Writers in the Storm

By Ellen Buikema

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.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

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Meet Ellen!

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.

Top Image by Comfreak from Pixabay

by John Peragine

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. 

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His newest book, Max and the Spice Thieves, was released on April 20, 2021. Click here to buy a copy.

by Kris Maze

Quick. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is "totally under control" and 5 is "terrified to say," how are you managing your Writing To-do List?

If you have a structured, highly functioning system for marketing your author brand and still have time to write, then happily move along. But the chances are that technology changes and a variety of unfinished projects, leave many authors with an answer closer to 5 (terrified to say) than not. Myself included as I recall being overwhelmed by a “failed to launch” error on a social media post I spent too much time creating.

Authors juggle multifaceted platforms, often as solitary entrepreneurs. This effort is important, but is it worth the cost of writing your novel?

If you can relate, you may find relief in my intention to stress less and to declutter my writing to-do list in a systematic way. Perhaps some of the exercises here will help you prioritize your writing goals and create a focused writing plan.

In order to have a lasting career and a growing audience, author marketing simply can’t be ignored. Interacting through various media, as many experts suggest, is key to getting more readers. Not sure where to start? This recent WITS post, by Penny Sansevieiri, covers where readers and agents should easily find your author platform online.

My Refocusing Strategy

In today’s post, I’ll share my refocusing strategy, the steps I used to declutter my tasks and how-to prioritize writing projects. In part 2, I'll dabble with personalizing time management and share steps to create a schedule that fits your productivity goals and lifestyle.

To try this plan on your own, set aside a few minutes to dream up your best writing workflow. Your results may surprise you, like mine did, and investing time in your writing dreams is never a loss. 

Step 1 Goal Setting for Authors: How to get your writing unstuck

In previous WITS posts, we examined how your physical surroundings and writing mindset can change your writing state of flow. Writing also depends on building a strong author platform with robust relationships with other authors and readers who follow what you write. Many authors risk losing the productive joy of writing unless they take charge of their writing time and identify what they really want to accomplish. Let’s start with identifying what you want the most from your writing career.

What’s in your Preposterous BAG?

What’s in your Preposterous BAG? Stolen from management philosophy, authors need a BAG, or Big Audacious Goal, to have a clear vision of what success means to them. We recognize that very few writers own a private helicopter and frequent prime-time interviews, but success depends on how we define it. The trick is to break it into smaller steps that begin right where we are. Hang with me as we break down the nitty gritty of achieving your writing goals.

CENTRAL QUESTION: What is your preposterous goal?

If you consider something moving you towards your dream, something that you can accomplish over the next 2 to 6 months, what would it be?

ACTION ITEM: Brainstorm for a few minutes and form a list of wish items and have-to writer tasks. Commit them to paper or pixel–we have time! (I recommend 5 to 10 minutes time to get your ideas flowing)

Some goal ideas: (Do any of these appear on your list?)

• Enter a short story into a contest.
• Monetize a freelance article.
• Write a query letter and have it reviewed.
• Research where to query a project and find a few agents interested in your genre/niche.
• Start an author website.
• Complete and edit 3 chapters of a novel for beta readers.
• Find and join a writing critique group

Step 2 Cleaning up: Create categories.

As I took a big picture inventory of my writing and created broad categories.

When I examined my goals from step 1, I had 6 projects in various stages of completion. Many projects gathered dust in the corners of my laptop and were not productive in my author business.

While I mentally and digitally sorted my files, I reduced my load by deleting multiple drafts, renaming confusing files, and parted ways with outdated materials.

 I considered my shorter fiction that cluttered my mind. Writing short stories was a way to study new genres and try new techniques. These stories represented a lot of time I could have devoted to my manuscript. As I re-read the stories, I thought about how these smaller pieces could be re-imaged in my new business plan. My goal became to connect these works to my readers and give them a marketable home.

This is a great insight, but my writing process became even more fractured. The last thing I needed was to add more tasks to my list! Perhaps my system was failing?

CENTRAL QUESTION: Do my goals overlap into logical groups?

My categories for this round of writing tasks fell into 3 types:

• Short episodic fiction
• Marketing & website
• Educational materials

ACTION ITEM: Create categories on the work you want to finish, based on the goals you just wrote.

Step 3 Next Steps: Prioritize

ACTION ITEM: Take your Preposterous Goals and organize them on your favorite spreadsheet.

What? You don’t have a favorite one? That’s okay. I organized mine like this:

The first step in my analysis was to put all my data into a chart. If this sounds a little geeky, just try it. 

• Planners – I KNOW you’ll love it. 
• Plantsers – You will try it because, it may work and organizing is hard. 
• Pantsers – You may hate doing it, but it is actually quite calming to put all those jumbling pieces into a neat chart. (If you are feeling frustrated before the exercise, it can’t hurt to try?)

Breakdown of steps:

1. Write all your tasks in the far-right column and assign them one of your categories.

2. Next think about how much time you need to spend on each item (think chapter or pages edited)

3. Then write in how often you would like this to happen ideally. If any of these are new to you and not something you are sure of–leave it blank. You can find out in the next stage when you check on how you did.

Here is my example:

Analysis: 2 prioritizing exercises to get to the heart of your goals

Gut Check

CENTRAL QUESTION: How do you feel about each of the Preposterous Goals that you wrote?

ACTION ITEM: It’s now time for the Gut Check analysis. Put a number between 1 (very easy to finish) to 5 (extremely hard to finish) as your impression on how much effort each task would take you. Keep this information close by as you will compare it to how you answer in the next exercise:

Reality Check

CENTRAL QUESTION: What have I already accomplished within each goal?

ACTION ITEM: Now, try the checkbox exercise. How many check boxes are true about each item on your list? Read though and jot down your totals for each of your goals.

Preposterous Goal #1- Check off all that apply for each project.

• I have an idea
• I have a first draft
• I have a revised draft
• I have feedback from beta readers and other writers on my draft
• I have an edited product ready for formatting
• I can format and create the final product for this project myself.
• I can format and create the final product for this project myself and ENJOY it!
• I have the resources or can pay for someone to complete my product.
• My product is already formatted and ready to query, put on the market, or post in public venue
• I have a marketing idea or plan.
• I have resources, programs, and time to create marketing materials.
• I have social media visuals, links, and ideas ready to create and I could schedule these easily.

Repeat the Checklist for each of your goals. The Spreadsheet from the beginning of the post has columns for both the Gut Check and The Check boxes. 

• Planners–Have fun filling in all the boxes. What do you notice?
• Plantsers–You may find it useful if you do this reflection again during your next author planning session. You’ll appreciate your numbers from this session to make a comparison.  
• Pantsers–If you figured out what your core goals and priorities are, you don’t need to fill in the spaces. The spreadsheet is a tool to serve your needs, not to become another to-do list item!

REFLECTION: Look at results for each item on your list and consider these questions:

1. Do your gut responses match the Check boxes you identified? 
2. Are there projects that you could finish with little effort and only have a few steps remaining? 
3. Could you finish some of these items and make mental space for completing other creative work?

My Take-Away and A-Ha Moments

On my list, my top 3 goals were not ones I would have prioritized, but I discovered how to finish two list items and reap the benefits in a timely manner: connecting to my audience and providing them with fresh material. Those two became my focus in the next 2 weeks. My story series that will launch in a short deadline, so it also moved to top priority.

Before this exercise I didn’t consider these tasks as important or worthy to spend energy on them. Now, I saw how little I needed to do to accomplish my goal and to free up more writing time!

Three other goals, I was working on daily now ‘live’ on my secondary list. Once I complete a task, I bump another up to my primary focus list. Since I wrote this post, I have completed most of both lists. 

Writers, if this process helps you focus and re-prioritize, I am genuinely happy for you. Go on and plan your writing with the comfort of knowing the writing will happen in the time you allotted each goal.

For me the time management didn’t turn out exactly as I planned it, as the tasks took less time when I did them in batches. I iterated after a couple weeks, looking over my 2-column scheduling method.

If you have a scheduling method that works for you, you are on your way to a more constructive writing life. For more information on how to follow through on your priorities, my next post here at WITS is about scheduling writing work into your lifestyle for less stress.

What were your results from the writing task exercises? What suggestions do you have for our readers? Please share with us in the comments below.

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character-driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she wrote and publish her own books. She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award-winning Writers in the Storm Blog. 

When she isn’t spending time with her favorite people and pets, Kris Maze is taking pictures, hiking, or pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. You can follow her author journey at her website at KrisMazeAuthor.com.

Look for her episodic YA dystopian fiction scheduled to release on Kindle Vella this summer!