Writing

Bleak Trust

Friday, 1st August

While Gothic Kindness feels like a genre, a theme I am interested in is Bleak Trust. In Bleak Trust stories two (or sometimes more) protagonists learn, or earn the trust of each other when facing difficult circumstances. The bleak element comes from the backdrop on which this trusting relationship builds. There is a sense of doom or threat, something hanging over the narrative that pervades it with a sense of inevitable conflict.

An element that can arise out of Bleak Trust is of course a slow burn romance… and this is often the most satisfying conclusion for me but it's not necessary at the start.

Another element of this should be a ‘will they / won’t they’ but about trust rather than romance (which comes later…). What bonds, preconceptions or beliefs will a character break to maintain, earn or deepen the trust of another?

This is something I've always found attractive in stories but only realised was a consistent theme I enjoyed recently when reading the Morgaine Saga, particularly Well of Shiuan, which features an extremely bleak, doomed world and contrast negotiations of trust/bonds. This intense focus on relationships and bonds or trust is C.J. Cherryh’s calling card, and outside the Morgaine Saga it can be found in many of her books (including the Fortress and Chanur series and Cyteen).

Gene Wolfe's books often contain issues of trust set against bleak or dangerous backdrops. The Devil in a Forest and the Soldier series (beginning with Soldier of the Mist) particularly emphasise this.

Alastair Reynolds’ Revenger (and the sequel Shadow Captain) deal with the trust between two sisters, while All the Little Bird Hearts is a heartrending anti-version of the theme, where trust and bonds are slowly broken.

Gothic Kindness

Wednesday, 30th July

I have been thinking about a genre which I would love to see more of: Gothic Kindness. Here follow descriptions of the themes of several books, which you will only find a spoiler if you are very spoiler-allergic.

Gothic Kindness - I came across this idea when a friend read one of my favourite books, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. They wanted to read more books like Piranesi, and so I started hunting around the flooded vestibules of my memory for ideas.

The key qualities of Piranesi are: the all-permeating presence of the House, the innocence and kindness of the protagonist, and the degree to which we inhabit their mind.

The first and last make me think of gothic literature - which for me means Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Titus Groan, The Woman in Black and works which heavily feature the presence of the past in the present, as a sometimes foreboding, sometimes benevolent ‘character’ in the story (in Piranesi, the House is benevolent - “its kindness infinite” in fact). In short, in gothic literature, the ‘atmosphere’ itself is characterised. Gothic literature is also interested in a character’s psychology, their thoughts and explanations of the world, which may be very different to the objective reality of the situation but are the only avenue we have to explore the world.

The last characteristic of Piranesi, the kindness and innocence of the protagonist, is not a particularly gothic trait by itself. But it is shared by several other books in similar ways. Fortress in the Eye of Time, the Singing Hills series (beginning with Empress of Salt and Fortune) and The Goblin Emperor all follow kind protagonists through challenging circumstances.

The combination of these two genres into Gothic Kindness makes a neat little subgenre, the clearest other example of which is Nona the Ninth.

I’m on the look out for more!.