An often overlooked area in Fantasy is the naming of characters. Some writers just don't take the trouble to invent decent names, but it's so easy! The best way is to take a word (any word, but the longer the better), mix up the letters and then pick out some names. Easy! The trick is giving the right names to the right characters.
2. No matter what your story is about, stick a picture of a space ship on the cover. Preferably one with yellow and black stripes.
Gothic horror got a bit bogged down in the 19th century, and its icons were employed fairly arbitrarily in an attempt to secure sales. You only had to mention fog-covered moors and you were stuck with the Gothic label, even if you were writing a gardening book. This, in fact, was exactly how Gothic Romance came into being, as well as the lesser known sub genres Gothic Western, Gothic Crime and Gothic Historical Fiction. Gothic Light Romantic Comedy was another spin-off but it never really caught on.
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