09-25-2010, 10:33 PM
Quote:I've been thinking about the weather issue a little. In movies it's kind of a cheap trick to add atmosphere, obviously because the audience can hear the wind and the thunder as a background to the story. Creepy music does the same. In books the author would need to describe the bad weather, but why should she? It probably has nothing to do with the story. I think it's a bigger accomplishment for the author to create a scary mood by the circumstances that involve the storyline, than to revert to writing about short term weather conditions.
Call me cheap, but a bit of atmospheric description goes a long way for me in visualizing a story, and enhances the mood. I can see your point, though: simply writing "It was a dark and stormy night" is not enough to generate atmosphere, and if the judicious use of description is not in the service of a strong story, well-realized characterization and circumstantially generated tension, it amounts to very little.
In the best Gothics I've read, the weather and geography can even play an active role in the plot. Inclement weather can isolate the cast of characters from the rest of the world if roads or bridges are closed, or if they're flooded or snowed in, or stranded on an island. A storm may be a good opportunity for a crime to be committed, especially if the power goes out. And of course we all know what happens if a heroine is foolish enough to wander out in a pea-soup fog.
Like good cover art, a little word-painting about the weather never hurt a good Gothic Romance novel. Of course the quality of the story can never depend on it, but for me it's the icing on the cake.
