1. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    It's raining

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by deadrats, May 6, 2021.

    When is it okay to write about the weather and when does it become cliche? This is something I struggle with because I often find myself drawn to writing about the weather conditions in my story. And, of course it's a storm. Another storm. I did something similar in a different piece of creative writing not that long ago. I didn't mean to become so repetitive because I know that's boring. Why does writing about the weather feel comporting? And like my get-out-of-jail card when I'm not exactly sure what direction to go in? Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Does anyone else do this?

    I will say that I have successfully written weather scenes in short works that sold. Maybe all my practice writing weather scenes paid off? Nah... I think I have a problem. I found myself tonight, again, writing about misty rain and all that crap. Seriously, I have to stop doing this.

    So, what's the weather like in your writing? ;)
     
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  2. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Well, it does create atmosphere and mood (are those the same thing?) I think it works as long as it's doing double duty, but if it's on the nose it will feel flat. Even doing double duty though can be cliche, because you know—it's storming inside my heart, or the raindrops are the tears I'm holding in. Maybe reverse the cliche. Have it raining when the MC is happy, or bright and sunny only when he's super depressed.

    But I mean, weather is important in real life. It would be weird to never mention it through a story, unless it's just not important at all. I think you just need to avoid the big cliches, probably mainly the ones I mentioned above in italics. But anything, no matter how cliche, can be done in a way that's fresh and interesting.
     
  3. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    I'd say the bugbear came about from too many stories beginning immediately with the weather. Or the character waking up. Or looking in the mirror. You know, repetitive page 1 stuff that would make an editor looking at 20 manuscripts a day throw up their hands and scream, "Again? New rule: no more fucking weather!"
     
  4. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    The weather actually plays a pivotal part in my couple's first kiss in my first book.

    Because they are on camera nearly 24/7 (reality TV show contestants), I needed to find a way for them to kiss without being seen. So I manufactured a big-ass thunderstorm that cut the power and sent one of my to look for the other who had left the room before things went dark. They bump into each other in the hallway, quickly followed by SECRET MAKING OUT . :blowkiss::love::blowkiss:

    That's only dramatic one - since two out of my three books are set in the L.A. area (and my WIP is as well), most of the time the weather is too mild in my stories to have much of an effect on the proceedings.
     
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  5. retardis

    retardis Member

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    I usually try to give out weather information indirectly, for example during a dialogue. For example, somebody could complain about certain weather because they had to cancel certain plans because of it, and so on. For me, the same goes for a lot of character appearance details. Narrating this kind of information directly could feel a bit cheesy at times. But I don't think you should avoid talking about the weather as long as you're being realistic. I think it only becomes a problem when people directly relate the weather to emotions or actual events. (Unless that actually is your goal in a sci-fi story or something.) Like if somebody sets a love scene in the rain, with the rain being a prime element, then that's going to be quite bad. I mean, nobody involved in the affair is probably concerned about the weather at that point so linking the weather directly to actual events is unrealistic, hence kind of cheesy to read. One could instead indirectly mention the rain by explaining how one person said that their clothes are all wet or something like that, just so the reader knows that it was actually raining. Or for example, if you want to mention fog, your character could trip over something because they didn't see it because of all the fog. I'm not saying that it's good to describe everything indirectly, that's just going to make the story hard to follow. But sometimes this will help you avoid the description disease.
     

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