What New Southern Gothic Means to Me

I’m going to be honest, when I first “designed” this website I was really just trying to get through it. This is at least my second attempt at keeping a website for my writing, and I have to say, both attempts have so far been less than fetching. One day I’ll hire a brand and website designer or some such to help pull this mess together, but for now, I see this blog as currently in its most infantile stages.

I’m sure most of you have read my little footer at the bottom of the page, and after cringing slightly, maybe found yourself wondering what I mean by my “journey into the New Southern Gothic.” And well, my initial instinct is to shrug and simply say that I had to put something there.

Of course, there’s a little more to it. I’m far from the first to use the phrase “New Southern Gothic” - but what does that mean, exactly? That is a question I will do my best to answer, but first, some quick updates on my life and current projects!

First off, I’m a homeowner now. That’s all I really have to say about it. I’m so incredibly lucky and privileged to be where I’m at now, and now it’s high time I figure out how to use that privilege to help others.

Second, and most important update, is about Codetta. As you can imagine, my writing has slowed some due to the above life change (as well as a handful of other reasons, which I’ll be alluding to later). I have finished outlining the novel as it currently exists and have begun the process of making big, structural tweaks, starting by re-outlining towards a more sound plot. I got the first act re-outlined, but realized pretty swiftly that what would help the most would be to finally crack a more-perfect ending. While I like the novel’s closing image, the penultimate climatic chapter has always needed a lot of help, and so figuring out the absolute best ending has become the priority. I’m happy to say I think I’ve just about nailed it as good as I’m capable of with the story that I want to tell. Hopefully the full new outline will be done before my next update… But we’ll see.

Now that updates are out of the way, allow me to explain myself and the “New Southern Gothic”. 

While I can’t imagine that my readership wouldn’t be familiar with Southern Gothic Literature, I’ll do my best to briefly summarize: Southern Gothic is a somewhat broad genre bred from survival in the American South, which predominantly features morose and darkly-inclined characters struggling against (or falling to the corruption of) the judgement, hypocrisy, and injustice inherent in mainstream Southern culture, typically to grim ends.

While the phrase New Southern Gothic hasn’t quite reached prominence, it has been used by better writers than myself. Given that this subgenre (for lack of a better word) is less than established, I feel it’s still appropriate to apply my own coloring onto what I feel it means. To me, New Southern Gothic is a combination of modern sensibilities in regards to fiction and storytelling, such as the mainstream prominence and acceptance of once diminished genres, but also the blossoming of Southern Gothic authorship through a broader demographic of folks outside the traditional image of middle, upper class and frequently queer, white writers. To me, New Southern Gothic mandates that more voices than these must be heard and canonized. The South has always produced profound voices of all manner, but the New Southern Gothic must exist to elevate these voices that have been disproportionately stifled, and for whom opportunities have historically (and contemporarily) been far more limited. New Southern Gothic is about making room for a more complete and true image of the Southern Gothic author.

This is why I see my relationship to the New Southern Gothic as part of a journey; it is not something for me to claim, but rather something that I am fortunate enough to grow and become a small part of - a deep and real something that’s always been here, pulsing beneath the mainstream surface.

While I need to complete Codetta for my own sake, recent events in our country have activated my need to take my commitment to my fellow Southerners more seriously than I have in the past. Right now I’m simply figuring out what that means, specifically at least. But ultimately, doing my part to carve out more space for creatives that don’t necessarily look like me, especially in my home state of Alabama, is what I consider to be one of the most important things right now, at least where it concerns the intersection of my personal lifelong passions and spiritual urge to make the world a better place.

I acknowledge that I have much to learn in this realm, so please feel free to help point me in the right direction should I get anything wrong.

The New Southern Gothic is a combination of things; it’s both embracing a dark, yet important legacy, while also sowing the seeds for new life to grow from the corpse. Now reader, I would like to challenge you to something: for the next genre or literary novel you pick up for your own reading pleasure, please simply consider selecting something written by an author from a marginalized group. It doesn’t have to be Southern or Gothic, but just something written with a voice that you’ve personally yet to experience. This shouldn’t be a difficult challenge at all, but perhaps it will be just a tiny step for many that will encourage a larger growth of perspective and character.

Hopefully this was a worthwhile clarification of my perspective for anyone who may have been even remotely interested in the words I use on my silly blog. Thank you as always for reading!