Postcards #3 - Stereotypes

Rural gothic stories have to toe a fine line to work for me. Yes, stereotypes exist for a reason, but not everyone who lives in small towns or the backwoods is backwards. Too much of a disregard for people who live differently, possibly in poverty, and I start to see a caricature develop. It's unnecessary. I also think it's easy to spot when an author looks down on or actually hates certain people. It's distracting to me and kills the story. My goal when writing rural characters is to entertain, chill, maybe even scare, but hopefully in a unique and complete way, building a character who intrigues the reader enough to want to find out how a story ends.

The new stories I'm working on feel pretty good. I'm doing my best to walk along that line. It's amazing to me that stories can move forward through time, relate unfamiliar ways of thinking or doling out justice, even relate how secrets and knowledge can grow in the same soil because the complexity of human nature feeds what sprouts along the way. Even if it's tombstones.

Back to the story,

Lyndsey

Photo: Annie Spratt, Unsplash