Round and Round

Cricket McRae

The high temperature last Thursday was 58 degrees in my Colorado town in the foothills. For nearly a month before that temps were in the high 90’s every day, and then suddenly there was snow along I-70. My vegetables are ripening in the garden, but there could be a hard freeze in a month and everything green will turn brown again. And then white.

Transition. Anticipation.

When I worked at the software mother ship, my job changed every six months. There were always new challenges, some of them stressful. The only constant was change. But, like seasons, products had their cycles, from concept through execution to market. Going through that cycle sometimes had the feel of trying to stay on my feet on a surface of rolling logs. Risks were encouraged, demands made and success rewarded. It could be a little scary, but was also energizing.

At least for a while. Then the product cycles gave way to a homogenized lump of constant upgrades and daily updates available on the Web. The big sign on the wall that said “that’s how we’ve always done it,” in a circle with a line through it came down. Innovation slowed. It got to be a grind.

I left and started a soap making business. What a blast: researching, developing new formulas, making and updating the Web site, learning about online marketing and selling, creating packaging, experimenting with production methods and efficiency, and finally achieving a certain level of success.

But once the creative side was more or less done, my little toiletry business became like a factory job, pretty much the same every day. Kind of made me itch.

Writing is my perfect occupation. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I am. Creating a book has a cycle, and so does promoting. I’ve just finished the third in my Home Crafting mystery series, Spin a Wicked Web, and am hitting the promotion for Heaven Preserve Us hard. I’m beginning to write the fourth in the series, and developing the backbone for a whole new series.

As writers, we get to wear so many hats. Every day is different. Every page is different. Our characters alter and grow, and new characters come along. We learn new things as we research, and meet new people all the time.

As long as I'm willing to push myself, it will always be a challenge. Who could ask for more than that?

To Every Story...There is a Season

by Nina Wright

As we conclude the holiday season, let's contemplate seasons in another light. Think of a particular novel or movie and ask yourself what time of year it takes place. Or, if the story sprawls across seasons, which ones are most significant, and why? Is time of year a mood-setter, a point of contrast or a catalyst? How conscious of season does the writer want the reader to be? To what end does the writer manipulate time of year?

Season is an element of setting, equally linked to time and place. With a nod to latitude and longitude, time of year dictates rituals and holidays in addition to weather. It can affect all five senses as well as state of mind.

In fiction the role of season ranges from texture to plot point to theme. Doctor Zhivago is first and foremost a story of place and time (and character), but the wintry elements are what many of us remember best, especially from the film. Planes, Trains and Automobiles, for all its hilarity, is about Thanksgiving: Steve Martin’s character wants only to be with his family while John Candy’s character has no family and nowhere to go. The Wizard of Oz depends on tornado season to provide a key plot element as well as the revelation that there's no place like home.

Season can be an efficient means of revealing character. How does our protagonist respond to a pile of soggy autumn leaves? The lack of sunlight in winter? An April Fool’s joke? Neighborhood kids playing with firecrackers the week before the Fourth of July?

Season creates reader expectation. For instance, juvenile fiction set in summertime seems to promise a lack of structure and adult supervision. But exceptions abound, as I discovered while playing with notions for my teen novel Sensitive. There could be summer school or summer camp. Or a summer job. The point is that novelists can elect to follow or flout seasonal expectations. Oh, the possibilities inherent in, say, no teachers showing up for the first day of school...or a January that's warmer in Montana than in Tennessee...or a Thanksgiving when our protagonist has nothing to feel thankful for....

Season is on my mind, and not just because I’m stuck in Ohio for the winter when I would rather be at least three climate zones to the south. I’m writing Whiskey with a Twist, the fifth book in what some might call a season-based mystery series, emphasis on humor. Each installment takes place during the next tourist event in or around a Lake Michigan resort town. It starts with leaf-peeping in Whiskey on the Rocks, moves on to a winter jamboree in Whiskey Straight Up and then the annual Miss Blossom pageant in Whiskey & Tonic, followed in Whiskey and Water by a rash of riptides. My novel in progress was inspired by my own experiences at a fall dog show in Lancaster, PA. Whiskey with a Twist features Afghan hounds amid the Indiana Amish. Add harvest season, and this fictioneer can’t type fast enough.

What role does season play in the novel you are writing or reading right now? Does the author comply with seasonal expectations or defy them? How does season impact character, plot and/or theme?

As I write this, a new year is opening before us. Whether the season is sunny, snowy or rainy where you are, I wish you a bright Aught-Eight.