Our Round RobinTopic this month asks have you noticed how weather is used in writing? How have you used weather in
your writing? Drama? Mood? Revelation?
I
can never think of writing weather related scenes without recalling the
oft-quoted line ‘It was a dark and stormy night’. The quote may well be
remembered, but perhaps less so is the rest of the sentence.
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals,
when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for
it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and
fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the
darkness.
This
is the opening to Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1830 Gothic novel Paul Clifford and what a scene it conjures up, especially with that
wind ‘rattling along the housetops’. You can bet your last dollar nothing good
is coming out of this situation.
In 1983 the English Department of San Jose
State University decided to sponsor a competition for the worst opening
sentences. They had no idea how popular the response would be. There is now an
annual competition with several sub-categories. For the list of 2015 winners check
out www.bulwer-lytton.com/2015.html. There is even a Dark and Stormy Night cocktail made from
ginger beer and zaya rum courtesy of the Swig Bar in San Francisco. Schultz had
his cartoon character, Snoopy, sitting on top of his kennel with his typewriter
and starting his novel with that line.
Weather in novels or movies can be a huge
catalyst for disaster which in turn creates conflict. Think of the aftermath
provided by the hurricanes in the Wizard of Oz and Twister, snow and cold in
The Shining and The Day After Tomorrow. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s novel Heat and
Dust portrays those elements in India and in the thriller Smokescreen, set in
South Africa, heat creates all sorts of problems for Dick Francis’s character
Edward Lincoln.
In my own writing I’ve used a bright, sunny day
to depict my hero’s sense of well-being. This fact lulls him into a feeling of
contentment which is then shattered when he arrives home to find his wife is
missing. During the subsequent hue and cry, a heavy rainstorm brings more
drama. In viewing a misty autumn morning my heroine muses on the passage of
time. The last time she looked on this scene it had been spring time. The use
of the weather in each of these scenes enhances or heightens the conflict for
my characters and is as useful a writing tool as using the play of light and
dark to create interest.
See how these authors make use of the weather in their writing:
Skye
Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax http://helenafairfax.com/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-EP
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax http://helenafairfax.com/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-EP
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com
