Welcome to the place that is dedicated to getting you writing (again?). Maybe you have absolutely no idea where to start but have always wanted to try being a writer. Maybe you want to write the great American novel or you thought you'd write a poem about hidden life of a grain of sand. Maybe you just need a little inspiration to get you started or you find yourself just a little stuck. Maybe you find yourself trying to break out of your comfort zone or mix things up at work. Whatever your reason for landing here, practicing a little creativity can impact your life in ways you didn't expect.
But let's be honest. Creativity is a muscle and it needs exercise to work properly. That's where this series comes in. With any luck, this series will get your creative juices flowing and get you thinking in ways you hadn't before. Throughout the summer, we posted a couple of prompts every week. We cut back a little during the school year but will attempt to post at least one prompt a month. If you are interested in more, not only are there prompt sites online, we also have a prompt booklet you can get from us and enough creative people on staff to maybe come up with an idea you can run with if you come in and ask.
The story of the weather and of nature itself is one of the oldest.
Long before we had huts, much less houses, apartments, or skyrises, we (planet Earth... actually the universe itself) had weather. It was here long before the human race (whether you believe in Darwinism, Creationism, a combination of the two, or something else entirely), and it will be here long after we cease to exist, probably, barring time completely coming to a standstill and everything including time and existence ceasing at the same exact moment... but that's a story for another time as well as a philosophical, temporal, and scientifically theoretical discussion. Maybe I'll use it in another post.
Anyways, back to weather. Even with those trees, caves, huts and whatever else we've lived in, the weather has had a drastic impact on us. It is the basis for most man-vs-nature stories and even those it isn't, it holds a strong place in the events that unfold. From the dry, arid deserts (and don't forget sand storms) to the humid, muggy tropical rainforests, typhoons, blizzards, gentle breezes, caressing sunshine to blazing, boiling sun, mists to torrential downpours, draughts to floods, oceans, seas, you name it.
Not only does it change how a story is told, it can be the story or provide the backdrop for the truly astonishing. After all, it wasn't the ocean that sank the boat in "The Perfect Storm". It was the convergence of multiple meteorological events (two storms combined into a giant one). It also wasn't what brought Frankenstein's monster to life, but it sure was used as an instrument and his resurrection wouldn't have been the same without that particular "dark and stormy night". It affects how plants grow and changes our appreciation of a spring picnic (a clear sunny day vs a blustery one or a sudden downpour from a seemingly clear sky just as you begin to unpack). And calm, gentle weather affects just as much as a typhoon.
It is said that the Inuit peoples have over 100 words to describe snow alone. How many ways can you use weather in your writing?
So here's your prompt: Use the following line in your piece and use it to color the events that take place: "I survived the severe weather by hiding in his home."