The thunderstorm has passed. The sky is now a patchwork of grey and bright white, the wind rifles through wet leaves, the birds are beginning to chirp again.
So it’s a good time to discuss the uses of weather in fiction.
(1) Plot. An outbreak of weather can form the foundation of a plot, or twists large and small. From the tornado carrying Dorothy to Oz, to the blizzard driving the Nine Walkers into Moria, to a thunderstorm cutting out the lights in a hundred mystery novels, stories turn on weather.
(2) Engaging the reader. Details of weather give the reader’s imagination something solid to grasp. Say the sky was a deep, vivid blue – and the reader can see it, because the reader has seen it. Say a character can feel the snow biting his feet through his shoes – and the reader almost winces in sympathy. These are the little things that can draw readers into your world – and your characters.
(3) Keeping rhythm. Sometimes, in writing dialogue, you need to pause, or interrupt the monotony of he said/he said – in other words, keep the rhythm. There are many ways to do this; one is weather. Compare:
“It’s a sure thing. Leave now, have a look-see, be back before morning – and no one’s the wiser.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Daniel answered.
With:
“It’s a sure thing. Leave now, have a look-see, be back before morning – and no one’s the wiser.”
Daniel’s eyes wandered to the sky, tracing the shaft of blue that cut between gleaming banks of clouds. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.“
(4) Ambiance. I could say that weather lends atmosphere to a novel, but that would be a bad pun. Think of it this way: Weather can do in a book what music does in a movie. It creates a feel, sets an emotional tone. The use cannot be – must not be – constant, but it can be gold. At just the right moment, a blazing sun – or a clash of thunder, fleeing clouds, the wind howling past – can strike just the right note.
(5) Analogy. This can be very similar to the last, but it’s not quite the same. Analogy corresponds first to events, not emotions; it makes weather an allegory to what is happening in the story. It often reflects the emotions of the characters, but not necessarily.
Let’s take an example. A hero swallows the bait his enemy laid out for him and, glancing up at the sky, sees clouds massing on the horizon. The storm gathering in the sky is an analogy to the storm gathering in the story. The readers – but not the hero – can feel the foreboding.