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Sunday, September 22, 2019

Weather and the Writer

by Kaye George

I don’t know about you, but I’m wilting. Melting. Being way too hot. It doesn’t help that the project I’m working on (third Vintage Sweets cozy mystery) takes place in hot weather, summer in Texas. Even if it were winter and snow and ice covered the ground outside, I would be peeling off layers of clothing writing that climate.




It’s amazing how susceptible we writers are. I remember being in Texas in the summertime and writing DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE. As you can tell by the title, it takes place in cold weather. As the story opens the last great Ice Age is beginning and the sheets of glacier ice are approaching the Neanderthal tribe from the north. They crouch around the fire and clutch their animal skin wraps closer as the wind sweeps off the ice, across the tundra, and through their encampment. I remember one day, after getting into my story and writing non-stop for a couple of hours, I looked up and blinked, surprised. I was startled to find the sun shining into my office and to realize that the AC was on because it was blazing hot outside. I had been shivering, goosebumps on my arms, writing that frigid weather.


Here I am, writing about hot weather while it’s hot outside. Poor planning! I need to take a few days off to do a short story set in Minnesota during January, spending the entire month outside the house training a brand new puppy we just got for Christmas. Or maybe Montana during an April blizzard that dumped three feet of snow in the backyard. I’ve lived both of those scenarios. 


On the other hand, I can go for greater verisimilitude this way. I can make my characters feel that sweat tricking down their bodies, that sun pressing with a staggering weight when you walk any distance outside during the day, that still air with not a breath of a breeze to stir the hair stuck to your neck. There’s a lot of be said for that, too!

PS. DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE is now out as an Audio book, in case you want to cool off.
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Time-Ice-People-Mystery/dp/B07XQCDCXR/


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9 comments:

  1. AnnetteSeptember 22, 2019 at 5:32 AM

    This is so true. I love to write stories set in the opposite weather from what we're having.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grace ToppingSeptember 22, 2019 at 8:07 AM

    It is amazing what the mind can do. If it can convince us that we are cold on a blazing hot date, imagine what we could do if we could harness its power to fight pain, etc.

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  3. Margaret S. HamiltonSeptember 22, 2019 at 8:27 AM

    I love movies about the Arctic in the middle of summer. Congrats, Kaye!

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  4. KM RockwoodSeptember 22, 2019 at 9:20 AM

    Weather is such an important component of life, and of course that has to be reflected in our writing, since it's equally important to our characters' lives.

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  5. Kaye GeorgeSeptember 22, 2019 at 12:35 PM

    There's that old caveat, don't open your story talking about the weather, but you DO have to put it in somewhere.

    Annette, that's a big advantage of being a writer--the ability to fool ourselves.

    Grace, if only! What a great idea. I hope you're working on it.

    Thanks, Margaret!

    KM, if we don't get crisp, fall weather pretty soon, I might be taking a bus somewhere!

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  6. KaitSeptember 22, 2019 at 1:52 PM

    I live in Florida. Let's not talk about the heat! It's getting cooler here though, it was in the low 90s this week with a real feel of only 102.

    I confess, I have discovered some great writers by browsing the book stores for covers with snow scenes.

    Congrats on the audiobook, Kaye, that is excellent.

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  7. Kaye GeorgeSeptember 22, 2019 at 2:12 PM

    Too late, Kait! But we can stop now. We have a respite in the very high 80s right now, but back to the mid-90s next week. It just doesn't end!

    I don't blame you for seeking out snow scenes! That's smart. Thanks!!

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  8. Warren BullSeptember 22, 2019 at 2:43 PM

    Good writing can make me sweat or shiver.

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  9. Kaye GeorgeSeptember 22, 2019 at 10:37 PM

    True, Warren, even without referencing any weather.

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