[Discussion] Falling in love on Christmas day...

Hello! As per title, the idea behind this thread is... basically me noticing the sheer amount of romantic, sappy movies that are often aired around December and that involve some sort of love story between some sort of "managers" blossoming during the typical Northern Hemisphere Christmas period. You know, there's the "oh no my plane back home is stuck" scene, the ice-skating rink at Rockfeller's or something similar, the "time to start a new business here" scene... and you can't deny that it sort of works!

So, borrowing some inspiration from that, I'd like to ask if there's a certain season, a certain period of the year, or a certain weather that you love to talk about in your stories, or that always gives you some inspiration for certain plots? Is there maybe a weather or a season you've never used much? For example, I've had the chance to write about some crazy weather in Trainers and some unpleasant rain in Hoenn Square 1, but in neither roleplay have I reached the point where it's actually winter. Not that Ari would have anything to complain haha!

I honestly should focus more on environmental factors; I tend to forget about them fairly easily. Which isn't great lmao they do add a lot! Really, what I like is giving characters something to deal with, and weather can certainly be that- particularly unexpected rain or heavy snow. But the weather I tend to use most is... overcast. Atmospheric, y'know? Seasonally, I tend not to set things in winter simply because I Hate It and tend to put myself in my characters' heads too much and then I get mad about it "being" winter lmfao what is that about even

The current RPs I'm in are late spring/early summer and late summer/early fall so I do feel like I'm kinda missing out on the good vibes of mid-to-late autumn and the transition of winter to spring which is always a lovely time. Someday I will set myself there again! Probably HS1 will get into the autumnal range at least :)

I'd love to write more about storms in general, but with the current fanfiction I'm writing, I'm limited with what I can do unless I write prequel stories, or stories focused on other areas of Teyvat, which I do! But, I'd love to write a rainstorm for atmospheric purposes in the future. Maybe I will.

I love playing around with weather to suit the characters' emotional states. I've also used weather as a way to indicate the passage of time, particularly in school-based stories (be it high school, college, elementary, etc). A lot of my plot points typically come about with the weather in mind -- is it day, night, autumn, summer? Are the characters rained/snowed in or is there a reason they can leave? These seem, at least to me, like crucial details.

They can also set a scene. Is it foggy? Well, it's probably spooky or mysterious. Is it rainy? It can be dreary and sad, or a time of reflection and change. Cloudy? The character could be hiding something, or I'm preparing for some kind of storm to affect things later.

There's also the setting to take into account. While writing my Resident Evil VII fanfic, it took place mostly in Louisiana, where it is often muggy, hot, rainy, and prone to hurricanes, so I made sure to keep this in mind as I wrote.

I tend to focus more on how characters feel about the weather than I do myself and generally don't have a preference for any particularly kinds of environment. The world I'm building right now is a complete planet with climates ranging from arctic tundra to dry sandy deserts and everything in between.

I'm not above using the environment for symbolic purposes though. Something I like to do sometimes is intentionally juxtapose the weather with the mood/emotional state of the character. It's not just a good way to avoid cliches but it can also help to emphasise feelings of isolation or elation. Not that using weather-based symbolism in more traditional ways is a bad thing. My Spear character is quite intentionally built with a rain motif and even her Pokemon team is built around abusing Rain Dance.

Looking back on past writing, I seem to fall into the whole stormy weather = something bad or mysterious is about to happen trope quite often, haha. I loved setting up the bad guys' evil ploys in blizzards for some reason, too. :') They're just fun to write because there's more drama and danger involved!

When it comes to special occasions like holidays, my stories are always set in made-up worlds so there aren't any holidays that we have here. There are, however, important yearly festivals and such, and I have such a weakness for everything going wrong and disaster peaking at these grand festivals!

I've had instances where I romanticized the weather, like getting stuck during a snowstorm or kissing in the rain. Sometimes I also use the weather to foreshadow something or showcase what's bothering someone, like a dream where they're in the middle of a raging storm. There's then Foul Play where the sunny weather is referenced all the time due taking place in Alola.