I love Rough Draft challenges, and this year’s is no different. This November I hope to finish a Gothic Women’s Fiction story that my agent is waiting for, and I’m spending most of October planning for it. I also have a manuscript due October 11, so for the next few weeks all I’ll be doing is writing and preparing to write. The only difference this year is that I’m focusing on two stories that have gothic elements woven into the romances–perfect for this spooky season.
There’s something about a haunted house that makes a love story come alive. It’s not just the creaking floorboards or the moaning wind outside broken shutters—it’s the way fear sharpens our senses. When characters step into a darkened hallway, lantern in hand, every sound and shadow becomes a test. Who can they trust? Who will stand beside them in the face of the unknown?
In romance, we often talk about external conflict, the obstacles keeping our characters apart. Haunted houses take that to the next level. The ghosts, whether literal or metaphorical, strip everything down to raw humanity. In the half-light, two people see one another’s courage and flaws with startling clarity. There’s no pretense in a haunted house, no tidy facade. Fear and love, strangely, both thrive in that kind of vulnerability.
Think of gothic classics like Jane Eyre with its locked rooms and echoing halls, Rebecca with its suffocating Manderley, even Wuthering Heights with its storm-lashed windows. The houses themselves aren’t just settings, they’re mirrors, amplifying passion, jealousy, grief, and desire. A haunted setting heightens emotion, forces intimacy, and reveals truths that daylight might allow us to ignore. For writers, especially those of us sharpening our pencils (or keyboards) to write rough drafts this November, haunted houses can be more than spooky décor.
Haunted houses can be writing fuel. They can help us raise stakes, deepen emotional resonance, and push our characters into the heart of their conflict. And they don’t have to be literal. Haunted settings can be a family home with secrets, or rooms where arguments were whispered, or memories were buried. Or a public place that carries weight such as the café where the heroine’s first love once broke her heart. Even a natural landscape such as a windswept mountain, a dark forest, a frozen lake. Places that echo with loss or possibility. Finally, there’s the character’s own mind haunted not by ghosts, but by grief, regret, or longing.
✍️ Preptober Writing Checklist: Haunted Settings
If you’re outlining your November Rough Draft project, try weaving in haunted settings—real or metaphorical. Use this checklist to brainstorm:
- Where is your character most vulnerable?
Put them in a place that strips away defenses. - What is the house/setting hiding?
Ghosts? Family secrets? A locked drawer of old letters? - How does fear draw characters closer?
Do they cling to each other in the dark, or does fear drive them apart before pulling them back together? - What physical details mirror the emotional conflict?
- A locked room = hidden feelings.
- Broken windows = trust shattered.
- A flickering candle = hope almost lost.
- How does the haunted place change by the end?
Does it remain dark? Or do your lovers reclaim it, lighting it with love?
Haunted houses aren’t just about ghosts. They’re about hearts laid bare. They remind us that love shines brightest against a backdrop of fear.
As you prep for this November’s Rough Draft Challenge, consider adding a haunted place to your story. Let the creaking floorboards and darkened corners force your lovers to face what they’d rather hide. Fear can sharpen love, heighten tension, and reveal truths no sunny meadow ever could. And that’s why, for me, haunted houses will always make the most romantic settings of all.
Regardless of what you’re writing this November, it still pays to do a bit of prep work to keep yourself organized. So below I’ve added quick checklist of things to think about before you begin, with links to other writers who know way more than I do! Some of what you see below is the same as last year (and the year before that), but I’ve also added links to some wonderful writing YouTubers who offer great advice–for beginner and advanced writers. Many of these videos also come with links for free printables. This list, the first in a series, is a guideline to help you mentally prepare to write a rough draft in November.
We all write different things in different ways, so change/add/delete whatever works for you! I’m also working on an annotated bibliography here on the website that is available for free to anyone who is interested. While I would never presume to tell another writer how to write a book, I am a reference librarian who is good at organizing and making lists of resources for authors at all stages of their careers.
Now on to the planning:
- Choose the title, genre/sub-genre, and length of the story.
- Check your calendar/schedule for November and set aside days and times you know you can write. Do it now before your schedule fills up! (Here is another video from Sarra that offers a free Preptober Planning Guide with a full calendar)
- Set up your Scrivener or Word file. Play around with templates. (Alexa Donne, another great YouTuber and author, has some great videos on how to set up Scrivener for beginners and for Scrivener for advanced writers. Bethany Atazadeh, another great YouTuber and author, has this great tutorial on tips for setting up a Word document for a complete novel.)
- Write a logline: Who, what, when/where, how, & why (See Hauge, Michael, Selling Your Story in Sixty Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Story Read, Michael Wiese Productions, 2006 for a great walkthrough on how to do this.)
- Decide on the type plot structure you want to follow and jot down the basics you already know. (Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheets, The Hero’s Journey, etc. See the annotated bibliography for more resources) Plottr, the online writing app, is also a great resource and it comes with a free 30-day trial.
- Make a list of character names and roles they play in the story. (primary and secondary)
- Brainstorm your characters’ traits, personalities, etc. and create character summary sheets (Enneagram? Archetypes?)
- If you have any ideas of scenes you already know, journal about them quickly. Just get them down before you forget.
- Decide on a setting and do some preliminary research.
- Buy the perfect writing candle to light for inspiration while you write. (Not a necessity, but fun to do)
- Fill out a world-building questionnaire (especially if writing sci-fi or fantasy or paranormal).
- Research ways to build a series bible, if necessary for your story/series/world. (Here’s another video by Bethany Atazadeh on building a Story Bible)
- Create a writing music playlist or white noise.
- Plan rewards and reward system.
- Pre-plan easy meals for November, maybe even make some and freeze ahead.
- Choose a new writing craft book to read this month. (some suggestions below)
- Stock up on snacks/coffee/tea/treats for November.
- Find other writing friends/accountability partners.
- Clean and prepare your writing space.
- Buy whatever office supplies you may need (notecards, highlighters, colored markers, etc).
- Buy a new journal and begin brainstorming your story outline.
Abbreviated Writing Craft Bibliography
BELOW are a few books on my ONGOING LIST OF FAVORITE WRITING CRAFT BOOKS, ALPHABETICAL BY AUTHOR’S LAST NAME:
Bell, James Scott, Write Your Novel from the Middle, 2014.
Bork, Erik, The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage, or Fiction, 2018.
D’Costa, H.R., Sparkling Story Drafts: How to Outline Your Way Toward Cleaner Rough Drafts, Reduce Your Revision Time, and Get a First-Rate Screenplay or Novel onto the Marketplace, 2018.
Hauge, Michael, Selling Your Story in Sixty Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Story Read, 2006.
Hauge, Michael, Storytelling Made Easy, 2017
Hayes, Gwen, Romancing the Beat, 2016
Henley, Jodi, Practical Emotional Structure: An Easy to Understand Plain-English Guide to Emotional Theory and the Transformational Character Arc, 2013.
Weiland, K.M., Outlining Your Novel, 2013.
Weiland, K.M., Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story, 2013.
