What feature of your setting can take your novel from good to great?
Seasons.
Whether you set your novel during the fall, winter, spring, or summer, including details about seasons can improve your story in many surprising ways.
Why Choose a Season for Your Story?
Seasons add variety to your setting by creating a specific atmosphere. Descriptions of sunshine, snow, or falling leaves can give your fictional environment an additional layer of depth.
Likewise, seasons can orient the readers in the timeframe of your novel. If your audience knows your story will span the summer or Christmas break, they’ll be able to follow the sequence of events more easily.
Finally, seasons can create conflict and emphasize your theme. For instance, a blizzard can impede your characters’ goals and underscore themes of courage and resilience.
How to Set Your Book During a Season
1. Consider the connotations of a season.
To choose the right season for your book, think about the emotional associations of various seasons. Spring generally connotes new beginnings, while fall often implies the impermanence of life.
The same season can portray vastly different moods. Jill Williamson’s Thirst takes place in late July. The sweltering Arizona summer intensifies the characters’ desperation to survive a waterborne disease ravaging the country.
Another novel occurring in the summer is Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter. This graphic novel creates a cheerful atmosphere through activities like selling lemonade, walking dogs, and wading in a creek. Thirst and Squished use the same season to build opposing emotional tones.
2. Consider common seasonal events.
Holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July, can set the stage for important plot events. In Kathy Buchanan’s In My Own Way, a major plot twist occurs at Thanksgiving dinner—a natural time for Amelia’s busy family to share a meal.
Likewise, speculative novels might include holidays and celebrations unique to the story world. Mariposa Aristeo’s Sons of Day & Night features a festival at which one protagonist uses the cover of darkness to enact a daring plan.
Seasons also herald character-specific events, such as birthdays and anniversaries. For instance, the anniversary of a death can set characters’ emotions on edge, generating rich opportunities for conflict.
Finally, seasonal weather events can provide plot material. Thunderstorms, blizzards, heat waves, cold snaps, or even natural disasters can all pose challenges for your characters. Katherine Briggs’ The Immortal Abyss occurs during a nationwide drought, which becomes a major source of conflict in the plot.
3. Brainstorm relevant conflicts.
Your characters might be snowed in with their chaotic family. A heat wave might endanger your jungle explorer. A flood might ruin your character’s belongings, while a Christmas gathering can spark tension between feuding relatives.
Changing seasons can also create conflict. If your fantasy characters take a long journey, their traveling might last from fall into winter. The shortage of warm clothing may lead to hypothermia, and the chilly environments might lack sufficient food.
4. Build your timeline around seasons.
Many novels use a “Timeline Tracker,” which establishes the time frame over which the story takes place. Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke takes place over a full year, so the mentions of Christmas, spring, July, and other times of the year help readers track the passage of time in the story.
5. Pick specific sensory details that convey your intended mood.
The same season can portray vastly different moods. Consider the season of winter. To convey an atmosphere of warmth and coziness, you might mention the hot cocoa, crackling fireplace, and Christmas lights. However, to create a tense mood, you might focus on the bitter wind, icicles, and snowdrifts.
To kickstart your brainstorming, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Weather Thesaurus provides numerous sensory details about various weather events, from sunshine to snowstorms.
6. Use the changing seasons to underscore your theme.
Just as seasons imply emotions, you can use the transition between seasons to portray poignant themes.
The Time Door by Shannon McDermott depicts the transition from a harsh winter to a tender spring. This seasonal shift underscores the hero’s slow triumph over powerful enemies.
On the other hand, in Real, Not Perfect by Stephanie Coleman, the summer turns to fall as Tessa’s parents divorce, signaling that her perfect world is beginning to crumble.
A Tip That’s Always in Season
Setting your novel during a season can deepen your story world, intensify your plot, and underscore your theme.
To incorporate seasons into your novel, consider the connotations of a season, as well as potential conflicts raised by weather and holidays. Build your timeline around seasons, and choose sensory details that enhance the mood of your scenes. Finally, consider using the changing seasons to highlight your theme.
Using these tips, you can “season” your story with immersive setting details that invite readers into a world they won’t want to leave.
What season(s) does your current project incorporate?
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This is such a great idea for strengthening environmental storytelling, I love it! My novel begins at the end of the Summer and follows the course of Fall. I wanted to talk about change and death but with the promise of rebirth, so the sequel takes place through the following Spring.
Thank you for reading!
Your stories sound like they use the seasons to explore some great themes.