Choose a time period for your Gothic tale. Your story may be set in any time period of your preference, for example, the 16th century, the early 20th century or present day.
Choose a setting for your story. Start by choosing a country. Several popular Gothic tales are set in Italy, Spain and England. Other authors like Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner set their Gothic stories in America. Next, choose a more specific location for the story. Gothic tales often unfold in settings such as a convent, a boarding school, an old family estate in the country or an abandoned manor.
Create your main character. Include attributes such as gender, age, occupation and number and the character's relatives and friends. Gothic stories often revolve around a female character who is antagonized by a villainous male.
Come up with an antagonist who creates conflict or problems for your main character. Antagonists in Gothic fiction usually have a good deal of power, whether through wealth or social position. They are often tyrannical males who try to control or possess female protagonists who are damsels in distress.
Draft your story. Emphasize the feelings and emotions of characters. Gothic fiction is concerned with the psychological. Develop the inner thoughts of your main character to let the reader to see into her mind.
Build tension by creating an eerie setting, revealing anxieties in your characters and adding some supernatural elements such as unexplained sounds or sights. This tension should lead to a climactic event such as a rape, murder or horrific discovery.
Decide how to resolve the conflict following the climactic event. Your story may end with the antagonist being brought to justice or it may end in a cliff-hanger. Whatever conclusion you write, remember that Gothic stories often lack a full resolution and instead leaves some loose ends and questions for the reader.