Writing About: Autumn

Autumn is my favorite season and I love writing about it. If you ever want to write about this time of the year, check out these pointers:

1. Change of Season

Leaves are changing pretty colors—oranges, red, and yellows. The weather is becoming chilly, the days are shorter. Don’t miss the opportunity to describe the colorful foliage and the crispness in the air as nothing says autumn more than the colors of nature and the feel of the temperature gradually lowering.

2. School

In the United States, kids go back to school in the autumn, so if your main character has children or works with kids (perhaps he/she is a teacher), this time will impact his/her home and work life.

3. Cool Temperatures

The heat of summer has passed (at least if your characters don’t live in Florida), and the temperature is dropping to a nice degree that could prompt your characters to open their windows. I know I take advantage of the nice autumn temperatures as often as I can in the Sunshine State.

4. Holidays

Halloween – Now is the tome to honor your passed loved ones, to decorate your house with spooky knick-knacks, and to pick out costumes with your kids to go trick-or-treating/ Your characters can do all of those things too.

Thanksgiving – Let your characters gather for a Thanksgiving feast at their parents’ or grandparents’ house. Food, football, laughter, and maybe a little family drama make this holiday what it is. Explore all of those things with your characters.

5. Football Season

In the U.S., autumn is the time for NFL. Maybe your hero and heroine bond while watching a game or they go on a date to see their favorite team play. These would be a fun scene to write.

6. Food/Drinks

Each season has its own menu. Here are some of the goodies associate with autumn:

Food – apples, pomegranates, squash, turkey, pumpkin pie/bread, cranberry sauce, carrot cake, gingerbread cookies.

Drinks – apple juice, spiced cider, spiced hot tea, pumpkin-flavored coffee.

7. Autumn Fun

There are many things your characters can do during this season such as:

Game hunting, hayrides, walk through haunted houses, apple picking, fairs/festivals, visit pumpkin patches, go on a ghost walk, trick-or-treat, go to a loved one’s grave, and Halloween parties.

Let your characters enjoy a couple of these to bring the season to life in your story.

8. Pumpkins

Pumpkins are the popular vegetable for autumn. They can be made into stew/soup, added to special pizza and ravioli, and used for countless desserts including my favorite pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies.

If one of your characters is a baker or chef, he/she can make many of these. And if your MC is a mom or dad, he/she can go to a pumpkin patch with their kids, carves pumpkins, and roast the seeds for a healthy snack.

9. Shorter Days

Daylight Savings happens in autumn when we turn back out clocks an hour. The days will grow shorter, which means it’ll get dark earlier. Darkness is always great to utilize in stories to add suspense and autumn can be an eerie season due to Halloween, you can use the dark in your story.

See: Utilize the Dark

10. Clothing

Summer clothes will start to disappear and quarter sleeves, light cardigans/sweaters, a scarf, and darker colors (browns, purples) will start to appear in everyone’s wardrobe. Dress your character’s accordingly. And keep the setting in mind as slightly thicker layers will be needed further North than in the South.

Check out these posts for the other seasons:

- Winter

- Spring

- Summer

QUESTIONS: What do you like most about autumn? What do you like least?

Writing About: Spring

I am starting my blog tour for Ghost of Death on the blogs of Stephanie Faris and C Lee McKenzie. 

Check out my fun post: Name a Drink. 

And my musical post: 10 Songs


A few months ago, I shared a post about winter with tips for writers who are writing (or want to write a story set in winter. Now it’s time for SPRING!

Here are 10 things to keep in mind for a story set in the spring:

1.    Nature

Everyone knows spring as the season where the earth reawakens and flowers bloom. Gardeners flock outdoors with bags of soil and packets of seeds. Describing the fresh green grass, the new buds on trees, and the flowers bursting from rich soil would set the atmosphere for spring beautifully. You could also write about a character who is a gardener.

·         Flowers- Easter lily, pansy, daffodil, tulip, lilac, peony.

2.    Warming Temperatures

In the spring, the snow melts and the sun starts to grow stronger, warmer. Your characters will be able to open their windows, take the thick blankets off their beds, and turn off their furnaces. Whenever your hero/heroine is outside, take the opportunity to describe the blue skies, the cool breeze, and yellow sunlight.

1.    Clothes

Now that winter is over, you can let your characters wear shorter sleeves, brighter colors (purple, blue, yellow) and fancy church clothes. Mentioning what your characters are wearing is a nice touch that you could do with just a sentence or two. Describe your heroine in a pretty dress with a light cardigan, or your hero in tan slacks and a white shirt.

2.    April Showers

April brings an abundance of rain showers to many states in the United States. Writing about a rain shower could add a romantic element to a romance story.

Imagine: kissing in the rain, cuddling in bed to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.

1.    Picnics

Spring wouldn’t be spring without picnics: family picnics, church picnics, and intimate picnics between your hero and heroine, which make lovely scenes for romances! They could pack a basket with cheese, grapes, finger sandwiches, cold chicken, hummus and veggies, wine or sparkling water.

2.    Outdoor Fun

With no snow and warmer temps, people enjoy spending more time outdoors. Let your characters take walks together, go on bike rides, or visit the park. All of these are wonderful activities for two characters who are falling in love.

1.    Holidays

There are many lovely holidays in the spring like Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, and Mother’s Day. You could write about one or two that would make the most sense to your plot and story.

·         Easter- church, dying eggs with kids and orchestrating egg hunts.

·         St. Patrick’s Day: Irish pubs, beer, Irish food (cabbage, corned beef, potatoes)

·         Mardi Gras- New Orleans, parades, beads and masks

·         Mother’s Day- Mothers, gifts/cards/flowers

\1.    Daylight Savings

In the spring, we turn our clocks one hour ahead. (Spring forward, fall back.) As a result, we have longer days and more sunlight, but we also lose an hour of sleep that first night and struggle to get our inner clocks in sync with the time change. You could show how your MC is affected by the time change by sleeping in and being late to work. Readers would be able to identify with that.

2.    Spring Cleaning

We all know spring is the time to clear out the dust, go through the clutter that accumulated during the winter, and fix the house for the warmer seasons. You could let a single mother/woman go through her closet/desk/kitchen while obsessing over her latest breakup or problem.

1.    Food/Drinks

Springtime is perfect for fruits and vegetables and lighter meals. If your characters eat out together or have a quiet dinner at home you could have them enjoy these:

·         Food- strawberries, peaches, asparagus, light tomato and basil salad, pasta primavera, and herb chicken.

·         Drinks- iced mint tea, strawberry lemonade, fruit smoothies, and sangria.

QUESTIONS: When you think of spring, what comes to mind? What do you like most about spring? What do you like least?

On Wednesday, I'll be posting my A to Z Reflection post with my Insecure Writer's Support Group post.

Writing About: Winter

In my Writing About blog series feature, I have offered advice on how to write about certain characters, scenes, and even places, but not seasons. Until now! I’m starting with WINTER!

The following is a list of several things you should keep in mind if you’re writing (or plan to write) a story set in the US during winter. (You may not have to us all of these. What you’ll use will depend on your story. And I say US only because other parts of the world experience their winters during different times.)

1.    Nature

Winter has the biggest impact on nature than any other season. In the winter, trees are bare, birds migrate south, grass turns brown and dies, and many animals hibernate.

·         Plants- Christmas trees (Douglas Fir, Fraser Fir, Blue Spruce, White Pine), Evergreen Holly, Poinsettias, berry bushes, and mistletoe are common plants during the winter.

2.    Dropping Temperatures

If your story extends over a period of time, make sure to let the temperatures drop lower and lower. You can even throw in a day or two where the temps climb just enough to melt a little snow.

3.    Clothes

If your characters are going outside in the winter, (unless they live in Florida or the Bahamas) they won’t be stepping out in shorts and a T-shirt. Bundle up your characters in long sleeves, winter jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, and even earmuffs.

4.    Snow

It wouldn’t be winter without snow, especially up north, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Describe the snow on the ground, as it falls, how it becomes slush when it gets warmer, and how sunlight reflects off it.

·         Snowstorms

Just like you can bet on thunderstorms in the summer in warmer climates, you can bet on snowstorms hitting in the winter in colder climates. A blizzard can be a major part of your plot where your characters will be trapped inside together with no electricity, the cold, and buckets of boredom.

·         Snow Fun

Let your characters have a little fun, even if you’re writing a thriller you can still do this. Your characters do deserve a little break between all the action scenes. They can have a snowball fight (See this post for tips on that), go sledding, skiing, snowboarding, or ice fishing.

·         Snow Preparedness

Show that your characters know how to deal with snow by using a snow blower, shovels, ice scrapers, and even putting chains on the tires of their cars. This can easily be done with a simple sentence.

For example: John shoveled the driveway and rechecked the chains on his tires before driving to work.

5.    Fireplace

If your characters live somewhere that sees snow, a fireplace is always a nice addition to a house. You can have one of your characters read a book in front of the fireplace. You can have a family roast marshmallows, or a couple cuddle. Don’t forget to describe the crackling wood and sputtering flames.

6.    School

As we all know, kids are off for their holiday break for about two weeks in the winter. If there are kids in your story, include this fact in your story line. A single mother would have to entertain her kids. This could put a little hitch in her budding romance. You can also show the kids having fun outside and anxiously waiting for...

7.    Santa!

For children, winter signifies the return of Santa. If you do have children characters, have them write Santa a letter, beg their mom/dad to see Santa in the mall, and even ask if Santa is real. Each of these moments will add something special, heart-warming, and even funny (if you want it to be) to your story.

8.    Holidays

Winter would not be winter without Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Years Eve, or Valentine’s Day. You can pick one holiday or all of them if your story is a novel that follows your character’s lives through a few months. Don’t forget to include what makes these holidays so great.

For example:

Christmas- Christmas trees, presents, Santa, and parades.

New Years Eve- Midnight kisses, champagne, and resolutions.

Valentine’s Day- Love, heartbreak, dinner dates, chocolate and flowers.

9.    Shopping

Winter is famous for its Christmas mall madness and day-after sales. Let your characters experience some of this craziness complete with large crowds, short tempers, and parents scrambling to get their brats . . . I mean, kids . . . the newest and best toys.

10.  Foods/Drinks

In the winter, we tend to eat heartier meals and enjoy hot drinks. Below you’ll find a short list of foods and drinks that are in season and are popular for this time of the year. Letting your characters enjoy these foods/drinks would be a nice touch, as we tend to link them with winter time:

·         Food- stew, chili, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, cranberries, assorted nuts, gingerbread, Christmas cookies, porridge, and fruitcake.

·         Drinks- eggnog, hot cocoa, hot cider, and mulled wine.

QUESTIONS: When you think of winter, what comes to mind? What do you love most about winter? What do you like least?