Saturday, April 27, 2019

April's Round Robin Blog


Our Round Robin topic for April asks: Does the season ever play a part in your setting? How do you think seasons affect setting and plot either physically or metaphorically?

Writers are always looking for ways to enhance the drama in their plots and the nuances of their characters. Just as we sometimes use the weather to create a mood or direct the way a scene goes so we can make use of the seasons in both our settings and in our characters’ moods.

I have certainly used the seasons in my books. In my first Regency romance my character, Emmaline, is abducted on a perfect September afternoon. By the time she is rescued and returns home, it is a whole month later and the trees in the estate park have already turned colour. In the second Regency, a lot of the book takes place at sea and in Jamaica, but Juliana calculates that she left England in January and it’s now September. In both books, the seasons are not plot lines, but more indicate the timeline.

Janet Evanovitch, in One for the Money, uses the season to describe Stephanie Plum’s New Jersey ‘hood: During summer months, the air sat still and gauzy, leaden with humidity, saturated with hydrocarbons. It shimmered over hot cement and melted road tar.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling writes of fall: Autumn seemed to arrive early that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and golden as an apple.

Everyone seems to love spring, with its hopeful sense of the summer to come, but Charles Dickens writes: Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade, which speaks to the duality in this more than any other season of the year.

In the movie The Winter Guest, set in northern Scotland, the husband of Emma Thompson’s character Frances, dies suddenly, leaving Frances distraught. Her mother (in real life as well as in the movie) played by Phyllida Law, comes to stay with her. The film opens with a shot of the mother walking across frozen fields and with the camera later panning across a frozen sea. I’m not sure that Frances’ grief would have seemed so soul-deep if this story had been set during any other season but winter. The bleakness of the setting seemed to represent the bleakness in her soul and vice versa.

Just as light and shade and the time of day can influence the moods we try to create in our story, so can the season. Let’s take a look at what opinions these authors might have.



21 comments:

  1. Victoria, I was particularly taken with your last example: the frozen landscape shadowing and deepening the inner anguish. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great examples, Victoria. Enjoyed your post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your use of winter was an awesome example of how a season and all it implies can impact the feeling in the story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The film was directed by the late Alan Rickman and the images created have stayed with me for years.

      Delete
  4. Your examples were right on the money. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved your examples, Victoria. I still haven't read any of the Stephanie Plum books, although they've been on my tbr for ages. Your post has reminded me that I've been meaning to read them, as they sound just the sort of books I'd like! I really enjoyed your post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. Interesting topic. In my Novel, Tangle of Time, the local peasants in a medieval Yorkshire village, have to cope with dismal and dark November weather.On the positive side, they get to stay in bed longer. December comes in... "the days grew colder as winter nibbled at the edge of soggy November."

      Delete
  7. Since I’m a pantzer, my settings are in the season when I start to write the book. That works well when the book is set in Calgary because I simply walk outside to “research” the setting.
    Love your examples!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And wasn't research easy yesterday? Have shovelled snow this morning and hope it's the last until next season.

      Delete
  8. Good post with great examples of seasons from Janet Evanovitch and JK Rowling. Beverley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Janet Evanovitch quote stayed with me ever since I read that book, and the J.K. Rowling one seemed appropriate as September is my birthday month and my favourite month of the year. I still love Keats' Ode to Autumn.

      Delete
  9. Great examples in your thoughtful blog post. Maybe seasons help to set the mood because we deal with the changing four seasons believing it's a universal experience. But what about those children who live in the tropics? Even the kids in Florida who have never seen snow? Could they understand how cold the end of your nose can feel or identify with the magnificent miracle of leaves changing their colors in the autumn? Thank goodness for books who can give them a taste of the changing seasons. JQ Rose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seasons certainly do change depending on where you live in the world. Thanks for dropping in.

      Delete
    2. Great examples from a variety of writers. Like this post a lot.

      Delete
    3. Thanks, Judy. This was a fun post.

      Delete