Today's post was delayed by a tornado warning. The radar picture on my TV showed a bright red band of storms heading right for the town where I live. In case no one ever told you, it's not a good idea to be at the keyboard of a computer that's plugged in to your house's electrical system when there's lightning in the nearby sky. Your machine and you both might get fried.
Dangerous, inclement or even murky weather can, of course, play a major role in any story. I don't think I'll be giving away too much to say one of the three types of weather I just mentioned will play a significant part in the climax of my novel. The thing about severe weather is, you don't want it to appear out of the clear blue, so to speak. You have to build up to it.
In that way, it's like any other story development: It should build, not just appear. If something dramatic happens without any prelude, that's clunky writing. People appreciate foreshadowing. It shows skill. In one of the story lines on which I worked today, there was a dramatic scene, a near miss of a sexual assault. This had been preceded by two other scenes in which this threat had been growing…and if it leads to something still more threatening a third precedent will have been established.
In another story line, it looks like the antagonists might have achieved their goal, but any savvy reader knows they have to suffer a setback or the story is over, and the story is far from over.
I wrote five pages today.
Day 27 of writing my new novel is done.
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