We’re Having a Heat Wave

beachphoto

This seems to be all anyone talks about in L.A. this week.The heat. Everybody’s hot and cranky. I’ve lived in Southern California a long time, years and years, and this is the first time I can remember it being this hot at the beach in October. At noon today it’s going to be 91 degrees in Santa Monica. Last night I had to leave all the windows open, screens or no screens, and mosquitos came in waking me up with that buzzing sound they do near your ears. The tips of my fingers feel sticky on the keys of my computer as I type this. Even a white cotton shirt feels too heavy and hot.

If you’re writing fiction give  your characters a heat wave – open the windows and send in the mosquitos for them to deal with. Let them figure out what to wear to be comfortable. Or give them a cold spell – have them get out their Ugg boots and scarves, crank up the furnace, let their fingers turn blue if they can’t find their winter gloves. Always give your stories weather – it can act as a metaphor, or simply another layer to whatever action is going on. You don’t want your characters to get too comfortable.

Weather is important for non-fiction too. It’s another layer of reality to your story.

As for me, I’d much rather have this heat than the fog. Though I could do without the mosquitos.

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