by Jean C. Gordon
Do
you what September is? September is National Chicken Month. Thank you
Little Gray, Yellow, Brown, and Yellow Spot for posing. 
It's also the beginning of Fall, my favorite season, ushered in at 10:29 last night. My birthday is in September. Our wedding anniversary is in September. We're blessed with beautiful fall foliage. And school starts. I was enough of a geek that I always looked forward to going back to school.
Which
brings me to a question: Does the season a book is set in influence
your book choices? Aside from holiday-month books — I love holiday books
— I never gave much thought to the season in which a book was set,
either in my reading or my writing, until my ninth book, Small-Town Mom.
The season only came to my attention then when we were at the cover
stage. The story takes place in the dead of a frigid Adirondack
Mountains winter. But the book came out in June, and initially, the
cover had no snow and looked like spring, not winter. The dusting of
snow was added to bring it into season.With the books I've written since then, I've thought about when it will be published and tried to mesh the story's season with the publication season (or close). And, just for fun, I checked the seasons my books are set in. Four are set in the fall, one in the winter, and the rest take place in the summer.
Posts
LOL, I still think it's funny that last month I was at the pool with my nine-year-old, reading LIs, and both Mindy's and Tina's were winter books. So, I guess seasons don't influence what I buy.
ReplyDeleteI do love Christmas books, though.
I wonder if a wintry setting has a cooling effect on a hot day and vice-versa. I'll have to give that a try!
ReplyDeleteI don't pay any attention to the season that a book is set except Christmas. I'm not likely to read a Christmas book in July. When I write, the season is dictated by the historical events occurring at the time of my story.
I don't care about the season. I just care about the characters and their story. I do enjoy an author's description of the season as part of the setting. Some books cover several seasons. I like to see that, too. I was once asked to change the season of my book from fall to winter because the book was coming out in the winter, but I had already done the art fact sheet, so the cover was very much fall.
ReplyDeleteHappy September, Jean! What a fun month it is for you. I hope your birthday and anniversary are/were a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm reading, the season doesn't matter to me. Great characters are what I'm after. Sometimes I'll read a winter-set book in the middle of one of our hot, dry California summers just to feel cooler.
When I write, I'm like Christine. The seasons matter because I want to convey what was really taking place at the time a story is set.
I love Christmas books around the holiday time, but other than that, the season doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI try to write corresponding to the seasons when my books come out, but I'm easy when it comes to what I'm reading.
ReplyDeleteHome from work. Thanks for all the comments.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll read a Christmas book any time of the year.