm happy to share as well. 248 00:56:21.540 --> 00:56:24.360 Hannah Kelley: Sorry my voice is getting so 249 00:56:25.610 --> 00:56:39.979 Hannah Kelley: week after all this talking. If you would like to write a retelling, you just have to make sure that you are legally adapting a story that is in the Commons for use. So we can talk about that more. I'm happy to share that link as well. If you'd like to write a retelling 250 00:56:40.580 --> 00:56:49.930 Hannah Kelley: next up we have this question, can you add a sprinkle of horror to Sci-fi Web series or story? 251 00:56:50.140 --> 00:57:19.140 Hannah Kelley: A sprinkle of horror? Sure, I'm not sure exactly what your sprinkle might be? I mean, are there characteristics from the horror genre specifically like Gothic horror that you can use in sci-fi stories? Absolutely. I mean, if your stories genre is primarily like a sci-fi action flick. You want to make sure you're delivering on those genre conventions first.st And yeah, I think you can add in elements of horror, mystery. 252 00:57:20.190 --> 00:57:24.590 Hannah Kelley: the grotesque. If that works for your story and for your audience. Absolutely 253 00:57:25.950 --> 00:57:31.910 Hannah Kelley: all right. Next question we have, do you think, an invitation to go somewhere spooky. 254 00:57:31.980 --> 00:57:45.440 Hannah Kelley: without dire stakes, at least as far as the protagonist knows. Do you think that counts, or could be an effective, inciting incident? Yes, I do absolutely. Or would it be 1st encountering a monster in that place? 255 00:57:46.880 --> 00:58:13.110 Hannah Kelley: Yes, I would say, that is probably encountering the monster, because I'm assuming that the monster or the antagonist, the villain, whatever it is, is the one who sent that invitation. Right? So you're not directly having the protagonist meet the antagonist right then, but they are still meeting so yes, I would say that probably counts 1st as an inciting incident, and also as the 1st encounter of conflict with your primary conflict in the story. 256 00:58:13.530 --> 00:58:14.360 Hannah Kelley: Yes. 257 00:58:14.630 --> 00:58:26.769 Hannah Kelley: okay, moving right along, we have. How clear should you make your villain? Is it okay to have the antagonist and protagonist blur. Absolutely God, that's so. Fun. 258 00:58:26.990 --> 00:58:30.794 Hannah Kelley: So this can be. There's so many good examples of this. 259 00:58:31.920 --> 00:58:46.489 Hannah Kelley: if you have a protagonist who's also the antagonist. Maybe they don't know that they're the antagonist yet. That's a wonderful way to write a story. So you're getting into unreliable narrators. You might want to look at how to write some of those. 260 00:58:46.901 --> 00:59:00.039 Hannah Kelley: What's a good one, you know, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde actually haven't read that. But I think that that's kind of similar to what you're talking about potentially. How clear should you make? Your billing is sort of a different question. 261 00:59:00.860 --> 00:59:23.899 Hannah Kelley: If you want it to be a surprise. Like an unraveling of the truth that the antagonist and the protagonist are the same. Then, yeah, I think you can have this slowly hinted at throughout the story, and then you have the big reveal towards the end that works great. That's an exciting story. You just want to make sure that all of your hints, your clues of who the true villain is 262 00:59:24.130 --> 00:59:31.020 Hannah Kelley: are planted and grounded in the story before you get to that reveal, so that it doesn't feel like you're cheating the reader. 263 00:59:33.400 --> 00:59:38.489 Hannah Kelley: Okay? And then we have, I think, time for one more question here. So last one. 264 00:59:39.380 --> 00:59:53.780 Hannah Kelley: my current work in progress is a blend of Gothic horror and neo-noir. How would you recommend going about combining the flowery, extensive descriptions of Gothic with the sparse style of Noir. Yeah, that does seem 265 00:59:55.600 --> 01:00:01.190 Hannah Kelley: I don't know. I'd have to read a little bit, but I think you can definitely do it. I 266 01:00:01.280 --> 01:00:23.590 Hannah Kelley: think you can have a more sparse description, and it still count as Gothic. So if you don't want to go ahead and go into these really extensive, as you say flowery descriptions? I don't think you have to. As long as we're getting this feeling of, you know, isolation, probably with the setting and a feeling of of darkness or the 267 01:00:24.050 --> 01:00:30.009 Hannah Kelley: the setting is falling apart. So we understand it's it's dilapidated. I think that you're gonna be able to convey 268 01:00:30.110 --> 01:00:32.389 Hannah Kelley: all the important aspects 269 01:00:32.920 --> 01:00:35.740 Hannah Kelley: of that. Okay? And I think we have reached 270 01:00:36.470 --> 01:00:40.560 Hannah Kelley: all of the questions. If there's anything I didn't answer. 271 01:00:41.820 --> 01:00:43.540 Hannah Kelley: no, okay, great. 272 01:00:44.190 --> 01:01:06.090 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: All right. Thank you so much, Hannah. This was wonderful. Thank you to everybody who came today, and we have another session starting in just an hour, so you can check back on the hub a little bit later, and we should have the replay and transcript and everything up there for you to watch at your leisure. So thanks all, and we will see you soon. 273 01:01:06.870 --> 01:01:08.099 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Bye, everyone. 274 01:01:08.280 --> 01:01:09.130 Hannah Kelley: Bye.