Talk About The Weather

This first appeared as a post on 12/16/10.

There comes a time in every writer’s life when one sits down to do one’s daily duty — yes, I’m talking about writing, wipe that smirk off your face –  and stares at the page or the computer screen — and has. Nothing. To. Say.

Oh, there’s stuff to be said, sure, and you know what scene needs written next, and what ought to happen within the coming character arc and all that — but how does it start? What words do you use to launch that bloody double damned pile of excremental garbage into actual readable prose?

My usual strategy: Talk about the weather. It’s boring, it’s safe, it’s easy, and by the time I finish detailing the crispness of fall, or the snow-laced trees, or the heat shimmering over the sand, something generally shifts over and tumbles me into a full steam attack on the scene I needed to write.

Weather is more pervasive than many people realize. Even when writing an indoors scene, for example, the weather is visible: either through windows, or in the way the cold creeps in through the cracks, or the overpowering heat that smothers all attempts at air conditioning.

Ask yourself: How are the characters reacting to the ambient temperature and humidity? What are they wearing in response to the weather? If it’s pouring rain outside and they’re wearing t-shirt and shorts, they’re probably not going outside anytime soon; if they’re in full rain gear, they’re headed out the door. Either way, there’s the beginning of some action in the scene, and a tool to take your character into the dreadful disaster you have planned for them. (Or, err, the joyous resolution. Not that I write about those all that much…)

What memories does the weather bring back for your characters? Maybe the heroine first made love during a terrible thunderstorm (obviously displaying nerves of steel, right there); maybe the hero wrecked his first car on black ice (and lived to tell about it, thus displaying either really good reactions or a tendency towards amazing luck).  Plans can be derailed by the weather; for the gamer-geek types out there, try drawing up a chart of possible weather patterns, and throw dice at critical moments in the plot to see if everything’s about to get a whole lot harder than expected. (A snowstorm showing up in the south, during the height of summer? Now, that’s a whole plot line of its own! Alternately, a drought during the rainy season can really screw things up.)

On days when you personally see freaky or exceptionally interesting weather in your area, take a few moments and scribble notes about it. Then, when you need to ease into a day’s writing, you can pull out the relevant weather/season descriptions and plop them into place; adjusting for the specific setting (those trees aren’t red maples, they’re Andobligon Fire Trees) and characters (the woodland tracker can identify the Silver Eared Clover Beetles, but City Bitch ain’t got a chance of naming those suckers).

Who’da thunk it? Talking about the weather can be useful for something other than avoiding conflict at parties. So go forth, now, and play in the rain (or snow, or sandstorm, or whatever amuses you the most).