List of Adjectives for Writing Gothic Horror

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List of Adjectives for Writing Gothic Horror

If you're writing a gothic horror and are having trouble getting the tone down, or describing settings, characters, or atmospheric/emotional elements, this brief list of words, compiled from the writings of central gothic horror literary figures such as Edgar Allan Poe and Elizabeth Kostova, among others, might be helpful to you.

  • abnormal
  • ageing 
  • ancient
  • barren
  • bitter
  • brutal
  • canine
  • cold
  • corrupted
  • cowardly
  • decayed
  • deserted
  • diabolical
  • diseased
  • drained 
  • dreadful
  • dusty
  • enraging 
  • eternal 
  • fair
  • flaccid
  • forbidden
  • foreboding
  • foreign
  • gnarled
  • grave
  • grim
  • gruesome
  • gruff
  • haggard
  • haunted 
  • inconsolable
  • irate
  • isolated
  • jaded
  • limp
  • mysterious
  • morbid
  • nervous
  • ominous
  • outdated
  • photographic
  • peculiar
  • perplexed
  • preternatural
  • prodigious
  • punishment
  • rattled
  • regretful
  • reluctant
  • resurrected 
  • rural
  • saddening
  • scholarly
  • sepulchral 
  • shadowed 
  • shaky
  • shudder
  • sinister
  • spiteful
  • strange 
  • supernatural
  • taciturn
  • terrible
  • trembling
  • troubled
  • uncanny 
  • uncomfortable
  • unfamiliar
  • unfortunate
  • unholy
  • unnatural
  • unpleasant
  • unusual
  • unwilling
  • vampiric
  • vengeful
  • wary
  • wasted
  • woeful
  • vain 

Make no mistake; this is a very limited list based on about a quarter-hour's worth of skimming through some stories and books that were at my disposal. However, that being said, hopefully it is of some use to you. Ideally, I would like to follow this up with a much more comprehensive resource for writers of gothic horror, gothic romance, and dark romanticism.

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