I've heard of the setting becoming a character, or even the time period in a novel, but can you think of any books where the weather almost seemed like a person in the room? I have a few to get the discussion started.
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Part of this story takes place during the siege of Leningrad. Though I read it over a year ago, I can still feel the extreme elements, the desperation fed by freezing temperatures, unending snow, beautiful, but imprisoning. The near-empty apartments filled with people who burned almost every item they ever owned, just to keep warm for one more night. Winter became an indomitable enemy.
What about Death in Venice by Thomas Mann? I read it ages ago, but my most distinct memory is the hot, sultry beach scenes. The intensity of the heat and with it, the sickness . . . palpable.
Of course, The Perfect Storm comes to mind as well. I suppose that is self-explanatory.
Leave a comment about a "weather-character" you've read.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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Weather is a main character in my second novel, On the Pineapple Express, a romantic-suspense story(currently unpublished). A chain of weather events affects everything the hero and heroine attempt to do. Record high temperatures, followed by intense rainfall, punctuated with a 50-year wind storm, create much of the suspense. The hero is a meteorologist and, if you haven't guessed by now, so am I.
ReplyDeleteHarry, this is right up your alley! Does the weather always cause conflict? Or can it bring joy, peace, or enlightenment? Fun to think about!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer! Just reading your old blog posts...I always think of "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Even if you read it in the middle of a July heat wave, you can't help but shiver through her descriptions of twisting straw to burn when they ran out of wood, the school kids almost wandering off into the prairie during a blizzard, etc., etc.
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