Have a Gothic Day

Gothic is a difficult word to define.  Although much of what I’ve published, in my little way, has a dark humor to it, my favorite writing genre is Gothic.  A backlit, ruined castle with a raven winging through an overcast sky, with a leafless tree in the foreground infuses me with inexplicable paroxysms of wonder.

Summer can be a difficult time for those of us who would easily live in an eternal autumn.  Right now  the sun is shining and it feels like things might be okay after all.  So today I’ll give my tips to having a Gothic day, even in summer.

Select a dark and gloomy morning to awake before sunrise.  Since I haunt my chilly apartment halls frequently at 3:00 a.m., I know such days come even in the summer.

Take a long bath with steam rising from the surface of the gray water.  (This works best on a chilly morning.)  Preferably do this in a claw-footed steel tub.  Light a few candles.

Breakfast lightly, trying to maintain that consumptive look that arises naturally from awaking too early.  The steam arising from your bone-china mug in the gray pre-dawn will add to the effect.

Wear the same somber clothes as yesterday.  Medieval monks believed their over-worn clothes grew in holiness without washing.  They may have been onto something here. 

Befriend a raven.  This is not too difficult to do, but you might want to start a few weeks or months ahead of time.  Ravens are very smart birds and they remember human faces.  If you leave gifts (food, shiny objects) for them, they will sometime reciprocate.

Listen to heavy music, preferably something with a killer base-line and a Spectoresque wall of sound.  The more dramatic the better.  You’ll know when you get it; you’ll keep your eyes closed and will feel the ache in your throat.

Long for something.  It doesn’t matter what.  The pining is the important part.

Visit a graveyard and remember frequently that you too will die.  Try to avoid cheerfully manicured cemeteries.

Have absinthe before tea.

By the onset of twilight you’ll feel so creative you’ll want to live every day this way.