good words to use in gothic writing

Resources you can trust

Gothic vocabulary bank

Extend the vocabulary of your English students with this list of Gothic words. It’s ideal as a creative writing prompt to help students when writing atmospheric gothic stories, and can also support with choosing more engaging synonyms for creative writing tasks.

The vocabulary list is sorted into eight handy categories, for example, 'words to describe characters' and 'words to create atmosphere'.

If you are exploring the gothic genre, you might also like our KS3 Gothic teaching pack , which features a range of gothic literature from writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Bram Stoker and Horace Walpole, and includes iconic gothic novels from the 19th-century and earlier, such as The Castle of Otranto, Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Example words from the vocabulary bank:

Words to describe the unknown:

an amorphous creature

Words to create atmosphere

desolation/desolate/barren/bleak

dreary/grey

fog/mist/cloud/darkness

ominous/menacing

suffocating

Words to describe emotions

All reviews

Have you used this resource?

Marion Buckland

Amanda Trenear

Resources you might like

How to Write Gothic Fiction

Last Updated: January 29, 2023 References Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 21 testimonials and 80% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 344,032 times.

Gothic fiction is a subgenre of horror, exemplified by authors such as H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and Wilkie Collins. Gothic horror consists of moody landscapes, supernatural experiences, and an atmosphere filled with dread. You can write your own piece of gothic fiction if you know about its conventions. Keep reading to learn how to write a gothic fiction story.

Developing Ideas for Your Gothic Fiction

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 1

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 2

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 3

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 4

For example, in Bram Stoker's Dracula Mina redeems herself with the help of her friends.

Making Your Gothic Fiction Unique

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 5

For example, young William Frankenstein wanders off and Frankenstein's monster murders him. [5] X Research source

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 7

For example, a prophecy haunts the family in Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto. The prophecy says that the castle will pass from Manfred's line. The prophecy seems to have come true when Manfred's son dies. [8] X Research source

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 8

Matilda is in love with one man, but another man lusts after her, which puts her in danger throughout the book. [10] X Research source

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 9

For example, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker both use found material framing devices. They present their stories through character letters and journal entries.

Writing Your Gothic Fiction

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 10

For example, Roderick descends into madness in Edgar Allen Poe's “Fall of The House of Usher.” His decline intensifies the story and makes it scarier. [16] X Research source

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 15

For example, a giant helmet crushes Conrad in Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto. Conrad was on his way to get married. [18] X Research source

Image titled Write Gothic Fiction Step 16

Edgar Allen Poe includes twists at the end of his stories that lead readers to question the finality of death. Poe includes one of these twists in “Fall of the House of Usher” when Madeline appears in the doorway and falls on top of Roderick. Roderick had believed that Madeline was dead. [20] X Research source

Expert Q&A Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? Unlock expert answers by supporting wikiHow

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

Video . By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube.

About This Article

To write a great piece of gothic horror, start by setting your story in a strange, decaying place with a creepy atmosphere, like a crumbling castle or a haunted house. Then, spend plenty of time developing your characters. Create a main character that has some dark tendencies but is still sympathetic, and a villain who tempts the hero towards a dark path. If you need some inspiration, look for examples in the works of the great gothic horror writers, including Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, and Edgar Allan Poe. For more writing tips from our Literary co-author, like how to develop an engaging plot, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Sophie Austen

Jul 12, 2016

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Watch Articles

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Develop the tech skills you need for work and life

Useful phrases in Gothic

A collection of useful phrases in Gothic, an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken in parts of the Crimea until the 17th century.

Jump to phrases

See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder . If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me .

Key to abbreviations: m = male, f = female, > said to, 1p = one person, 2p = two people, 3+p = three or more people.

Phrases and recordings provided by David Carlton, Basti Weidemyr, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard Hansen, Justïne, and Roel, from his Gothic language conversation course

Download all the audio files

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me .

Information about Gothic | Phrases | Numbers | Tower of Babel | Gothic books

Other collections of Gothic phrases https://web.archive.org/web/20140622065727/http://besieda.in.ua/materialy/gotskiy-gothic

Phrases in Germanic languages

Afrikaans , Alsatian , American Norwegian , Bavarian , Cimbrian , Danish , Dutch , Elfdalian , English (British) , Faroese , Flemish (West) , Frisian (North - Bökingharde) , Frisian (North - Sylt) , Frisian (Saterland) , Frisian (West) , German , Gothic , Icelandic , Limburgish , Low Saxon , Luxembourgish , Norwegian , Old English , Pennsylvania German/Dutch , Scots , Stellingwarfs , Swedish , Swiss German (Basel dialect) , Swiss German (Chur dialect) , Swiss German (Lucerne dialect) , Värmlandic , West Jutlandic , Westrobothnian , Yiddish

Phrases in other languages

Why not share this page:

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon , or by contributing in other ways . Omniglot is how I make my living.

Gothic Words

Words related to gothic.

Below is a massive list of gothic words - that is, words related to gothic. The top 4 are: dark , horror , goth and victorian . You can get the definition(s) of a word in the list below by tapping the question-mark icon next to it. The words at the top of the list are the ones most associated with gothic, and as you go down the relatedness becomes more slight. By default, the words are sorted by relevance/relatedness, but you can also get the most common gothic terms by using the menu below, and there's also the option to sort the words alphabetically so you can get gothic words starting with a particular letter. You can also filter the word list so it only shows words that are also related to another word of your choosing. So for example, you could enter "dark" and click "filter", and it'd give you words that are related to gothic and dark.

You can highlight the terms by the frequency with which they occur in the written English language using the menu below. The frequency data is extracted from the English Wikipedia corpus, and updated regularly. If you just care about the words' direct semantic similarity to gothic, then there's probably no need for this.

There are already a bunch of websites on the net that help you find synonyms for various words, but only a handful that help you find related , or even loosely associated words. So although you might see some synonyms of gothic in the list below, many of the words below will have other relationships with gothic - you could see a word with the exact opposite meaning in the word list, for example. So it's the sort of list that would be useful for helping you build a gothic vocabulary list, or just a general gothic word list for whatever purpose, but it's not necessarily going to be useful if you're looking for words that mean the same thing as gothic (though it still might be handy for that).

If you're looking for names related to gothic (e.g. business names, or pet names), this page might help you come up with ideas. The results below obviously aren't all going to be applicable for the actual name of your pet/blog/startup/etc., but hopefully they get your mind working and help you see the links between various concepts. If your pet/blog/etc. has something to do with gothic, then it's obviously a good idea to use concepts or words to do with gothic.

If you don't find what you're looking for in the list below, or if there's some sort of bug and it's not displaying gothic related words, please send me feedback using this page. Thanks for using the site - I hope it is useful to you! 🐰

That's about all the gothic related words we've got! I hope this list of gothic terms was useful to you in some way or another. The words down here at the bottom of the list will be in some way associated with gothic, but perhaps tenuously (if you've currenly got it sorted by relevance, that is). If you have any feedback for the site, please share it here , but please note this is only a hobby project, so I may not be able to make regular updates to the site. Have a nice day! 🐴

IMAGES

Gothic Genre Word Bank
Gothic writing
writing words about gothic font
Gothic language and alphabet
Gothic Genre Word Mat
Gothic Words Sheet Printable Journal Embellishment

VIDEO

How to write Gothic A letter with pen #shorts
How to write Gothic B latter amazing ❤️ #shorts
Calligraphy ( gothic type) #artscientistchannel
how to write Gothic "S" #shorts #gothic #calligraphy
How to Write Gothic (Q&q)
Gothic minuscule "a" variations #art #artist #gothic #letters #writing #calligraphy #variations

COMMENTS

Gothic Writing Word Bank
Gothic Writing Word Bank Places Describing Places Objects Describing People Abbey Castle Cellar Cemetery Chamber Churchyard Clearing Clifftop
Gothic vocabulary bank
tenebrous unintelligible sound Words to create atmosphere dank desolation/desolate/barren/bleak dreary/grey festering fog/mist/cloud/darkness insidious malevolent nefarious ominous/menacing oppressive respite shadows sinister sombre suffocating tragic wretched Words to describe emotions aghast appalled depressed despondent impatient lugubrious
How to Write Gothic Fiction (with Pictures)
Good gothic fiction stories often end with a twist that causes readers to wonder about the events and characters of your story. The reappearance of a someone who has died is one way to include a twist, but you can experiment with other types of twists as well. [19]
Useful phrases in Gothic
Afrikaans , Alsatian, American Norwegian , Bavarian , Cimbrian, Danish , Dutch , Elfdalian, English (British), Faroese , Flemish (West) , Frisian (North - Bökingharde) , Frisian (North - Sylt) , Frisian (Saterland) , Frisian (West) , German , Gothic, Icelandic , Limburgish, Low Saxon , Luxembourgish , Norwegian , Old English, Pennsylvania …
Ideas for Writing Gothic Short Stories
Elements of Gothic Fiction. There are at least six basic elements to keep in mind when writing Gothic short stories. Any of them can be a great starting point. 1. The Setting. Generally, Gothic fiction is set in a house or castle that’s more than what it seems. It is its own character altogether.
Gothic Words
dark horror goth victorian strange gothic baroque medieval creepy death spooky unusual vampire witchy noir mediaeval gothic architecture edgar allan poe steampunk victorian era supernatural black letter vampiric edwardian doom haunted grim macabre contemporary neoclassical darker labyrinth romantic bloodborne postmodern art nouveau eerie