So today is World Goth Day – rock on guys and gals. I saw the post on facebook and twitter this morning and it brought a huge smile to my early morning confused look. It also brought back some fab memories.
When I was writing Midnight Wine, I was already pretty clued up on most things vampire, legends, literature, folklore etc., but realised that I knew very little about the Goth culture, apart from overhearing Sisters of Mercy once on a bus. This was a problem as one of my main characters was a Goth. And one thing I won’t do is make assumptions. One, because they usually turn out wrong, and two, my character deserved better. (For those of you who have read Midnight Wine, I’m referring to Darius.)
So, how to go about the necessary research? Well, I guess I struck lucky there. I was having a grumble about not knowing who to go to for advice when a family member pointed me in the right direction. Hm, dark horse, I think.
I didn’t know what to expect, other than jet black hair, pale face, black eyeliner, and black clothes. There had to be more to these guys than that. And there is!
Little did I know just how far this was going to go? After a very short ‘interview’, I found myself, and my long suffering hubbie (bless him), being invited to the annual Vampyre Ball, to be held in a supposedly haunted fort in Portsmouth that year. Was I interested? Was I!
The event was being organised by The London Vampyre Group who were more than happy for two outsiders to ‘crash’ their party. I was really excited about it all, but what to wear? At the time, we were fifty somethings who had enjoyed the hell out of the 60’s and the hippie era, but when the Goths came on the scene we were tied up with babies and military careers, so we missed out on that. A quick reccie of the LVG’s website showed the members to be mostly in their twenties or early thirties, so we weren’t convinced that we weren’t going along as ‘supper’.
I’m pretty nifty with a sewing machine, even though I do say so! So costumes for the evening weren’t too much of a problem. Besides, I loved the idea of vamping it up accompanied by my own Lestat! I was threatened that if we were the only ones looking like Dracula and his Mrs. there would be a bit of domestic bother, but we needn’t have worried, the vampires were out in force. We had a fabulous time and became instant converts to Goth music and culture. (Much to the dismay of our sons who saw it as their parents behaving badly). And we met some really fabulous and interesting people.
That’s nice, I hear you say, but it didn’t end there. These fabulous and interesting people then invited us to accompany them on a two week trip to Transylvania! No discussion necessary, we were going!
Apart from vamping it up for two weeks, and visiting the various Dracula sites, we really got to know these guys. And if ever there was a case for not judging a book by its cover, the Goths win the prize! I can honestly say that I have never been in the company of a group of such intelligent and genuinely interesting people as I was during those two weeks. All of the guys knew why we were there, and didn’t give a hoot about my constant scribbling of notes under my voluminous black cloak. There were times when I felt like their granny, but that wasn’t because they thought of us that way, we were accepted and befriended instantly.
Darius was ‘born’ on that trip, not telling you who he was based on – just in case! And I cherish the memories. Thinking especially about the nights on the plum brandy!
Midnight Wine (Father Beckett Vampire thrillers)
So rock on guys, enjoy World Goth Day! I’m off to see what’s left in the wardrobe.
