I've read a LOT of books set in England. Misty moors and foggy streets are a geographic feature in most of them and even a plot necessity in many. I used to imagine these settings and try to picture them in my mind. And then I'd try and figure out how anyone could get so lost in the mist that they would fall into a pond and drown, or fall off a cliff, or assume ghosts were haunting them. I'd honestly never been in fog so thick that you could really get lost in it. Then I moved here. Wow. The fog has been unbelievable over the past month. It comes and goes rather unpredictably. My headlights could hardly penetrate the mist a few weeks ago. In fact, later that night a woman came to our door because she was hopelessly lost and couldn't find the highway. Most days the fog lies thick in the lowland where we live because of the stream near our house. But with the rolling hills and numerous valleys, there is fog somewhere most of the time whenever moisture is present.
When it freezes during the night, we're treated to a glorious morning. Here are pics of this morning before it warmed up and the frost turned back into mist. Everything on the trees is frost, not snow.
I think I need to make sure that my stories have a strong sense of place. I want readers to picture my settings in their minds and want to go there. I've had descriptions of quaint villages, thatched roofs, hedgerows, imposing Downs, and misty moors running through my head for most of my life. Maybe I need to write a story set here, among the misty hills of the Palouse. The only problem is that a town full of tract homes and student apartments doesn't impart the same level of ambiance as a village of thatched-roof cottages. Sigh. Sometimes I wish the American west had a little more charm to go with its natural beauty. Oh well, I guess that is what fantasy is for.
2 comments:
Most of my books are set in warm climates because I've been living in Arizona so long I keep forgetting what cold is like. It's much easier to do hot. (It's supposed to be 78 today!)
Oh, how mean, Janette! 78 degrees! Wouldn't I love that?! I agree that college towns don't inspire much in the way of rich settings...but sometimes the outskirts do, right? Your pictures, Jen, are wonderful! When I was in college, I often drove across the state of Wyoming through some of the most beautiful, desolate countryside in the world (go ahead, argue with me, people--I'm a Wyomingite and our pride would squelch any Texan's). I love the west! Hurrah for sagebrush! But you're right: the mess of our little college town leaves something to be desired....
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