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Chapter 14: Using Description to Create Atmosphere and . . . and . . . Suspense!
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The seasons in ancient Greece
The Greek myth of Persephone is a pre-scientific
attempt to explain the seasons that has been
much repeated in literature. Persephone, the
daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest,
is taken to the Underworld by Hades. Demeter
is so stricken with grief that she withdraws and
the world is overcome with autumn and winter.
While in the underworld, Persephone eats 6
of the 12 pomegranate seeds given to her by
Hades, and because of this she’s forced to spend
half the year, from then on, in the Underworld,
which is why the world experiences autumn and
winter. For the other half of the year Persephone
is permitted to be in the mortal realm with
Demeter, and as a result the world has spring
and summer.
Characters have their own individual responses to the seasons. For example:
✓ A character’s baby dies in spring. On the way to the funeral she sees
masses of daffodils everywhere. For the rest of her life, she’s unable to
see daffodils in the spring without recalling her grief.
✓ A character is very pale skinned and hates the summer. In hot, sunny
weather he has to plaster himself with sun cream and wear a widebrimmed
hat. He hates beaches and sunbathing and is always happy
when autumn arrives.
Your character’s response to the weather and the seasons can tell the reader a
great deal about him. Write about your character’s favourite season. Describe
how he likes to spend his time. Write about him looking forward to the season,
and then what happens to him when it comes.
Handling the Uncanny
One certain way to inject an atmosphere of tension and foreboding into a
story is to introduce an element of the uncanny – the weird, strange or unsettling.
Fiction has often ventured into this territory, probably because human
beings aren’t nearly as rational as they think they are and still believe in
unseen forces. Children often believe that inanimate objects can have emotions
and come to life, and these feelings persist into adulthood, so that many
people feel squeamish about ripping up a photograph of a person or cutting
the head off a doll.