Gothic Diction Exercises – Part I

Practice Exercises for Mastery

These will train your instinct for tone, atmosphere, and diction transformation.

EXERCISE 1 — Transform Neutral Sentences into Gothic

Rewrite each in three subgenres of your choice.

1. The room was quiet.

2. She walked into the house.

3. The door was old.

4. Wind blew outside.

5. He sat at the table.

EXERCISE 2 — Build Gothic Atmosphere from a Prompt

Expand these prompts into a 2–3 sentence Gothic micro-scene:

• An abandoned portrait in a hallway.

• A locked drawer that rattles at night.

• Footsteps on the floor above an empty room.

• A letter sealed with wax no one recognizes.

EXERCISE 3 — Diction Upgrade

Replace the neutral word with 5 Gothic variants.

EXERCISE 4 — Subgenre Identification

Write the same sentence in each subgenre:

“She opened the door and stepped inside.”

Versions needed:

• High Gothic

• Victorian Gothic

• Gothic Romance

• Modern Gothic

• Southern Gothic

• Dark Fantasy

• Gothic Fairy Tale

EXERCISE 5 — Sensory Expansion

Take one sensory detail and expand it:

Example prompt: The air felt cold.
Turn it into:

• sight

• sound

• smell

• touch

• emotion