Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Manor on the Moor: A Letter in the Gothic Style

TWO posts, one after the other; I must admit I am a little eager (but give me a little time, until the novelty wears off!) But today being Halloween, and this piece being written expressly for Halloween, I thought it would be right to post it.





I thought, however, that it would be good to give a little history of this story. It is, as the title suggests, a letter written in the Gothic style.

Or, rather, several letters. It seems to have turned out that way, at any rate. I was watching Wuthering Heights last Sunday. I had just read about a Halloween contest at Fictional Faction which requires you to write 500 words on or around a picture which you are given; this time it's a rundown old haunted house. This, combined with the (quite good) Wuthering Heights I'd watched, got me to thinking about doing a Gothic-style letter for my entry. I've never really tried writing anything in this genre before, but I thought now was as good a time as any. So I sat down and began writing, and then abandoned my draft for the better part of the week. I picked it up today and decided to type it up. I had a rough plotline in my head, but what I hadn't realised was just how expansive my plot was becoming. Before I knew it I'd hit the 500 word limit, and I kept going. One Letter in the Gothic Style became two letters, then three, and finally seven. Well, they do say that seven is a lucky number, right?

I'm not sure I can claim that the letter is terribly original, or cleverly plotted; but I did have a lot of fun writing it, and so I'm going to post the letters, one by one, for your perusal.

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