And, no, that isn’t meant to be a Song of Ice and Fire reference. I meant that literally.
As I’m sitting at my desk, writing this, I can look out my window and see the first “Real” snow falling. I use the quotes because what I’m looking at isn’t mixed with anything – it isn’t anything more than scattered flurries that don’t have a hope of sticking, but it’s there.
I’m not much of a winter person. I might have been at one time, and I can handle the cold pretty well but, if I had my own way, I’d be somewhere that had, maybe, a passing acquaintance with freezing at best.
Which would be something of a loss.
Yeah, I know that sounds contradictory. I’m complicated.
While I don’t much like the cold, I do like being in the warm and looking out at it. I spent a nice bit of this morning with a warm cup of coffee, looking outside, and watching Winter limbering up her muscles.
While I was doing that, the thought struck me that this kind of moment is one that you’re going to want to include in your work. It can’t be all action all the time. A quiet moment when your main character is surrounded by the familiar and comforting, knowing that forces are assembling against them.
Use this to reinforce what the character is fighting for. To show that they’ve got some serious skin in the game. To make your reader care that much more, so that when you start tearing the hell out of your character’s life, the loss and the – eventual – triumph are that much more meaningful.
Time: 11:19 am-ish
Music: Fit for Rivals – Novocain