LA Story is one of my favorite movies for a lot of reasons. (I love the Shakespearean references.) Weather plays a central role in the story. It's a magical element. The irony for me is that I blame LA for replacing wind and cold and rain and snow and blazing heat with the ambient, invisible weather of Southern California. (I'd point to Hollywood films and Raymond Chandler to blame for reducing the importance of weather in fiction.) LA Story seems to recognize this by making the hero a weatherman and mocking the uselessness of his job.
But weather is too valuable to skip.
You can use weather to set the mood of the story. (It was a dark and stormy night.)
You can use weather to test and threaten characters. (Think stories where hurricanes, floods, droughts, and ice storms play a major role.)
You can use weather to demonstrate contrasts between characters. Obviously, some characters will have unexpected reactions to changes in weather, and these will reveal them. My father-in-law always felt it was necessary to get out on the road during a blizzard. I'm more likely to hunker down.
Weather can shape and illuminate characters in the story, and it does not need to be extreme to do this. One way is by demonstrating differences in challenges presented in obligations. Think of a week of rain with the family on vacation, and how that can make the experience miserable for the mother who needs to keep the children entertained and calm.
Weather also provides sensual experiences for readers. Most writers know enough to include visuals, sound, and smells to bring readers into stories, but often these seem to be tied to scenery or human – made elements. Yet, weather is an immersive and may be deeply pleasurable or supremely uncomfortable. There are a few more effective ways to bring readers into stories.
Weather can also be used artistically. Some of the most charming prose has been written describing weather — both directly and as it's experienced by characters.
While cinema may have undermined the use of weather in our fiction, it's still a strong positive influence because, as opposed to sitcoms, theatrical films tend to include a lot of exterior shots. Not doing so can make a film feel claustrophobic. (In fact, that's taking advantage of with prison pictures, horror, and even tense dramas.)
Science fiction, with its emphasis on world building, often takes full advantage of weather. Historicals, referencing novels from other eras, also give whether its due. But other contemporary works neglect to take advantage of the possibilities of weather (and often, even time of day). In the extreme, there can be a white space effect, where the story seems to be taking place without a location.
In addition to following the examples of ambient weather in fiction, I suspect a lot of writers are leery of dealing with weather because the first words that come to them are probably clichés. We are buried in descriptions of weather that are all too familiar. You will never be the first one to describe wind in the character’s hair or sunshine on their shoulders or sleet tearing at their cheeks. It takes some thought and effort to keep things fresh.
The best way to avoid clichés (for anything, not just whether) is to mark them for revision. Once they are noted, it's best if real experience can be drawn from. That means paying attention to weather, both in specifics (especially change) and in effects (on the observer and on people around the observer). Language comes next. A richness of vocabulary, similes, and metaphors may come from wide reading and imagination. Or a writer can approach it by brute force, making a list of 10 to 20 alternative phrasings. Ultimately, I think the richest opportunities for fresh descriptions come by way of showing the impact of weather rather than directly portraying it.
If it sounds hard, it is. But it's part of the job. Good writers make things fresh every day. How many times has a first kiss been described in a romance novel? Yet romance writers, time and time again, present unique examples of first kisses to their readers.
Ursula K Le Guin brings the ice world, Gethen, featured in The Left Hand of Darkness, to readers through a character who is an alien on that world. A powerful way to bring weather to readers is through a character for whom the experience is new. This need not be on another planet. Someone from LA experiencing winter in New York City might take what a New Yorker would fail to notice and make it something special.
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