Daily Cascade

On Writing in Winter

Prompt: Imagination
“The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination.”
Terri Guillemets
Which kinds of stories, poems, or writing can you imagine in relation to the color of winter? And what inspires you the most during the winter months?

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To me, winter has a quieter palette, but with strong hues, possibly with the absence of some colors. They may still inspire emotionally strong pieces to a thoughtful writer.

When I say a "thoughtful writer," I am certainly not referring to yours truly. Maybe I might look inward from time to time, but I am of the kind who just sits down and writes, and then worries about the offside ideas with paragraphs whose repeated words are usually too close together. So, let's say, just any writer.

Just any writer would sit down and think and explore winter's hues, first. So, let's follow that writer's steps.

That writer would say, white is the most dominant voice in winter. Like a blank page, snow, frost, and pale skies create a sense of an untouched impression, as an untouched thing of an impression can often inspire reflection and introspection. A memoir comes to mind, as well as personal essays, and spare poetry, and I mean nothing too wordy or fancy.

Furthermore, the snow's whiteness changes over time. Sometimes, it turns to slush under the gray skies and dusk. So the next color has to be gray. Gray may inspire essays about uncertainty, stories that live between right and wrong, poems that explore grief, waiting, or emotional fatigue. It is probably subtle and thoughtful, more interested in questions than answers. It may use internal monologue a lot in a character-driven fiction, in which case, deliberate silences can speak loudly.

Just for the fun of it and since sometimes a winter sky brings up its blues, I'll have to add blue next. Blue means prose and poetry that meditate, perhaps about loss, distance, melancholy, longing, and hopefully some depth. Something like the letters never sent, but written anyway.

Then, there's that black, which sets in with the earlier nights, stretching over bare trees, inviting the darkest themes. I'd guess those themes would be gothic fiction, mystery, and dark philosophical reflections. It pushes writers to be drawn to the noir as if to confront fears, endings, and the unknown.

Yet, winter still can offer touches of what is warm. The glow from the fireplace and lamplights, red berries, and colors of citrus in the setting sun with golds and oranges come to mind. They might show up in shades but may inspire hope-filled writing, anyway, such as short stories about human connections, poems about resilience, and essays about finding light in confinement. This contrast of the warmer tones against the white, black, and gray can remind a writer that winter has some uplifting meaning after all.

Come to think of it, winter writing is often quieter, but it is rarely shallow. In those wintry hues, a writer may find clarity, depth, and the courage to tell the truest of stories.

Coming back to me, again, this doesn't involve me at all. For the last three and a half decades, I have been living in a part of the country when seasons are in a jumble and everything gets mixed up with everything else. Still, not bad. Possibly that's why I ended up writing the drama NL and my silly thoughts in my blogs.