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?


Comments

  1. I find that I write in the weather I'm experiencing into books LOL! But I forget plenty of other things.

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  2. I don't know what it is about weather that makes me not remember it in writing...

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  3. I am really bad about including too much weather! Nobody needs that much scene-setting, but I love describing weather for some reason.

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  4. FERAL 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.

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