In my own work, I choose the season almost before I choose
the characters I need to tell the story. In the Inspector Green novels, the
City of Ottawa is a given, but the
weather can vary widely, so it’s one of the few variable I have left to play
with. I love extremes – skin-melting heat, blizzards, thunderstorms – and Ottawa
has four very distinct and compelling seasons. I like to write about them all, to allow for maximum variety,
so I keep track of when each of the books is set. Beautiful Lie the Dead is set in winter, indeed it starts off with a
blizzard. The previous book, This Thing of Darkness, was set in the
fall, Dreamchasers in early summer. And so on.
My upcoming book, The Whisper of Legends, is set in the
summer, and I am already thinking about the season for my next book, which is
in its fledgling conceptual phase. Each season provides its own beauty, its own
menace and challenges. In this book, I picture secrets long hidden in a neglected
rural house. Which season would serve that mystery best? Which creates the most vivid
drama? A tangle of summer vines, a blanket of thick snow, or the first buddings
of ferns and trilliums poking up through the damp loam? From that choice
comes other scenes, my imagination layering ideas one upon the other. At the end
of this process, that neglected rural house and indeed even the long-hidden
secrets may be abandoned, but the trappings of the season may remain. All part
of the creative fun.
Who knows where an image of ferns unfurling on the forest
floor may lead?
4 comments:
Barbara, the first thing we do every single morning in Kansas is check the weather and the forecast for the rest of the day. Weather and the season is everything. Spring is when the tumbleweeds come and beat my tulips to death.
I'm so glad to hear what you had to say about weather and setting. I, too, think it's important. It gives mysteries a bit of atmosphere, while giving the "location" more "character." My books are set in Oklahoma. The first was set in spring where the winds can and do whip anything around that's not nailed down. Now I'm working on a book that starts with Indian summer, but it will progress to icy blasts that travel up your pants!
Those "ferns" are actually still "fiddleheads", and in my other career as a food writer, I have to say they look mighty delicious!
Cool. I always take advantage of the job interviews. Thank you for possessing website
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