JANNINE GALLANT -- AUTHOR

My guest today is vivacious Jannine Gallant, a fellow Rose with a novella scheduled for the Honky Tonk Hearts series, of which I'm a contributing author. Jannine is also an important part of the international blog, Roses of Prose, of which I'm honored to contribute to twice a month. So you see we run into each other online quite often.

Jannine has had a lifetime love affair with the outdoors. She grew up in a tiny town in Northern California, where kids swam in the river, ran wild in the woods, and rode their bikes everywhere they wanted to go. Now she lives in Tahoe City with her husband, two daughters, and dog, Ginger. When she’s not busy writing or being a full time mom, she enjoys taking Ginger for hikes in the woods around her home.

Whether she’s writing romantic suspense, contemporary, or historical romance, she tries to bring her beloved beauty of nature into her stories.

Weather as a Plot Device

I’d like to thank my friend, Vonnie, for having me on her beautiful blog today to promote my new release, Bittersweet. But first, let’s talk weather. It affects all of us, whether we’re basking in the sun and enjoying a beautiful day, or swearing at the three feet of snow in the driveway that has to be shoveled before we can get our kids to school. We all love to talk about it, predict it, watch it on the weather channel… But I digress. How do we use weather in our writing?

Hollywood has certainly capitalized on its impact over the years. The Perfect Storm wouldn’t have been much of a box office hit on a cloudless day. As for Twister —enough said! But weather also creates atmosphere.

Fargo is a good example, all that snow building tension… And how about Michael Douglass, stuck in a car with faulty air conditioning in the middle of a traffic jam in a heat wave. Is it any wonder he snapped in Falling Down?

Weather may trigger the entire plot of the book. Vonnie and I, along with our fellow Roses of Prose, co-wrote a novella called A Holiday to Remember about two people stuck together in a freak snowstorm. Or, weather can be used at key turning points, to create a situation. In Bittersweet, my heroine, Tess’s house is flooded by the rising creek in a rainstorm, forcing her to seek temporary shelter with the hero, Daniel. Okay, big deal, you say. But, a thunderstorm wakes them in the night, and Tess and Daniel see each other in a different light. It may have something to do with their skimpy attire at the time… LOL Later in the book, a drought threatens their corn crop, forcing them to work together to save it. Another turning point in the book.

So, if you’re an author, let’s hear how you’ve used weather in your books. If you’re a reader, tell us some of your favorite weather inspired scenes. Enquiring minds…

Blurb: 

Eight months after her husband is killed in a train robbery, Tess Moran knows she must pick up the pieces of her shattered life and build a future for herself and her infant daughter. Daniel Moran’s love for Tess is bittersweet. Acting on his feelings for his sister-in-law will betray his dead brother’s memory. Watching her search for love elsewhere may very well destroy him.

In 1880, life in rural Colorado is filled with hard work and simple pleasures, but trouble looms on the horizon. Together Tess and Daniel battle drought and the outlaw who killed the man they both loved, but the greatest challenge of all is finding solace for their battered hearts.

You can find me at:

Website: http://www.janninegallant.com/

Personal Blog: http://janninegallant.blogspot.com/

Group Blog: http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/JannineGallant.Author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JannineGallant

Publisher Buy Link: http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=964