Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn money if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these links on this site.
Rob Knowlan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
It’s Like White Fluffy Rain
Another January Hump 🐫 Day rolls in. However, with temps in the mid-40s, we’re not seeing any ❄️ Snow ❄️ at the moment. That’s fine. It’s scenic and likely to turn up again before the next equinox.
❄️ Region Of Ice And Snow ❄️
I seemed to vow to myself that some day I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth, the end of the axis upon which this great round ball turns. ~Ernest Shackleton
Sometimes it looks like ❄️ Winter ❄️ around here and sometimes it only feels like it.
When I was in high school, we had some exchange students. One of them was from Australia.
She didn’t know what snow was.
😮😮😮😮😮
I can understand someone who has never seen it in person because they’re somewhere hot, such as the South, desert Southwest or maybe Hawaii or Latin America.
Sure, I get that, but you’ve seen it in movies, TV shows, Christmas programs, news briefs from someplace like North Dakota or Alaska. Right?
She had never even heard of snow. It wasn’t even part of her human acculturation. Mind blown…
That reminds me of an episode of Gilligan’s Island. I forget the specifics, but they were enacting some story about primative cave people.
The Skipper-Caveman said something about snow and Gilligan-Caveman said, “What’s snow?” and the Skipper-Caveman replied that it’s like fluffy white rain.
Well, it’s true. 🤷🏻♂️
If you’ve never personally experienced snow, that’s the best explanation I can give you.
❄️ Snow Plow & Chill ❄️
Ultimate Train Snow Plowing Compilation – Trains vs. Snow
I can’t imagine a life without having experienced at least one good snowfall.
It was so fun as a kid and as a parent. Sledding out back with my wife and kids was always something to look forward to.
Frankly, it’s pretty.
It coats your rooftops like cake icing, which is not as bad as you’d think.
It actually forms an insulating layer on your house, so the heat stays trapped inside instead of escaping into the night sky.
You can have fun with it at a moment’s notice.
Throwing snowballs for your dog to chase. Laying down to make snow angels.
Watching out the window as the tiny crystals fall in the strange silence that snow always seems to bring.
❄️ Winter ❄️ is absolutely magical in Pennsylvania and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Besides, my wife is an ardent 🏈 Steelers 🏈 fan.
You don’t want to take that on the road because some of those other teams’ fans are kind of wacko…
🎹 Winter Night Snow Drifts | Calm Piano Ambience for Deep Sleep, Focus Increase & Stress Relief ❄️
❄️ Kindle Fire With Snow ❄️
As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words. ~William Shakespeare
That sounds pretty definitive from the Immortal Bard, but it’s actually pretty easy to quench the fire of love with words.
People say mean stuff all the time. A few of them are disingenuous enough to claim that it comes from love.
Such people may be distasteful in life, but they’re freaking great in fiction.
You need some grist in your mill if you want the flour to come out fully processed.
Conflict in your story is the grist in your mill. You need friction to make forward motion.
Without friction, it’s like walking on an ice rink in your leather-soled dress shoes.
On the other hand, there’s snow.
A little gets slippery. It fills the tread of your shoes and then melts into hazardous puddles inside.
Stories don’t need volcanoes or Napoleonic conquerors or great swaths of the earth tearing apart under your feet all the time.
That’s fine if one of those things is your final boss, but stories run on the kind of hazard you find in ankle-deep snow.
Lots of little inconveniences that make it harder to meet your goals turn your story into an interesting obstacle course instead of a straight shot to the BBEG.
Of course, snow doesn’t always remain ankle-deep. I certainly learned that in North Dakota. It snows sideways there.
Even though it snows sideways and when I was walking to work, it looked like the opening to the original Star Trek series, it does eventually land.
It lands in great quantities, but because it’s always extremely windy, it doesn’t just lay there in a uniform blanket like it usually does here in Pennsylvania.
No, it drifts. As inconvenient as that might seem, it was actually kind of handy.
The drifts would form bizarre, maze-like walls between me and the dining hall.
The sidewalk would be bare, but there would be a seven or eight foot drift blocking a straight path.
I could walk around the thing on sidewalks blown bare by the wind and never get so much as a flake on my shoes.
Super weird, but kind of cool at the same time.
Out in the fields between the residential area of the base and the flight line was where you’d find the flowing blankets of hip-deep snow.
That required a different tactic.
Traversing a great expanse of knee or hip-deep snow required a technique I called the astronaut hop.
If you’ve ever watched footage of the original moon landing, you’ll note the peculiar form of movement they employed.
Good enough for the moon is good enough for North Dakota.
You plow forward with your front foot and push hard with the back to get that astronaut gallop working.
It sounds strange, but it got the job done.
Likewise with plot twists.
When your characters are making progress too cleanly and easily, you can put some irregular drifts in their path or confront them with a mile of hip-deep snow to gallop through.
It’s hard to think of countless ice crystals stacked in uneven piles as a source of friction, but it is definitely resistance and that’s what you need to keep your readers cheering for the protagonist(s).
That’s all for today. See you back on Saturday for pan sausage…