I thought I'd post this wonderful thing which I found in the introduction.

It seems satire of Gothic novels began to appear from the 1790s and showed the relative importance of things rather than character, plot or dialogue.

The satires were presented in the form of 'recipes'.
I liked this one.

Take -
An old castle, half of it ruinous.
A long gallery, with a great many doors, some secret ones.
Three murdered bodies, quite fresh.
As many skeletons, in chests and presses.
An old woman hanging by the neck; with her throat cut.
Assassins and desperadoes, 'quant.suff.'
Noise, whispers, and groans, three score at least.

Mix them together, in the form of three volumes, to be taken at any of the watering places before going to bed.

Delicious, isn't it ?!!! ;-)