Our theme this week is about what seasons we like to write in. I tend to choose warmer weather, spring and summer. But I really do need to break out of that habit...
The Fateful Series is set in England. And I tend to make my characters suffer in terms of circumstance instead of temperatures. For example: In the beginning of Fateful, Brianna, Danielle's' cousin, leaves her alone to drive in London her first week there. I've driven in London, and while it can be done, it is rather hair-raising. Briana left her alone to drive a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car--that needed to be driven on the opposite side of the road from what she was used to--in an incredibly busy city in terms of traffic. Poor Danielle! LOL But a great way to make her suffer and more easily get lost... Well, at least I thought so. Brianna does apologize for it later, and never repeats the rude and rather selfish act. In her defense, she is a teen, she was distracted by a hot guy, and she was able to drive in Colorado with the situation reversed. So from her perspective, why couldn't Danielle do it too? As I said before, this is circumstance and not weather.
My father who lived in England requested some weather when he knew I was writing the story. For him I added fog and rain...which are the things he complained most about from his time there. I did add a battle scene in Fractured where it rains on them. Here's an excerpt:
She leaned into him. There was something soothing at least about just having him there even as violence filled her view. Where had Cedric gone? Danielle couldn’t see him any longer and the rain started to come down harder. Watching in horror, she noticed as others were drawn into the fray, completely overpowered by so many. The protective circle around them shrank until a wide gap formed between Richard and Beon.
Vampires moved in, engaging Ethan and then her. She could still feel him behind her as they fought off the attack, his arms and body shifting, sometimes even bumping into her with his efforts.
Punching one man in the chest, Danielle was almost startled when he flew back with such force he plowed over a few others in his wake. She caught another under the chin. His head snapped back sending raindrops flying from his skin and then, even more shocked, she watched as he flipped up and back almost like a fish. Finally she was on even ground with her skills.
She marveled at that too long, however, because someone managed to clip her in the cheek. Sharp pain exploded in her face. Grunting in agony, Danielle’s head whipped to the side, as her now wet hair swung around, slapping her skin. Her shoulder smashed into Ethan’s.
“Are you all right?” she heard him ask through the ringing in her ears. The entire right side of her face was throbbing now.
Swinging out, she made sure she blocked the next fist aimed at her head. Droplets of water splattered her face with the impact. “I thought you said it doesn’t hurt being immortal?”
“Ah, that...”
They turned as they battled with their backs practically glued together. “What do you mean by ‘ah, that?’”
“I neglected to mention—”
His words were cut off as the crowd attacking them intensified and came from what seemed like all directions. She swung and kicked with everything she had until she took another hit in the stomach. Air whooshed out of her lungs and she doubled over. Forcing herself to shake it off, Danielle tossed the saturated strands of hair out of her face, straightened and kept fighting. Her now soaked leather jacket began resisting her movement and she wished she’d removed it beforehand as Richard had done. Along with taking inventory of her wet clothing, Danielle did note the fact that she’d lost contact with Ethan.
Still fending off blows from opponents in front of her and to either side, she tossed a quick look over her shoulder. Unable to see him, Danielle whirled around to take on the new onslaught coming from behind. Again she searched for Ethan’s blue cap and blond hair. Where had he gone?
~Danielle is wearing a jacket, and Ethan is wearing a hat, so maybe it's obvious I was imagining a fall sort of situation. Anyway, as I'm writing Max and Nadia's story for you, I promise to add some snow! (Note: the great photo of London in the rain was found on Pinterest, and the link doesn't appear to be working to see where it originally came from.)
Until next time....And as always, take a moment to check out my other carni friends at YA Indie Carnival.
1.Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween
2.Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.Heather Self
4.T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6.Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7.Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
8.K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9.Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
10.Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11.Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
12. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13.M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
14.Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15.Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
16.Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17.Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
18.TG Ayer
19.Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
20.Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21.Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover
22.Courtney Cole Writes
I think weather can add such an awesome element to a scene... and it can set a really great tone too. In movies, sad scenes are often set in the rain.
I like the circumstances you used though. You couldn't pay me enough to drive in London :)
Thanks for visiting my blog, Melissa...and yeah, I'd much rather take the Underground in London, my poor character. LOL
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