People are always talking about the weather…at least in real life, so why not in your book? Weather can have an incredible impact…not only in real life, but in fiction as well. It is constantly affecting us, so why shouldn’t it be included in any story you tell? It can be used to set a mood, suggest events yet to come, or act as a complication to the aims of the characters, and calling attention to the weather makes the world seem real, inviting the readers to experience the story more fully. Even just a bit of weather will enhance the interest in your story.
If you don’t involve the weather, you not only fail to use an effective tool, but also your readers might have a vague feeling that something is missing…fortunately a quick mention is all that’s needed. Right at the beginning of a scene, just make a quick remark about the weather, then move on. Your readers will picture the scene more fully and feel included. Just as you don’t want talking heads in a dark room, you don’t want to leave the whole world in the dark…enlighten your readers with a general setting of weather. If you don’t…if there is never rain, snow, or wind…and the temperature is a constant mild warm, then it must be a future story, and the climate is under total control…of the government. Hmmm….
Weather as a Description
When you’re adding in the weather as a minor scene setting, you have a rare opportunity to Tell, not Show, so take advantage of it! However, you may find that the best way is actually not to tell what the weather is…but to show how your characters are reacting to it. (There we are, back to Show, don’t Tell.) The weather by itself could be, and should be, boring, but how people respond to it is critical. Be certain to use plenty of good, solid, descriptive words, with as many of the senses as you can. It isn’t just cold—the wind is whistling around the corner of the house making Amy’s cheeks burn.
Weather to Avoid
Be aware of the many clichés that abound when discussing the weather:
- Rain: lashing, ducks, parades, never rains but pours, depressing, funerals, mixing with tears, end of the rainbow giving hope
- Clouds: on horizons, silver linings, confused, unclear, foggy
- Storms: lull before, brewing, sideways trees, hell or high water, trouble, change
- Sun: baking, rain or shine, broad daylight, happiness, cloudless afternoon
- Snow: white stuff, nipping at noses, bone chilling, winter wonderland, pure as, cleansing
This is just a quick list, so take your pick…and avoid them all. Instead, skip the first description that comes to mind and see if you can come up with something new and original.
Even better, consider the effect of the weather rather than the weather itself. As with all your descriptive pieces, include as many of the senses as you can…how does the weather sound, smell, taste, feel…as well as how it appears. Do the characters have to stop talking because the rain is so loud, or is the lightning so close that they can smell the ozone, or does the flavour of snowflakes on the tongue remind them of childhood? Be creative.
Just be certain to avoid On the Nose Writing where you describe some particular condition, then a character says or thinks exactly what that condition is supposed to mean. Use plenty of metaphors…and make up new ones!
Weather as a Writing Tool
Besides using weather to depict scenes, you can use it to indicate the mood of the characters, hint at some symbolism, or act as a complicating factor.
Mood: To establish the feeling of a scene, a sunshiny day will make your reader feel warm and happy…and an approaching storm will encourage them to anticipate upcoming dread. Also, instead of just watching out for those clichés mentioned earlier, you might want to flip them upside-down. Don’t have the character’s tears masked by rain, have such a bright sunshiny day that it seems the whole world is untouched by her difficulties…deepening her emotional pit—she’s the only one who feels that bad, isolating her even more.
Symbolism: Snow, softly falling on a clear winter night, could make a character pine for home and Christmas…even if he’s in a foxhole in the midst of combat. Your characters could even portray weather. Are any of them so bright and sunny that they are welcome wherever they go? Have any thundered his words? Or storm across a room? Use weather in descriptions and actions, hinting at ambiguous results…bad weather can make a scene more suspenseful, and a sunny day foretells a happy ending.
Complication: Your main character is about to solve the immediate problem…when a sudden downpour interrupts his search of the river bank. You can easily introduce more complications to the story by dropping in some weather. The worst of it is that the characters can’t really do anything about it—the weather isn’t under their control…even if you’re writing a fantasy novel (though it is under your control, so do something about it!).
More Weather
Picture a 90th birthday party…the guests are all sitting around, quietly chatting, and the guest of honour is wandering through the crowd…when suddenly a storm strikes. If it’s an outdoor party, everyone might rush for cover, but the birthday girl instead dances in the rain, enjoying the chance to get away from all the formality. If it’s an indoor party, the power might go out, but instead of calling it quits and everyone going home, they just pull out their phones, light the room, and continue with the party.
—Don’t do the expected.
Picture an early spring morn…a slight fog filtering the sun’s rays, the sound of birds echoing across the field, frogs croaking down by the creek…and soldiers crawling through the mud. Use the weather to emphasise the discrepancies…bad news on a sunny beach, marriage proposal during a lull in the storm, bad guy surrounded by police on a warm summer afternoon.
—Contrasts make the details more intense.