Why Midwestern Gothic Fiction is the Next Big Genre

PERCEPTION: A Novel of Family, Secrets, and Redemption

First came SPIRIT, with its slowly building drama and Lucy's personal risk amid a white supremacist movement in a small Midwestern town.

PERCEPTION followed, bringing Mia forward and revealing her Haitian childhood and the strained relationship with her father after she moved to his Indiana hometown where she had to navigate a radical cultural shift and the unwelcoming community who saw her an an outsider.

This is part of a growing trend called Midwestern Gothic Fiction.

We like to believe that the bucolic farmlands surrounding these small communities provide a buffer from the horrors of evil. But they merely spotlight them.

Building a series out of personal tragedy is a tricky business. Weaving in the potential for growth as the story unfolds is part of the puzzle. What are the problems facing the world, and how does a small community overcome them? Better yet, how does our protagonist grab on and push through?

It begins with paying attention, dare I say, to the news. Bigger, global issues affect us all differently depending on our pasts, our current lives, and the lives we anticipate. The Midwestern United States, seemingly innocuous and safe, is just as prone to mistreatment, prejudice, hate, revenge, and long-held secrets as the rest of the world. Add to that the multitude of natural disasters, such as tornadoes, floods, and drought, that put a strain on these communities.

How do the decisions of our local and national governments affect these hardships? Health care, poverty, infrastructure, and the social safety net? The protagonist's life has so many angles, perspectives, tragedies, and conundrums to consider. The antagonist, too, is formed by this environment. This is what makes storytelling so fun.

My next novel, INSIGHT, will expose many of the trappings of Midwest Gothic as Nora Winterfield takes center stage. She's rough around the edges but loveable all the same as she tackles 'the list', An ever-growing tally of challenging, uncomfortable, yet necessary personal tasks that eventually help her blossom as brightly as her mother's neglected garden reborn. Everyone deserves a second chance.

INSIGHT takes us back to Drake, Iowa, and revisits some of our favorite characters from SPIRIT. We have to be patient, though. It's a process. But I'm on it.

P. S. The cover image for INSIGHT is a mock up, not the final cover.