We're smack dab in the middle of an ice storm here in the Northeast. There's ice glazing over the electric wires and tree branches so I expect the power lines will come crashing down at some point to leave us searching for flashlights and candles.
And since we're conveniently on the topic of weather, did you notice how I slipped that in there so smoothly? How come poets can wax poetic about rain and snow and fog but fiction writers are encouraged to avoid mentioning the weather or to at least avoid starting a story with the weather. We don't all write, "It was a dark and stormy night." you know.
This past year I read two stories that revolved around the weather and they just blew me away. The first was "Red Wind" by Raymond Chandler and the second was "Soft Monkey" by Harlan Ellison. If you haven't read them, please do, you won't be sorry.
Even before I read these stories, I loved pulling the weather into my plots. There's something so basic about weather that if used properly it can only enhance a story. Fog and thunderstorms can evoke even deeper chills in your horror story by giving monsters a place to hide or leaving your characters fumbling around in the dark. A pounding rain as your hero races his car down the highway to save the girl, hydroplaning across the asphalt into an accident that could end the story with both of them dead. The sun pounding down beating the last signs of life out a character left in the desert.
But writers tend to shy away from using the weather because it's one of the "rules". You know, don't start a story with the weather, always jump head first into the action, don't use back story. And yet, for every "don't" there's a perfect example of "yes, you can" out there. Once you find those perfect exceptions, study them, learn how to use the "don't" to make your story stand out from the crowd of writers who always follow every rule.
Your turn. What rule do you like to break when you're writing and have you found a story to study that breaks that rule?
And a quote for today from William G. Tapply:
"Writing is a non-stop learning process. Write regularly and write often. Practice your craft. The more you write, the better you'll become."
1 comment:
Sandra, I'm breaking a rule with a short story coming up in Yellow Mama. I'm jumping back and forth between voices and I'm expecting a few heads to be scratched.
Chandler's "Red Wind" is nothing short of brilliance personified, and I need to check out more of Ellison's work.
I say continue to write about the weather because I agree, it can really bring out the mood of a piece. And, I confess, I've always liked, "It was a dark and stormy night."
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