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It rains when it shines
01/07/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
In this month's editorial, Uncle Geoff asks have you ever noticed how your perception of the world is determined by the condition of the weather? After all, we are very much weather dependent for mood swings and perception on what we see and feel around us to the world even before the rest of the universe hits us. Hello everyone
Have you ever noticed how our perception of the world is determined by the condition of the weather? After all, we are very much weather dependent for mood swings and perception on what we see and feel around us to the world even before the rest of the universe hits us.
Look at how you feel when you look out the window at various times of the day and night. The sun is out. The moon is out in varying degrees over the month. It's raining. It's snowing. It's day. It's night. Think how it relates to your activities and how you feel about doing them. I mean, there's a greater reluctancy to go out in the rain, even if you have to go to work. You certainly wouldn't want to walk down the garden path let alone dig it when wet unless you had to. Likewise, for many of you, there's a tendency to sunbathe if it becomes too hot although you probably wouldn't go to a night club in the morning even if it was open. We live to the dictates of weather, seasons and the time of day no matter how much we might dismiss it in our professional lives.
If anything, it's a reflection of our distant ancestry. We seek shelter when it rains and enjoy the weather when it's hot. Mankind, like most members of the animal kingdom, react to favourable and poor conditions. The only difference is we can intellectualise what it all means. Is it a survival mechanism which we can enjoy or hate? Much of the time we readily adapt to the changes but it does raise some interesting points on how much we take for granted and how conditioned we are by our reality to behave certain ways. As this behaviour is seen as being normal we don't see the reactions as being out of the ordinary. If anything, we might be encouraged to act the same way in a herd instinct reaction if we chose to. This no doubt contributes to our feelings when the weather is adverse in the expected season. You want it sunny and it pours with rain. In the middle of winter, it becomes hot enough to cut the lawn. No wonder we get confused signals in our behaviour pattern.
The real question is whether or not we should go full hog and break such conditioning? Should we enjoy the rain as much as the sunlight? After all, with the risk to our skins so prominent now, we should be worried about too much exposure to our local star. Is it part of our means to blend into the herd or to show independence and go our own way? That doesn't mean some things are not sensible. You'd be considered stupid not dressing warmly in sub-zero or snowy conditions. Likewise, it you never wore a mackintosh in the pouring rain you might also be considered to be a bit foolish or a bit of a drip.
Mind you, I see a lot of people in the UK ignore that last bit of logic so even common-sense isn't always followed although perhaps herd instinct is ruling so such people don't stand out in their peer group. That could be said of any facet of western culture as with the spread of tattoos and piercings and how it's spread across the community. It also raises a rather interesting question as why is the herd instinct surviving when there is nothing out there preying upon us. Mind you, considering that Man is one of the few creatures to prey on its own kind, maybe it's to hide from itself.
If that is the case, how do you tell the difference between predator and prey even within a species? Neither wear a sign and certainly those who display contrary or individual characteristics rarely fall into the category of criminal, con-man or predator. It is only a more extreme aspect of behaviour of being caught and condemned for it that makes them stand out. Much of the time, the reason is such actions go beyond the acceptable.
How much of this is conditioned reflex or your hormones adjusting to the weather before free will allows you any decision is always going to be debatable. With turbulent weather in the UK, a sudden switch between good and bad weather tends to play havoc with the hormones far more than if you lived in sunny climes all the time. If, on the first day, of hot summer weather you feel a slight banging in the back of your head and its not someone's stereo thumping out some music then its your summer hormones courtesy of the pineal gland coming into play. They have all kinds of effects including making you more active than you are during the winter. If they haven't settled sufficiently and the weather suddenly turns for the worse, they shut down again. Much of the time, it's a gradual opening and closing over the period of the year. With global dimming, the effect is even more apparent. We really are one with our weather and probably goes some way towards explaining some disorientation with time lag when travelling across the globe. Is it any wonder so many are also now experiencing Sunlight Affective Deficiency (SAD) these days?
This editorial isn't going back over the protect the environment campaign although it is something that is a side-effect. It's about how much of our perceptions and emotional moods are affected by the weather and we all have some level of individuality about it, then where is the dividing line between letting it affect us and not to intellectually rise above it?
If anything, this knowledge can be used in many ways. For the writer, such knowledge has to be acknowledged and applied unless all your characters live in perpetual sunlight or darkness. It might even be seen as an obstacle to be overcome but rarely is it used to affect a character's mental state. With Science Fiction, with so many adventures off-planet, you'd think someone would be suffering from SAD or the ecology on-board a generation starship would be rotating weather and seasons to ensure the health of its passengers. Whether it's a deliberate obstacle or not in a story, things like this would all people can relate something to is all part of dimensionalising a reality and the characters that live there. Understanding its effects has to be something that needs to be added to your skills in writing.
It is also something that needs to be addressed in our own reality as well. Perpetual good or bad weather isn't necessary a healthy thing. One thing that can be said about the human race is that it thrives on change and adversity. If anything, a change in the weather allows the body to re-address its balance in itself. You might get some of this effect after a thunderstorm and a change in the air for instance.
Such a thing also needs to be applied with space travel he says adding another SF fix. Despite getting perpetual sunlight on the space station, it would be a different thing on, say, a trip to Mars. Beating the SAD effect with natural light lamps is one thing but three years away, even the effects of a shower of rain would be looked upon with some envy. Ultimately, it isn't so much regular doses of everything that is effective but the unknowing element of when is it going to happen which is better for the body.
Weather is something we really do take too much for granted but it is an important part of our lives as well, even if we preclude how much its needed to run the ecology of this planet. We give it respect even when it over-powers us but we'd also miss it if it wasn't there. My only regret is that it isn't shared out equally than for extremes to hit different parts of the planet but that's a different story.
Thank you, take care, good night, be safe and don't forget your brolly
Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk
A thought to ponder: What's the difference between cast iron and sheet metal?
You can cast iron but you can't...
A real Zen thought:The early bird catches the worm only because he's figured out that's when they haven't gone to ground after the night shift.
Another real Zen thought but this time for potential writers: If you can express an opinion independently of others and aren't likely to bend to the masses then you might show potential as a writer.
Zen for those who are scared by all the instructions below: Many of the instructions are things you should be doing automatically if you're developing your writing skills. If you do them already then focus on the ones that you don't get right. They are there to help you as much as me to get the best writing from you. If you think you're 80% there then I'll help you get the final 20%. Trust me, I'm an editor and I can get things right.
BOOK REVIEWS
Do you love books?
Do you like curling up and reading a book?
Do you have a preference for fantasy, SF or horror?
Do you find it the greatest pastime you have next to being on your computer?
Are you very vocal about what you like and don't like in what you read?
Would you like to share your thoughts with others about books?
Would you like an endless supply of books to do this with?
Do you live in the UK?
Can you spare an hour every day?
Would you want something to do rather than watch the bad weather?
If you've been nodding your head up to this point then link in below and see if you have what it takes to be a reviewer at SFCrowsnest. If you have that special knack to read and write or want to develop said skill then the only way you're going to find out is to take the plunge yourself rather than wait for others to do it first. Reading a lot of books is a requisite for any writer. Being able to say what makes them good or bad hones your own skills. Even if you're just happy with reading with a little writing on the side then this might be for you. It's got to be better than waiting for the sun to come out in this weird summer. It's also amazing how much you can read in an hour a day.
If you've survived this far in the editorial, let me reiterate something from the website newsletter and the above editorial. As you can see from the main page, we have one of the biggest SF/fantasy/horror monthly reviews columns on the Net. Our success has increased the number of books that comes in and our policy is to read everything and give it a roadtest before giving a review so you have some idea of what you're letting yourself in for. You want the bottom line about what you're going to choose to read. That means we need people actually willing to read the book and tell others they're opinion in reviews. For that, we're always on the outlook for more reviewers.
Do you think you have what it takes to review a book? It's a skill that can be easily mastered and we need a few more. If you love fantasy, we have more than enough to keep you busy for instance.
Apart from the ability to put words into sentences, you also need to know how to précis, do a little research on associated subjects and can express opinions constructively about the good and bad points about the books you read. We even let you choose from our pile of received books rather than foster something on you that you wouldn't normally read. You'll even get a little editorial help in how to write good copy and that can always lead to other things. I'm not as scary as I sound editorially and its better to do the test review and see how you fare than not attempt to see how well you did. I did say you have to love books and willing to read beyond your favourite authors, didn't I?
If you like reading books in the genre and can average two or three a month, can really think and show you can write a decent review and, most importantly, live in the British Isles (sorry, expense, time and distance travelled mostly prohibits elsewhere), then use the link below and see our requirements. We can't pay you but a review for the price and regular supply of new books, this has to be a good incentive to see if you have what it takes.
Do you think you're up to writing a review? If you think you can, then you're really going to think you've landed your hands in the biscuit tin. It won't hurt to try and see if you have the right stuff by sending me a sample review to show me you can write. If you want an added incentive, it can also be good for your CV.
Look up the Review Guidelines by linking here: with a press of a mouse button.
SHORT STORY SLUSH PILE
We always have an interest in short stories which can be anything from one to thirty or so pages long. We're always willing to give short story writers a chance to be seen if they can withstand my scrutiny even if we can't pay for their efforts, your material will be seen by a lot of people. If you can get a short story written well then it'll make it easier to move up to novel-length.
Look up the Short Stories Link by linking here with your mouse.
FLASH OR ONE-PAGE FICTION
We've also a teaching ground of one page stories, so check out the rules elsewhere on the website. It's far too easy to just write and write and hope something good comes out of it. What writing a one page story does is test your ability to control your word count and still tell a story in a concise way. This doesn't mean we don't accept stories of different lengths - a short story can be anything up to 30-40 pages long after all - but opens up the means for really short stories from ideas that don't need as much space.
Flash fiction stories by linking here: with your mouse.
NOVEL-LENGTH SAMPLES IN THE FIRST INSTANCE
For those keeping track, I'm actually now caught up but don't tell everyone as I'm undecided as to whether to keep looking at novel-length story samples, move over specifically to short stories - which we do anyway for the website - or get a couple of my own book projects completed. The latter, I still intend to do anyway.
They are there to help you do some of the right things and reduce the number of times I'm repeating myself over silly grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that you shouldn't be making if you're serious about becoming a writer. It makes editing a lot easier if any editor has less work pointing out poor English which you should have been sorted out in the first place and more focused on other areas of your work that deal with plot and the other serious elements of storywriting. As a writer, it is your command of the English language and its grammar that will show how serious you are about writing.
There might not be much of a wait unless I get a deluge, however those sending in ebook samples, please read the Guidelines by linking here with your mouse here or through the bottom line menu on the opening page of the SFC website.
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING BUT AFRAID TO ASK
General advice for those who want to become writers of any sort: There's an old editorial adage, if you can't aim for perfection why should an editor nurse-maid you to that state? Nominally, my job is to catch minor glitches not total mishaps. If you're a writer, then you should understand the words, sentences and grammar of the job you're supposed to be writing or are you considering it as mundane and boring as any other job to get right? Fall in love with making every sentence the best you're ever written, read up and understand the rules of grammar. Put the time in researching any subject you're using in the story. Be prepared to put a story away for a few weeks and go back to it for a self-edit. Even I do that. You look good. I make you look better but you have to start off with good.
A lot of the time, errors will just stare you in the face when you didn't see them the first time round. Once you know where your weaknesses are, they can be sorted out and allow you to move a little higher up the ladder towards making your material look its best and more importantly, getting your material seen by readers.
The link here will show you the Common Problems Link page and what I see mostly with your mouse. It's the smart writer who doesn't get caught out with these.
Good luck. Geoff
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