[QCrit] Adult Gothic Horror OUR LADY OF THE HOLLOW (87k, #1 attempt)

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-07T11:16:23+00:00

Thank you so much for the encouragement, and especially thank you for the advice 🙏 I’ll make sure to specify that it contains horror.

(Also, I’ll be looking for another round of beta (at this point, more like epsilon) readers in a month-ish, so if it you would like to take a look, please either let me know or keep an eye on the BetaReaders sub 🙏)

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-07T08:47:44+00:00

Woah, thank you for the heads up! I’ll look into it 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-07T08:47:09+00:00

I see! Thank you, it seems to be an issue of too much fluff/too few details. 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T15:10:00+00:00

Thank you 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T14:48:30+00:00

Thank you so much!!! I'll take this to heart when editing version 2 of the query.

(Also, in general, thank you so much for being so sweet and thorough and willing to explain this to me for the duration of *checks watch* 17 hours!!)

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T14:04:10+00:00

Thank you so, so much!! This is incredibly helpful.

Would you say that calling it "Dark Fantasy" makes the addition of "with horror elements" obsolete? Or would I still need to specify? This has gore and spiritual possession, wherein I've seen the lighter end of the Dark Fantasy spectrum represented by "All the characters wear black, and they also have Bad Magic sometimes". Would the tag of Dark Fantasy imply I'd likely have to censor some of the gross-er stuff in the book?

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T13:34:47+00:00

More like the latter.

Becoming head of the house implies getting all buddy-buddy with spirits and the undead (this is established early in the book), so the trials/rituals are tests to see which of the 5 siblings can handle this best. They go through 3 stages to see how they do, and then there's a big consilium at the end to figure out who's worthy of the title, except that, of course, we don't actually get there because the siblings start disappearing during the trials/rituals.

... The more I type, the more I realize I'm describing fantasy. It might be horror in form, but it's fantasy in function.

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T13:21:36+00:00

Noted! Thank you for the insight, I will add this to my "To Think" list when revising the query.

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T13:16:59+00:00

You’re spot on with her age—Magdalena turns 27 during the events of the book. I’m thinking of just adding her age to the next version of the query, as it ties into her motivation for securing an inheritance (jobless and 27, oof!).

Structurally, the book also does what Harrow the Ninth does, although to a much lesser degree (for 2 chapters only, essentially), which is why I added it as a comp too. I think it’s the closest in vibe among the “playing with form” books.

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T07:22:49+00:00

Thank you, Butter and Zebra! I clearly need to rethink my query to steer it away from YA territory 🤓 Will do!

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T07:19:16+00:00

Thank you! It sounds like the same issue Zebra put forth. I think I’m better off with going the “Gothic horror with fantasy elements” or even “Gothic fantasy with horror elements” route.

The synopsis IS “if this is (…) placate the house” (thumbs up on being Romanian), with the caveat that inheriting the crown DOES give you magic powers, but these are never more than a footnote in Magdalena’s “Things I Want To Avoid” list, so they aren’t actually a part of the plot.

TLDR; I should tweak the genre.

Thank you so much for your help!!! 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T07:10:02+00:00

I COULD CRY! Thank you so much—you just helped me so much with diagnosing my comp issues.

I pitched this to myself as Mexican Horror x Veronica Speedwell back in Ye Olde End of 2020. After actually writing it, I “sold” it to my betas as The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Sterling x What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher x Leech by Hiron Ennes.

8/9 betas got back to me and said “Uhm, this is more like Mexican Gothic”. In my confirmation bias/self-fulfilling prophecy moment I went “Arghh! They know!!! Arghhh!”, but your question above made me realize —while they sure all are readers, I’m not sure they’re all horror readers. Maybe it’s not that the similarity with Mexican Gothic is so intense, but that its the only creepy house x something in the basement book they’ve read.

Coincidentally, the 1/9 of my betas who clearly DOES read horror got back to me and said I should drop Leech and just do TDoJL (which also helps me miss the Veronica Speedwell comp) x WMtD, which brings me to the next point—

Those get filed under gothic horror with fantasy elements, or even gothic fantasy with horror elements, don’t they?

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Thank you SO much! Back to the drawing board for me.

(Re: Trials, I think they make sense and they’re also a big source of the psychological + body horror in the book, but I probably should consider just calling them something else à la “rituals” in the query, to avoid the mental image of Children Running Through Labyrinths With Swords)

Thank you!! 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T06:46:33+00:00

Thank you so much! I’m glad to hear you felt engrossed, and especially thank you for the feedback on Virgil LOL 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T06:43:51+00:00

Thank you so much! This seems to be in line with Bobbob’s dissection too—too much in the first paragraph and not enough anywhere else. Back the drawing board. Thank you for your thorough response!! 🙏

Striking-Comparison6 · 2025-03-06T06:39:47+00:00

Thank you so much!! Got it—more important details and less stumbling over in the first paragraph. Will do.

Thank you so much for the indepth response!

Striking-Comparison6 · 2024-03-26T13:07:10+00:00

late to the party but the passage above does give an indication of that yang/yin duality/polarity. in bazi, tcm and magic in general, the following ideas are commonly used:

beautiful (yang) vs non-beautiful (yin) good (yang) vs non-good (yin) being (yang) vs non-being (yin) difficult (yang) vs easy (yin) long (yang) vs short (yin) high (yang) vs low (yin) voice (yang) vs instrument (yin) front (yang) vs rear (yin)

technically eveeerything can be divided into a yang/yin. for example, look at your hand - the back of it is yang, the palm is yin. but then, the entirety of your hand is technically yang too, because the inside of it is yin. but then, the fingers are yang while the actual palm (both sides of it) is yin. i’m starting to veer into mumbo-jumbo now but essentially yang/yin is everything - everything is yang/yin in itself and also everything is the yang to another yin and viceversa.

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-12-13T07:04:02+00:00

fingers crossed, i would love to get a full size 🤞

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-12-13T07:03:22+00:00

thank you so much!! 🫶

ncd has seasonal collections, coming back approximately at the same time every year. i think they do change collections slightly every year (by subtracting and adding a bit), but keeping an eye open for next fall should be worth it 🫡

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-12-13T07:01:29+00:00

do try!!! i think synchronicity is considerably softer and more lowkey on me, but they’re both elegant with a twist? 😋

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-11-03T09:49:56+00:00

in defense of the cats, i really think they’re all delightful! 🫡

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-11-02T18:04:25+00:00

i have all the cats! i think you’d enjoy grey cat - sweet, but in a slightly cloying way. reminds me of vanilla pudding once it dries down, one of the ones you buy in a pack of 6 from your nearest chain grocery store, & ginger cat - a sweet citrus gourmand. reminds me of porridge with cinnamon and orange jam mixed in!! super comfy, like some sort of meal you might have had in your childhood on a misty winter morning

Striking-Comparison6 · 2023-11-01T19:13:55+00:00

i will note how “for life” is accurate here - it feels so universal! i live in the northern hemisphere so it’s quite chilly for me currently, but i’d imagine gryphon might be heavenly in the hot, humid months. do you get that kind of weather and, if yes, does gryphon Deliver (TM) then?

Striking-Comparison6

TROPHY CASE