Comments on: Just a Thought…

By: Kidlit.com · Honorable Mention, Novel Beginnings

Kidlit.com · Honorable Mention, Novel Beginnings — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:32:37 +0000

[...] The cries from a flight of ravens echoed through the forest as they clamored to escape from the trees behind Scarlet. Fabric ripped as she jumped away from the tree and spun around. She scanned the edge of the clearing. Great tension here. Good sound details and action. Instead of weather to set mood and convey tension, Joan is using the landscape. We get that something bad is happening without there having to be a storm. [...]

By: Ron Huckemeyer

Ron Huckemeyer — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:16:37 +0000

I was asked to change my opening chapter a few times. This last time, by a college professor in which she said, “Your protagonist is about to set off on a mission. Will the elements add to the melodrama? Or will he ride off on a nice sunny day?” Then she said something interesting, “Set me up.” And so I added the elements. Then she said, “This puts me in my place.”
However the point you make of weather is interesting and will consider it in my second novel. Always eyes and ears open -Ronnie

By: JR Hochman

JR Hochman — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:58:41 +0000

The reason so many authors start chapters describing the weather is because it seems every other fantasy book on the market has a chapter opening where they describe the weather or the lush landscape… I agree, this is boring. So why do so many published authors get away with this device (read laziness)? Why don’t their editors slap them around a bit?

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:14:54 +0000

Leighann — The tone of my blog is often a little jokey and often hyperbolic. The point is, if every other submission starts with the weather, maybe it’s time to differentiate yourself.

Weather as foreshadowing and theme is, as you say, old as the Bible. The freshest, most contemporary writers, though, choose literary devices and tropes that I’ve never read before. They go beyond the weather to new and exciting tools for foreshadowing and mood-setting.

By: Leighann

Leighann — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:40:30 +0000

People don’t only talk about the weather because they are bored. Many of the greatest stories ever told from Noah’s Ark and the Mesopotamian flood story center around the weather. Humans relate to the weather because it is one of our common experiences; that’s why people like to talk about it.

Kids love to talk about the weather. I’m a middle school teacher and when I read a description of the weather, the kids are like, “whoa, I’ve been in wind like that before, or a snowstorm” and they are all clamoring to share their thoughts. I just read them the description of Jonas feeling snow for the first time in Lois Lowry’s classic, The Giver. The description of the weather should serve a purpose, such as to heighten tension or draw the reader into the story in a sensory way.

In Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt describes the weather as a use of foreshadowing; she describes the air of a summer day in August before the storm. This serves to describe the setting in a sensory way and hint at the plot; all is still for now, but something exciting is about to happen!

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:18:18 +0000

Mary — A lot of bloggers moderate comments, especially from posters who have never commented on the blog before. Your comments were logged, they just went into my moderation queue.

By: MaryWitzl

MaryWitzl — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:02:52 +0000

This is the third time today I’ve gotten caught on the duplicate comment thing. I’m beginning to get a little paranoid.

By: MaryWitzl

MaryWitzl — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:01:31 +0000

I think this is seasonally linked. I’ll bet most people in the northern hemisphere don’t even think about the weather in the spring or autumn.

By: MaryWitzl

MaryWitzl — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:00:15 +0000

I have a hunch this is seasonally linked. I’ll bet most people in the northern hemisphere don’t even think about the weather in the spring or autumn.

By: Emily Murdoch

Emily Murdoch — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:33:03 +0000

Some of the best info I’ve read on successful/unsuccessful openings and first pages are these posts at Anne Mini’s Author Author blog. (Anne is a writer and an editor.)

The second link below is packed with info, but the first link has a long list of openings/first pages that were frowned upon when critiqued by an Idol-style agent panel.

http://www.annemini.com/?p=2158

http://www.annemini.com/index.php?s=agent+panel+and+first+pages

(As always, love your blog, Mary : )