WEATHER and PHENOMENA are important elements in any setting, providing sensory texture and contributing to the mood the writer wishes to create in a scene. With a deft touch, weather can enhance the character’s emotional response to a specific location, it can add conflict, and it can also (lightly) foreshadow coming events.
However, caution must accompany this entry: the weather should not be used as a window into a character’s soul. The weather can add invisible pressure for the character, it can layer the SCENE with symbolism, it can carefully hint at the internal landscape, but it must never OVERTLY TELL emotion. Such a heavy-handed approach results in weather cliches and melodrama (a storm raging above a bloody battle, a broken-hearted girl crying in the rain).
SENSORY DESCRIPTORS:
Sight: Dew adds a crystalline shimmer to greenery and trees, collecting on the upper surface of leaves and in the low point of stems. When morning sunlight hits beads of dew, it creates a light reflection that adds a healthy gleam to natural foliage. Depending on how much moisture is in the air…
Smell: Dew adds moisture to natural growth, enhancing the greenery smell and creating a sense of ‘freshness’ in the air.
Taste: Water (pungent greenery may also flavor dew collected at the site)
Touch: Wet and slick to the touch, dew in the grass will quickly soak through shoes and pant legs, and…
Sound: No sound
EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS:
Mood: Dew adds the feel of silence, stillness and freshness that is associated with early morning hours. Adding dew to a scene will add texture to…
Symbolism: Purity, Nature, Cleansing…
Possible Clichés: Comparing dew to youth or tears
Don’t be afraid to use the weather to add contrast. Unusual pairings, especially when drawing attention to the Character’s emotions, is a powerful trigger for conflict. Consider how the bleak mood of a character is even more noticeable as morning sunlight dances across the crystals of fresh snow on the walk to work. Or how the feeling of betrayal is so much more poignant on a hot summer day. Likewise, success or joy can be hampered by a cutting wind or drizzling sleet, foreshadowing conflict to come.
Weather is a powerful tool, helping to foreshadow events and steer the emotional mood of any scene.
Need more detail regarding this weather element? Good news! This thesaurus has been integrated into our new online library at One Stop For Writers. There, not only has the information in each entry been enhanced and expanded, we’ve also added scenarios for adding conflict and tension. The entire thesaurus is also cross-referenced with our many other descriptive collections for easy searchability. Registration is free, so if you’re interested in seeing a sampling of the fully updated Weather and Earthly Phenomenon Thesaurus, head on over to One Stop.
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
I shivered at the words ‘crytstalline shimmer’.
I like the idea of using weather as a contrast. T. S. Eliot knew all about this when he wrote “April is the cruellest month.” There’s nothing more painful than beautiful weather sometimes.
The thing I’m writing right now has a LOT to do with weather. So I’m loving these entries. They are very… inspiring!
Like with everything, a simplicity is a key :-)Less is more…
Wonderful post!
What a great post! Excellent way of explaining how weather can become melodramatic.
Sweet…
You know, something about this post makes me want a cup of coffee. 😉 Great description!
Love this one, Angela. It evokes freshness and cleanness.
I used dew in a description in my last ms. Your advice totally nailed it!
One of my favorite things about the morning!!