I had an oil delivery today and with it came the Farmer’s Almanac Country Calendar. With majestic and inspiring seasonal photos and snippets of stories from farmer’s almanacs that spanned several centuries, the perusal through the pages representing each month gave me thought to the visuals of storytelling.
Seasons tell a story. They are also a part of every story you read, whether used as a descriptive show of the character’s environment or as a way to set mood.
To me, seasons are all about moving forward, hope for the future, new adventures, celebrating past accomplishments and accessing the goals that didn’t quite get completed.
There are things I love about each season. And things that I would just as soon not have to experience. Each season has its own feel, scent, look, taste, sound. Each of these are things we might not notice every time we step out the door or back into our living space, because they are part of our environment. Things we take for granted. Things that are familiar to us—or not familiar at all. And that familiarity or lack of familiarity also has an impact on us.
Seasons can affect our moods. And variants of seasons can bring a continuum from joy to despondency.
Think about a damp and stormy fall day, where the air is heavy. It can be hard to breath, weigh a person down in body and spirit. Or a fall day when the sun is shining, the sky is that deep, bold blue, and there is a hefty breeze. Leaves of yellow, red, and orange swirl around your head, to land at your feet. You breathe in the scent of a wood fire drifting from a chimney, or that of a pile of your neighbor’s burning leaves.
Trees and bushes turn to fall colors. The summer flowers are now barren brown or gray stalks tipped with pods hiding seeds to replant the earth come spring. Or the day is a balmy and sunny 60, after the remnants of the first frost have evaporated before your eyes and the last few nights have been cold—a harbinger of winter to come, but a quick reminder of the summer just ended. After pulling a sweater tight as you hugged a warm mug of coffee or tea that morning to stave off the chill, now your step is filled with vigor. The sun warms your face, as you roll up the sleeves of your light jacket and stare skyward to watch one lone, puffy white cloud get carried eastward by the breeze.
How is winter different from fall, and spring different from winter, and summer different from spring? Is your mood changed by the seasons? Do you look forward to and celebrate each season in a different way?
As a writer, season can be used as a character. Seasons are part of the setting that affect your characters. Two characters in the same story can react to the season in entirely different ways that can cause conflict between the two. Or the diversity of their reactions can act as a conduit to help them form a relationship. The use of seasonal variants can add texture to the writing, whether the seasonal element causes fear, joy, longing, energy, depression. All these elements add depth to the character, the setting, and the atmosphere or mood of the story.
I hate thunderstorms. I grew up overseas and also in Washington, D.C. where we had horrendous storms. To this day, if there is a storm, I can’t sleep and I have to occupy my mind reading or watching a good romance.
I have friends who love to fall asleep to the sound of rain or wind. Not me!
Storms bring back memories of living on a mountain in Taiwan during typhoons, with our windows boarded up, sometimes for half a week or more. We knew when we opened the doors, there would be devastation all around us. But in a recent movie I watched, the storm had the heroine inviting her neighboring couple over for board games. She lit a fire, set out candles, and opened her cupboard of “storm snacks.” The hero showed up at her back door to check on her, expecting to find a worried or scared woman. Instead, he found a romantic setting and the laughter of her friends coming from the living room.
In both scenarios the weather was similar. The reaction was different.
All these elements of seasons provide setting for our real lives and the imaginary lives we write about every day.
The Prince’s Son
On Zara West’s List of My Favorite Romances of 2020
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZD3FNC/
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The Rancher Needs a Wife
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https://www.amazon.com/Rancher-Needs-Cowboys-Mineral-Springs-ebook/dp/B07YXB5C4W/
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~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~
Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.
Author of the
Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the
Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for
Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is
The Love Left Behind.
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Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
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12 comments:
Thanks for this post, Delsora. Setting is my Achilles' Heel so this is a good reminder about the role seasons play.
Love your descriptions of the weather and the diversity of it in every season. I live in the PNW and we can have those shifts in weather within an hour - sun, hail, wind, rain with temperatures in the low 30's in the a.m. and low to mid-60's by afternoon. It's one of the things I love about where I live...although to be honest, the weather it is "a-changin."
Judith - the saying in Maine (and I hear in other places) "Don't like the weather, wait a minute." It is so true that is can change throughout the day. It's what makes life interesting - as a sudden storm can add an element of mystery, fear, or a chance to cuddle in an abandoned cottage while taking refuge on a hike. SO many possibilities. And, yes, sadly the weather patterns (climate) are changing, as the weather in ME is now like it was in D.C. when I was a teen.
Anna - I hear ya! Sometimes adding in the weather and environmental factors come naturally as I write a story. Other times, I have to make a huge effort to add it in. BTW - this morning I found your email with the Etta James soundtrack link for "Sunday Kin of Love" and I have been listening to for a few hours as I work on my computer. And...I managed to get up and dance around the kitchen a few times.
Here's the link, if anyone is interested in mood music to keep you awake and moving while editing or writing or washing dishes or....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZL3sNLnm0
Wow, I love your descriptions of the seasons. And you're right, the mindset of the character makes all the difference in the world as to how they're going to react/feel about the weather outside. It's a great reminder to remember to use setting as another character.
Thanks, Nina - glad you were able to stop by. Now if I can continue to remind myself to heed my own advice in my own books. :-)
Definitely glad that the warmer weather is coming! It's been a very long winter. I found myself standing in the doorway today, soaking up the sunshine. I know that there could be more to come for winter, but a girl can hope! Great post!
The spring signs are there - there is hope! The different birds, a tiny shoot of green popping up out of the leaf cover. And despite the cold air, the sun was warm. Love it! Glad to have a chance to say hi, Beth!
Loved your descriptions of the seasons! I'm a storm lover. When I was a kid, thunder storms were rare as hen's teeth and I found them thrilling. I still do, but since I'm an adult, supposedly, I worry about losing power and therefore water (we're on a well). I also love blizzards, the intense quiet after a heavy snow, the trees clad in pillows of white. But again that whole adult thing spoils the fun and rather than build snow forts and tunnels for my Barbie, I get to play with the snowblower.
You are sooo right about seasons being a character and our (the readers) associations with them. I also loved your example of how two characters react differently and that goes to something deep inside them and their personality (the scared female on a dark, stormy night vs the woman who invites in neighbors and makes it cozy and fun.
I have many cliched ideas about weather and stories based on movies and books. For me dark and stormy nights portend mysterious, dangerous happenings. Bright and sunny days portend happiness, love, opportunities for change. I love it when an author changes up those cliched perceptions and it is an important part of the story. Thanks for sharing your way of doing that.
Lu - I answered a few days ago, but apparently my reply didn't stick. You know me and thunder storms - a big NOT! But I do love the comfy silence of a snow storm. Blizzards involve wind, so another BIG NOT there. Although, now that I am not on a well and have a generator, the stress isn't as much. Not to mention, most of my old oak has been taken down in several storms over the years and managed to miss the house by inches each time, so now that worry is gone, as well. Makes for a good story though :-)
Maggie - I wish I could take credit for that lovely movie scene :-) I too tend toward the cliched, so I try to do the opposite of what I normally feel in certain situations, to see if I can expand my character's horizons. It is fun to think outside the box of what I believe to be reality (for me, at least) and either torture my character or expand their horizons beyond my personal "usual" take on things. Reading a lot of other romances in different genres than my own, help me notice different ways of seeing things through a character's eyes or find a new reaction for their situation.
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