Monday 23 July 2012

Water, water everywhere.

Now I know how the Ancient Mariner felt!
The rain today..and yesterday... and many days before that set me thinking about how we use the weather in our writing.
One crime novelist always prefers setting her books in the autumn -the dying time of year. Others go through the all the seasons in the course of the narrative.
Does it matter what we choose? Does the weather in our writing affect the reader's perceptions about what is happening?
So far I've much preferred to set the Bute novels mostly in the summer, with an occasional winter chapter to capture the storms that can cut the island off from the mainland.
Winter on Bute


Summer on Bute

But summer is how I think of Bute and hope will give readers a picture of the magic of the various locations, in spite of the grisly events.
Mmm...perhaps the next one will have a winter theme.

7 comments:

  1. I can read a story set in the summer (even a dreich Scottish summer) at any time of the year. But I much prefer reading winter ones, in the winter in front of the fire.
    The time of year, can add to my perceptive as a reader, that's for sure

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  2. Perhaps I will adopt a winter mode for the next one, Raven ..or at least autumn.

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  3. Bute looks such a beautiful place... I must visit...

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  4. As you know,Pat, I have a great affection for the place and it's not the crime hotspot of my novels!

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  5. My favourite seasons are autumn and winter but I do remember all my childhood holidays on Bute being endless summer days!

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  6. I'm sure the weather does affect our writing, Myra, especially when it's unseasonal. Conveying a glorious summer day at the moment is quite a challenge!

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  7. Yes,the trouble about writing about summer is you have to rely on your memory or your imagination!

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