What’s with the weather?

It was Elmore Leonard who said, “Never open a book with weather.” It’s great advice, as are his other nine rules of writing. You want people shooting at you, not spots of rain. But I do find that weather plays a significant part in my writing, in the process, in setting my scenes and in upsetting my characters.

I love being out in all weathers. I love summer days when the sky is blue and the breeze is balmy. I love thunderstorms. I love walking in torrential rain. I don’t like being cold but as the old saying goes, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing (been caught out there a few times).

As I’ve said before, I love knowing what my guys like and don’t like. NG hates the cold. LC hates being too hot. Hil just hates being outside. (One thing I love most is knowing all the reasons why…)

My universe isn’t all shiny and sparkly clean. My guys get muddy when it rains. Their kit doesn’t work in the dirt. Their fingers get cold. I love throwing them into the extremes of what they have trouble dealing with and seeing how they respond.

But, and this is the thing, when the sun is shining, the beer’s cold and the days are long, it can be hard sometimes to get into those really dark places. However, it has been a good summer of amazing weather from one extreme to the other so that’s all been cool as far as the inspiration, the planning and the plotting. As far as the writing goes, it’s all lining up nicely and heading towards the dark times just as the dark nights start to draw back in.