Write about the weather

If you're looking out of the window in Britain at the moment, you're probably seeing rain. According to the weathermen, we've had a month's worth of rain in two days and there's more to come. Clever writers can use any type of weather to their advantage however.

At some point in your novel-writing career you'll probably need to describe a scene in which weather features. It can be a sunny day, a storm out to sea or a grey day in the centre of the city. If, at the time you come to write the scene, you call simply on your imagination, you're missing a trick. Why not make it easy for yourself by describing the weather as and when you see it and file it away for future reference?

Look out of the window and write down what you see. How is the rain hitting the pavement? What colour is the sky? Where is water dripping from? What's floating in the puddles? How do people walk under an umbrella with rain beating down on them?

Next time you come to write a rainy scene, your prose will have an authentic ring that you'd find it difficult to create from imagination alone. And, as it's so easy to store words digitally, you could have lots of mini-essays on every type of weather to draw on in the future.

If you want to explore writing on different topics as a way of kick-starting your novel or re-energising your work, why not sign up for the online writing course? Full details, a sample exercise and a link to the book's sales page can be found on the right.