Seasons

I'm feeling dangerously close to somewhere approaching the near proximity of possibly getting the hang of this new media lark.

Yesterday, being the beautiful day it was, I mused a little on Twitter about the season and was flattered by getting plenty of feedback about it.

For those of you who missed the Tweet in question, it went thus; "Sweet September, King of the Devon months. Summer's love lingers, the county becalmed, & seasonal yellow sunlight caresses autumn's colours."

Quick aside (as ever) - I'm not sure whether you're supposed to use quotation marks on your own words, but hey, that's for clever people like editors to discuss, and not one to get bogged down in here.

Anyway, as I was saying, the Tweet prompted plenty of comment. Poetic even, one of my correspondents called it. Now, I'm not sure I'd go that far - poetry in 140 characters or less? Quite a challenge! - but what did strike me was the level of agreement my praising of autumn drew.  It's clearly a popular season.  Which in turn made me think, for the first time, about the seasons in which the tvdetective books are set.

I came up with an interesting realisation (at least i think so), and maybe this is another to file under the catgeory I've discussed many times here - how much you can learn about yourself through writing.

None of the books are set in the summer. One is rooted in the winter, the others go for spring and autumn.

Why should this be, I ask myself? Well, the lack of a summer book doesn't surprise me. I've never got on well with heat and too much sunshine, never been one for holidays which consist only of laying on a beach.  I'm more a creature of the darkness - hence perhaps becoming a crime writer - so seeing most of the books based in the darker months probably befits my character.

But I wonder whether spring and autumn dominate my writing for another, more subtle reason. 

A book, on a basic level, tends to be about some kind of journey, whether it's a character's personal quest or experiences, or in my case an attempt to solve a crime.  Which means it's all about change.  And spring and autumn are the changing times, so perhaps they feel more appropriate to accompany the narrative.

On the subject of which, it's time to venture out into another fine autumn morning to head for my weekly circuits class at the gym, followed by some work on a couple of talks I've been asked to do. 

There are quite a few gigs coming up in the months ahead, I'll post details on the News and Events page as they arise - www.thetvdetective.com/news.html - in the hope I might provide you with some entertainment as we travel together into the winter...