Climate
I stood in the 10th floor kitchen of the office building I work in for a few more weeks and looked at the jagged blue of the foothills. Towering behind them was a vertical field of white, white clouds.
Bright sunlight tinted sun yellow lit the city streets below. Denver was having warm weather, but only one look out those windows spoke of a storm in the mountains that would eventually spill over the foothills and stream into the city. In the evening. Or in the night dark.
Then rain and sleet and snow would come and make the streets cold and wet.
I’ve lived in Denver most of my life and this phenomena isn’t new, and I know of it. Outsiders, aliens, the few transplants from New Orleans we have might not understand this.
How much do your characters know of the climate around them? Are they sensative to it or not?
How do you use the climate to set the tone of your book? Do you use it as an additional character?
What if you read the above paragraphs and I added: She opened the mailbox and her heart lurched at the familiar writing on the envelope, the return address.
What if I added: And something that preferred the cold and dark and wet came out to prowl the streets.
What if I said: The sweet melancholy of autumn sifted through her and made her smile. Today was an ending and a heady beginning.
See how you can do this. What you can do with description and climate.
May weather stir your story today.
Robin
Bright sunlight tinted sun yellow lit the city streets below. Denver was having warm weather, but only one look out those windows spoke of a storm in the mountains that would eventually spill over the foothills and stream into the city. In the evening. Or in the night dark.
Then rain and sleet and snow would come and make the streets cold and wet.
I’ve lived in Denver most of my life and this phenomena isn’t new, and I know of it. Outsiders, aliens, the few transplants from New Orleans we have might not understand this.
How much do your characters know of the climate around them? Are they sensative to it or not?
How do you use the climate to set the tone of your book? Do you use it as an additional character?
What if you read the above paragraphs and I added: She opened the mailbox and her heart lurched at the familiar writing on the envelope, the return address.
What if I added: And something that preferred the cold and dark and wet came out to prowl the streets.
What if I said: The sweet melancholy of autumn sifted through her and made her smile. Today was an ending and a heady beginning.
See how you can do this. What you can do with description and climate.
May weather stir your story today.
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 6:00 AM
5 Comments:
You should come to the tropics some time, Robin. It's either sunshinybright.... or slashingrain. Of course we do have our funny times.. pale sunshine cutting through a mist of rain. The locals would rush indoors because this is supposed to be the time for ghosts to walk. And if you got caught in this type of rain, you'd fall ill. You should pay Malaysia a visit, it's a place where paranormal is normal. Mostly.
Lili Saintcrow just posted a paragraph about the climate in the Northwest, our rains have started big time. I am using both climate paragraphs to work with my students on sensory details. Thanks for making my lesson easier.
Wow, Roslyn, you have your climate nailed! And I was in Hawaii in December once and don't think I've ever been so wet as being caught in a rainstorm.
Diane, you don't know how heart warming your message was. Most authors do have an inner need to "give back" (my Free Your Artist page on the website and this blog), so to know we help is great!
Thanks
Then again, there are times when the air is so thick, you feel like you're wading through a soup and your head throbs as if it's being steamed oh-so-slowly. Like now.
Thank God for air conditioners.
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