About five or six weeks ago, I rolled my ankle while walking to work. It wasn’t significant, I didn’t even lose my balance. Just a slight not okay and then okay and I continued on my way to work.
To you, this may seem like a non-story. People roll their ankles ALL the time. But this ankle has been traumatized. Many times. Over many years. This ankle was first really sprained when I was fourteen years old, then again throughout the rest of high school. This is the ankle that I had reconstructed nine years ago. This ankle still swells when there is a massive switch in the weather patterns, one that I am intentionally rehabbing once a week.
So a minor roll, a quick not-even-worth-noticing not-quite injury is, six weeks later, still sore, still slipping, still swollen. The small, non-injury is clearly an injury, and the emotions that I had after tearing two ligaments, after having it reconstructed, after trying to come back with atrophied muscles and incredible soreness are all living in the forefront of my mind.
When we are looking at why a character is the way they are, why they act or react the way they do, we need to make sure readers understand the emotional impact of events in their past and remember/recognize that even purely physical traumas can be accompanied with significant emotional contexts.
Honoring the Past
While we don’t want to detail every single thing that has happened to a character in our book (really, please don’t), we, as the creators of these people do need to have a familiarity with what has made them who they are at the time of the story. People aren’t just self-conscious. They don’t “get big” when confronted for no cause, and they don’t shrink away in the same situation without a reason to be cautious.
Then, after you have learned/created/acknowledged this, you need to make sure that your readers have the same opportunity to understand. You need to pick the just-right time that will deepen the moment of the current situation by allowing the memory of the past to penetrate the awareness we have of what made the character who he/she is.
Merging Then with Now
One of the reasons reconciling with the past is so powerful is that it can often serve as catalyst for where the character is when the story begins and where the character would like or should like to go. Their past can be something that happened a day or week ago, or it can be something that is months, years or decades old.
What is important is that the character can first learn what it is to reconcile what they did or what happened to them with the reality of the situation. Secondly, they must brace themselves for the reality of what this means -- how they have to heal, and how they have to move forward. This may mean a candid conversation with themselves, and it may mean the incorporation of a therapist, counselor, or trusted confidant.
The Reality of a Past Wound
There may be some wounds, some damages, that do not allow someone to heal completely. This, too, is something that needs to be explored: how will the character continue while a little bit broken? How will they adjust to a new reality that is different from what they wanted?
Exploring a character’s past with intentionality will solidify an arc and improve the quality of a story as a whole.
Have you defined your main character's emotional wound? Do they confront it, resolve it...ignore it? Feel free to summarize this for us down in the comments! Also, Tasha is open for questions. :-)
About Tasha
Tasha Seegmiller writes about womanhood, families, mental wellness, and faith. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s MFA program and teaches composition at a regional university in the high mountain desert where her husband and three kids live.
Weather in fiction is a powerful factor. When weather is included in a scene it adds depth and realism, pulling the reader further into the story. Every description whether in scene, tagline, or dialogue, including weather, must move the story forward.
Since childhood I’ve enjoyed storms and changes in weather so much that I used to try and outperform the weather forecasters. Sometimes I got lucky.
I find the electrical energy of a storm invigorating. (As long as I’m not traveling in it.)
I learned to estimate how far away a storm is using the “flash-to-bang” lightning to thunder method. Count the seconds between lightning and thunder and divide by five. Five seconds is one mile, ten seconds is two miles. When the time between the lightning flash and the roar of thunder is 30 seconds or less, the lightning is 6 miles away or closer. Definitely time to be indoors.
While I write this blog post it is pouring rain here in central Texas. Thank goodness for surge protectors. Now if only the power doesn’t go out…
Why Write About Weather?
Storms and changing weather can cause tension, altering the protagonist’s course and complicating the hero’s journey. Weather conditions can change the outcome of events.
Emotions and weather are intertwined
Stormy weather/stormy mood
Sunny skies/sunny disposition
Overcast and rainy/depression—unless you are from an area where overly rainy is considered liquid sunshine as it is sometimes referred to in the Pacific Northwest.
One Stop For Writers has a fantastic weather thesaurus listed under the Thesaurus tab: Weather And Earthly Phenomenon Thesaurus.
This site lists 39 weather elements with notes on:
Sights
Textures and Sensations
Sounds
Reinforcing a Mood
Symbolism
Common Clichés
Weather Notes
and Scenarios For Adding Conflict or Tension
Weather-writing activity
Think of a novel that uses weather to enhance the story.
Which of the eight elements listed above does the author use?
How is it effective?
Take a scene in your current Work In Progress and try adding weather elements.
Does that take you deeper into the scene?
Quotes where weather impacts scenes.
Weather heightening fear
“He stared in awe and fear at the freakish celestial display, another jagged crack opened in the heavens. The earth-seeking tip of the hot bolt touched an iron streetlamp only sixty feet away, ans Maxwell cried out in fear. At the moment of contact, the night became incandescent, and the glass panes in the lamp exploded. The clap of thunder vibrated in Maxwell's teeth; the porch floor rattled." Lightning by Dean Koontz
Weather reinforcing mood
"She shook off his hand. ‘Like he gave me a chance, you mean?’ She turned on her heel. ‘I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.’
The rain was falling in sheets now, dripping from her hair in wet streaks. Kate blinked the water out of her eyes and stumbled as she walked away." A Way From Heart to Heart by Helena Fairfax
Soothing weather juxtaposing horror
‘“Confounded foul-mouth fool tried ta ride them rods ’neath the train car.” He wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. “He slipped ’n fell clean under.” He sat on the ground, rocking while he hugged his skinny legs to his chest, his voice strained and broken. “Bill was my bestest friend.”
Soon, a gentle rain fell, washing away the blood and grime.’” The Hobo Code, a work in progress
Weather as escape
“The fog-bank lay like white wool against the window. Holmes held the lamp towards it. 'See,' said he. 'None could find his way into the Grimpen Mire tonight.
She laughed and clapped her hands. Her eyes and teeth gleamed with fierce merriment. He may find his way in, but never out," she cried.” The Hound of The Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Weather enhances the scene using the senses
“The snow came up to the top of Georgie's calves — she had to lift her feet high to make any progress. Her ears and eyelids were freezing ... God, she'd never even been able to imagine this much cold before. How could people live someplace that so obviously didn't want them?” Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Weather and the hero’s journey
“May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks." The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Final Thoughts
The only time I don’t appreciate the use of weather in writing occurs when the author uses a major storm or other natural disaster to resolve the ending, or rather not resolve as the characters were killed off in the disaster. When I’ve invested time and emotional energy in a story only to see the characters destroyed in a typhoon I am less enthusiastic to read another novel by that author.
What do you think is the best use of weather in fiction? Do you listen to sounds of weather or replay storms in your mind when you are writing scenes involving storms?Do you have a favorite quote where weather affects a scene that you’d like to share?
About Ellen
Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, Parenting: A Work in Progress, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon, a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are, The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.
On Tuesday, Jun 29, 2021 12pm – 12:45pm Central Time I will be on a Skype chat with fellow authors. We will be talking about the importance of children's books.
The link to join the Meet Now chat via Skype is: https://join.skype.com/Zdbdl6IxQY2S You do not need to have a Skype account to use this link and if you do have a Skype account you may join via Skype also.
When you embark on the journey to go a non-traditional route of publishing, including self-publishing, hybrid publishing, or small/medium-sized publishers, you take on a lot.
We concentrate so much on the craft that when it comes to handing it over to someone else, we often want to crawl back to the comfortable place and begin the creation process again. We don’t want to be bothered with publishing and, more importantly, how to actually sell that book.
It might be fun to pick out a cover or a cute font because that continues to be in our creative wheelhouse, but the rest I put under the umbrella of the “business of book writing.” I realized that this is where so many of us trip and fall down. Hard. Scraped knees with stinging mercurochrome slathered on top.
The Usual Artistic Pattern: Craft Before Business
I spent many years learning how to play the flute. Technique exercises. Etudes. Sonatas and Concertos. Mixed in were orchestral excerpts. I played with concert bands, pit orchestras, and symphonies. I had private lessons, masterclasses, performing arts high school, and another five years of college. Can I play the flute? I hope so. Too many hours of practice and money were invested not to be a decent performer.
You know what they don’t teach? The business of music.
All those years of learning how to play and I didn’t know how to find work, negotiate a contract, approach a music producer, or any of those things that would actually monetize my efforts. I was so naïve, and it was not bliss. It was learning the tough way - via failure.
I got screwed a lot when I first got out of school. I should have paid the organizers of gigs for the pleasure to play because I didn’t know what my craft was worth or where to go to make more money. Did I learn? Sure I did, or I would have become the cliché starving artist.
Artists, authors included, starve not because they are bad at their craft, but because they are bad at selling their art.
When I decided to write full-time in 2008, I was even more naïve. I didn’t know what a "good" book contract was, I was just happy to have one. I can tell you, I gave everything away. I happily signed my rights to the works with my name on them for pennies. The publishers who bought those books continue to this day to make money off those books. I make nothing. Not a penny.
I got smarter right? Smarter, yes, but wiser? Not so much.
I learned about all kinds of things like author platforms, marketing, and what a return was. Powerful, very costly lessons. I was so excited to see Costco, Sam’s Club, and Barnes and Noble buy my book. I could walk into those stores and see columns of my books. Oh, the painful vanity of it all! Three months later, all those beautiful royalties turned from black to red.
Two Important Lessons
I needed a cure for my almost terminal naivete, or I needed to hang it up. I had to do two important things: I needed to figure out my relationship with making money at writing, and I needed to figure out how to do it.
The first lesson came in the form of a new book that covered the history of the world-renowned Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Their history was deep, and Iowa City was only an hour away. I had a publisher send me a contract- I was ready to go. I was going to talk to the movers and shakers, the gods and goddesses of literary fiction.
I felt I was one of them. I was a published author. They were published. We were kindred.
We were not kindred.
They wrote for the excellence of the written word. Their prose is elegant and sophisticated. They didn’t write for the money. It was about perfection and artistry. Money and the concept of genre fiction were the dirty words of sell-outs. To say I was run out of town might sound dramatic, but alas, that is what happened. It became so bad, I had to break my contract with my publisher. I was shunned and could not continue my research.
I looked at my writing. Did I want a Pulitzer, or did I want to pay my mortgage? I am not suggesting that those two things were mutually exclusive, but I am a genre writer at heart. The idea of going back to school to get an MFA was not something that I felt was going to help me achieve my goals.
I’m not saying that I didn’t want to write great books, but I wanted to be able to sell them for a profit. I am a ghostwriter, and I have written many books, so I knew I could write something commercially viable. I needed to consider part 2: how to make money writing.
Four Sides of the "Success Formula"
Formula One
Here is the simple formula of just about any business. And books are a small business that you can grow.
Money makes money.
Simple right? Yeah, if you have the first part of that formula. Even if I had a traditional contract, I needed to know how to make money alongside their efforts.
Second Formula
So here is the second formula that I figured out.
The fewer people who know you and your work, the more it is going to cost you.
Name recognition or book recognition is worth literal gold bars in your bank.
Third Formula
Having a bunch of followers and an extensive list does not mean dollars in your account.
I could have a million followers and a robust mailing list, and unless they are the right audience and I knew something about how to get them to buy my book, then I could be the next JK Rowling on paper and not make a single sale. This is true of self-publishing or a traditional publisher.
Fourth Formula
The smaller my ignorance, the greater sales I was going to make.
I didn’t need to invest more money in ads because I may as well take that cash out back and set it on fire. Instead, I needed to make an investment in myself. I needed to pay for some learning.
Oh boy…there are more crooks in the space of teaching you marketing than there are in the space of vanity publishers. Lots of bad info, and just absolute trash. I did find success, but I will not publish here where I landed because I do not want to make endorsements on this blog. Send me a message and I’ll tell you.
What I have found was that I was even more profoundly misinformed and ignorant than I knew. I have tested what I have learned now, and not only am I making more money, I am paying less money for marketing. In fact, the process has been so positive I feel ashamed to have called myself a semi-successful author for as long as I have.
This time I've made money with some actual knowledge, and I am growing my writing career. In the short term, I can create an automated process of selling my books with predictable outcomes. But it is still taking me time away from creating new works. That is short-term because my long term is to hire someone else to take over some of these tasks. I feel confident in hiring someone because I know better what I need and want them to do.
I spend time EVERY day learning more. Taking classes and taking notes. I spend time testing what I have learned and make adjustments as needed. It is exciting to see success and feel like I can grow my writing career that even has a built-in retirement plan. Imagine that!
Final Thoughts
My takeaway for you: accept that you need help. We all do.
Educate yourself. Invest in yourself. Take the time necessary to achieve your goals. Of course, they are your goals, and so my methods for achieving mine may not work for you. But I can say unequivocally that unless you establish a dream, make a plan to achieve it, and revisit it every day, you will feel frustrated and unhappy with unpredictable results. A defined dream has a much higher chance of becoming your reality.
What's your writing dream? What are you doing to educate yourself? Who do you recommend and why? Please share it with us down in the comments!
About John
John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.
John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. You can learn more about his books at JohnPeragineBooks.com.
His newest book, Max and the Spice Thieves, was released on April 20, 2021. Click here to buy a copy.
