Author of Middle Grade novels about friendship, family, and figuring out where you fit in.

Monday, April 6, 2015

A Change In Seasons

Boy, it was an icy cold winter on the east coast this year. But as I write this (I write posts in advance, so I wrote this weeks ago), I'm hearing birds chirping outside, and the snow has finally melted. Soon, I'll be living out west, in 100+ degree summer heat. ("But it's a dry heat," they say. And it is. But still...)

The weather sometimes makes it hard for me to focus on whatever season it is in the book I'm writing. My current WIP takes place in the fall and early winter, so I'm not in that mindset at all. School starting? Halloween? Leaves falling? Yup, I definitely have to use my imagination.

I'm glad, though, that I'm not writing yet another book that takes place during the summer. Since I write for kids and don't always want to incorporate school scenes in my stories, I tend to choose summer and use the two-month vacation as an excuse. (Although I did recently write a winter story and a spring story, so I've branched out a bit this year.)

What seasons do you enjoy writing about the most? Do you center your stories around certain holidays? What kind of seasonal imagery (snow falling, birds chirping, the warmth of sunshine) do you enjoy the most?

13 comments:

Tiana Smith said...

I tend to like writing school scenes - it gives me an easy place for the characters to interact. I'm writing my first "summer" book now, and it's a lot harder to think of ways they might meet and run into each other!

Cherie Reich said...

School scenes are tough.

It depends on the book on what season it's in, although it's much easier to write certain scenes when we are in that season.

Nick Wilford said...

Yeah, it depends on the story. I don't write about kids, though, so that doesn't come into it!

Tyrean Martinson said...

I have a tendency not to use much seasonal imagery, but in Champion in the Darkness, I tried to present fall, and in Champion in Flight, I hoped I had some summer imagery in there. It's something that I need to work on in my books.
I do like writing during the spring, summer, and fall though, and my winter writing has a tendency to be short.

Jemi Fraser said...

My current wip is set in the spring - snow melting and mud and birds just starting to return. The wip currently marinating was set in winter with all kinds of snow :)

Heather R. Holden said...

As a southwestern girl, I'm definitely one of those people who'd say, "It's a dry heat!" It really does make a difference, though! (Like, 80 degree weather feels very cool to me, LOL.)

As for writing, I tend to include at least one Halloween scene. For years, pivotal scenes happened on that holiday for many of my projects, haha. Same was almost true for Echo Effect, but then I ended up skipping over the month of October entirely for the sake of pacing. XD

Shelley Sly said...

Tiana - Yeah, in some ways, school scenes are easy like that. I think I just don't like describing their mundane classes and teachers, etc.

Cherie - I agree. It's hard when the temperature is extremely opposite of what we're currently in (such as writing about the hot sun while we're having a below freezing winter.)

Nick - Yeah, I think writing for kids is tougher in that way.

Tyrean - Interesting. I wonder if I write less in the winter, maybe because it gets darker sooner and I feel like I have less of a day?

Jemi - The springtime one should match up pretty well with this time of year, but I wonder what the weather will be like when you return to the winter WIP!

Heather - Oh, I agree! The dry heat is definitely better than humidity. Interesting about Halloween, and I totally get what you mean about pacing.

Julie Dao said...

This was a very, VERY tough winter, and I say that as a twenty-one-year New Englander (and the other years were spent in almost equally snowy upstate New York). It's so nice to see grass again and - gasp - the sun!

Shelley Sly said...

Julie - Absolutely! It was a brutal winter!

Linda Williams Jackson said...

Can't wait to read your new WIP, Shelley! When I first started writing, I avoided school scenes too, but I don't anymore. :)

Anonymous said...

I live in Miami, so most of my settings are warm. Sometimes I write about our brief cold fronts. It's pretty much spring and summer where I am.

Nas said...

I just started editing one ms...hero coming out of sea! OMG! I would love to go to the sea now!

Shelley Sly said...

Linda - Thank you! Yeah, I'm trying to get better at school scenes.

Medeia - Wow, you're lucky!

Nas - Yeah, I look forward to when it gets warm enough to swim!

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