Weather writing block (by Patty Blount)
This month, we Outsiders are blogging about weather and wow, has THAT been a contentious topic these past few months. Pretty sure 49 out of 50 states had snow this winter...
I love my writing craft books. I have dozens of them and every one I read teaches me something. I remember reading somewhere that authors have to be careful to avoid weather cliches. (This amuses me because last month, we blogged about cliches.) Weather cliches like "It was a dark and stormy night" or the gloom that always hangs over a Gothic setting. I'm not entirely sure why but that advice always stuck with me and then I noticed a new issue.
All of my stories had no weather.
None.
Four published novels and counting and weather is still something I need on sticky note on my monitor or I forget.
I live on Long Island and we get pretty much every type of weather there is. Sticky hot and humid. Arctic cold. Blizzards. Relentless rain. Acres of sunshine.
And yet, I forget to mention it.
In one of my favorite Nora Roberts stories, CHESAPEAKE BLUE, main characters Seth and Dru make love just as a storm rolls in. I love this scene with a passion -- for Seth, the approaching storm means 'stay and snuggle' but for Dru, it's turmoil and confusion. It's a great metaphor for both characters' personalities. Seth is very well adjusted and Dru is in the midst of some drastic life changes.
I must have some kind of weather related writing block. I don't know why it's so hard for me to remember to include weather as part of the setting. How do you use weather in your stories?
I love my writing craft books. I have dozens of them and every one I read teaches me something. I remember reading somewhere that authors have to be careful to avoid weather cliches. (This amuses me because last month, we blogged about cliches.) Weather cliches like "It was a dark and stormy night" or the gloom that always hangs over a Gothic setting. I'm not entirely sure why but that advice always stuck with me and then I noticed a new issue.
All of my stories had no weather.
None.
Four published novels and counting and weather is still something I need on sticky note on my monitor or I forget.
I live on Long Island and we get pretty much every type of weather there is. Sticky hot and humid. Arctic cold. Blizzards. Relentless rain. Acres of sunshine.
And yet, I forget to mention it.
In one of my favorite Nora Roberts stories, CHESAPEAKE BLUE, main characters Seth and Dru make love just as a storm rolls in. I love this scene with a passion -- for Seth, the approaching storm means 'stay and snuggle' but for Dru, it's turmoil and confusion. It's a great metaphor for both characters' personalities. Seth is very well adjusted and Dru is in the midst of some drastic life changes.
I must have some kind of weather related writing block. I don't know why it's so hard for me to remember to include weather as part of the setting. How do you use weather in your stories?
I find that I write in the weather I'm experiencing into books LOL! But I forget plenty of other things.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it is about weather that makes me not remember it in writing...
ReplyDeleteI am really bad about including too much weather! Nobody needs that much scene-setting, but I love describing weather for some reason.
ReplyDeleteFERAL had an ice storm that closely resembled our back-to-back horrific ice storms in '07 and '08. There was no way I WASN'T going to write about that storm. Google Springfield, MO ice storm 2007 and you'll see what I mean.
ReplyDelete