Rain, Gloom and Doom

I know that in most books there is at least once scene that it all gloom and doom, not every scene can be sunny and on a lovely stretch of beach. In our imaginations we have the memory of certain storms that sacred the crap out of us when we was younger, and we use those memories to help us write our doom and gloom settings. Sometimes in our daily lives we miss the details of our landscapes we bypass on the way to school or work. To help me have better narrative in my writing I pay close attention to the details around me. If I see a hawk winging overhead as I'm waiting for school to dismiss I try to describe it out loud (I know you may worry about the other parents thinking your a loon because your talking to yourself, but it works). If the description is a good one I write it down and save it to use in my writing. Easy, and it gives me something to build on later. Same goes for weather, describe a bolt of lightening, a thunderhead,does the window panes rattle when the thunder booms? What does the air smell like after the storm? Simple details that we can extract from our daily lives to aide us in writing narrative.

Narrative in writing is important, it allows us to SHOW the scene, not tell the scene. Think of it as your telling you Best friend about a movie that your watching but they can't watch it because they are temporarily blind. Show them, let your words paint the scene in their minds. I cannot stress this enough. an example:

A; The sky over head was rolling with thick black clouds that announced that rain was surely on the way. I was racing towards home in my cherry red jeep wrangler trying to beat the rain. I had not checked the local news this morning and assumed that the weather would be good, and now I was driving like mad through town without the top on my jeep getting battered by the wind praying that the rain would hold off for another fifteen minutes. It did not. I cringed as the few raindrops splattered on my windshield, I was going to get drenched. As I pulled to a stop at a red light beside Food Lion the bottom fell out. No need to hurry home now.


B; I got caught in the rain without the top on my jeep, and I got drenched.


which one did you like best? Which one would you prefer to read in a story? I like A, it showed that the character was stressed and regretful. A simple detailed narrative can show the reader what kind of emotional range the character has, and what their personality type is. Narrative is your best friend as a writer.