Hello again writers! Welcome back to another Monday installment of Being a Better Writer. Which, from the title, is a bit of an odd one, I’ll admit. Sands, I don’t even remember how this one ended up on the topic list, outside of the bare memory that it was very much inspired by a discussion I saw in online spaces.

So yeah, let’s just dive right in. I don’t have much in the way of news to discuss save a reminder that starting this Saturday, July 1st, is the US Independence Day Sale for the entire UNSEC Space Trilogy, in honor of Colony being the first title of mine to pass the review milestone of 100+. Also because one of the series’ characters, Carlos Rodriguez, had a deep respect for the tale of the US Revolution, and that makes this holiday perfect timing. As to why Rodriguez has that respect, who he is to the story, or what he does …. Well, you’ll have to read it to find out. You can whet your appetite for the series by checking out a free, multi-chapter preview of Colony at this link (literally: clicking that link is going to open a new tab and bring up the prologue and the first three-plus chapters for free), and then you can grab the book itself for 99 cents starting this Saturday, July 1st as part of the sale.

The rest of the trilogy will also be on a solid discount as well, so be sure to grab Jungle and Starforge. Colony is only the beginning!

Or, you know, just get Colony, read it, thirst for the other two, and buy them full price later. My wallet certainly isn’t going to begrudge you that decision.

Anyway, don’t forget about that sale, but for now, let it take a backseat in your mind, because I want to talk about writing disaster in fiction. So hit that jump, and let’s get right down to it.

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All right, so I think the most prominent question here is likely split twofold among readers. One portion of you are thinking “Why would this be a topic?” The other other portion are probably thinking “What would count as a disaster?”

That last one is a fair question, mind. I will be clear that the initial premise for this post was natural disasters, and I simply chose not to update the title to reflect that because, well, there are disasters in a life that are devastating to those involved that are not tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, or the like. Car crashes, parental separation, workplace accidents, and more are all disasters to those involved and can be just as emotionally devastating as say, a wildfire taking out your home.

Now, this post isn’t going to speak about those disasters exactly, but I do want to point out that much of the same conceptual approaches we’re going to speak about here with natural disasters will still apply to these other more personal disasters. Some overlap, IE a house fire and a wildfire can have the same cause and result.

So even though we’re speaking about natural disasters, what we’re talking about today in its concept and use does also apply to more personal disasters. Just something to keep in mind.

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Okay, so first up, I think we need to answer two questions, the first of which is “Why write about natural disasters?” After all, natural disaster films have been mined so deeply that they’re effectively a meme unto themselves these days, with no one taking them seriously. Gone are the days when a blockbuster summer movie simply had to ask “What if Volcano under LA?” and the money comes pouring in. The concept is so played out that most people just laugh and then go back to watching another viewing of Across the Spider-Verse. Much to the chagrin of those filmmakers who made their entire careers by making disaster setpiece films.

But the thing is, outside of the escalating ludicrousness of those films, natural disasters are an incredibly powerful force on any world. Natural disasters often make history. Sands, are history. Natural disasters are nigh-implacable, powerful forces that often grind over every attempt mankind puts in their path to stop them. Moments when mankind succeeds in stopping a natural disaster, therefore, are often moments of historic import, such as the deviation of a lava flow in Eldfell that made the history books.

In other words, if you recall those old lessons on “types of conflict in fiction” from when you were in middle school, a natural disaster is in effect the most bombastic and unstoppable version of “man VS nature” you can have. Sure, we can have small, thoughtful stories about someone facing down nature by trying not to freeze to death during winter, and those stories are great. But we can also have stories where our protagonist is facing down the greatest blizzard of recorded history, something that makes them a much more active “force” working against our character.

Okay, before we move further, I do want to note that neither is wrong. Any form of “man VS nature” in our conflict is fine. But, as writers know, each approach is going to come with a very different “feel” for how your story shakes out. In a way—though I do want to stress that this is not always true—a natural disaster is akin to making the “nature” bit of our “man VS nature” conflict a lot more “active” in our story. Neither approach is wrong, both can generate great stories, but both do carry a different impact to how our story will be told.

Second question now, which is “What prompted a post on this topic, of all things?” Well, as you might imagine, though I don’t recall the exact details, I do recall that it stemmed from an online discussion of natural disasters being used in books and done poorly. IE, incorrectly written about in how they were shown or what impact they had. Or sometimes in how they were underutilized (or just, in Hollywood’s case, completely inaccurate).

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Okay, so if natural disasters are a “bombastic” way to bring the conflict of “man VS nature” to our stories … let’s talk about that. How can we put a natural disaster “to work” in our narrative? What sort of impact are they going to have that will require us to be aware in order to “manage” things properly?

Well, before I dive into a commonly repeated phrase on here, I do want to stress that how we use our natural disaster is a key element of our planning. For example, do we want a tidal wave that the whole book revolves around for our character drama? With the first third of the book being the lead-in where we meet the characters, and then a chapter of the tidal wave, followed by the rest of the book being the dramatic moments of people coming to grips with everything?

Or do we want an action piece where the first tenth is our introduction to the characters, and then the majority of the rest of the book is the attempt to survive the tsunami itself?

Both are fine propositions for a story involving a tsunami. However, each is going to utilize that force of nature in a different way. In one, it’s the antagonist itself, the primary force our characters are pushing against. In the other, it’s a tale of dealing with that force afterward, and its impact.

So there’s a high degree of planning with our use of natural disasters. What sort of story do we want to tell? Are we looking for an action setpiece, or a wall that stymies our characters and forces them to put their attentions on their own faults? Planning out beforehand, if possible, or at least if you’re a pantser, having an idea of what sort of goal you’re utilizing this force for, will be key in making sure it has the effect you want.

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Finally, now, we get to the oft-repeated phrase of this blog where many things are concerned, which is this: Always do the research.

Natural disasters aren’t actually that hard to research. One would find that they’re one of the more studied and understood, as well as recorded, forces on the planet Earth. For exactly the reasons we write about them, in fact.

And yet, there are plenty of stories out there that clearly didn’t do the research, where seismologists or volcanologists just shake their heads in disappointment. Because the writer just thought “Sure, it’ll work like this” when it doesn’t.

And yes, I know we want to sometimes “punch it up” for the story. There’s a line between “amplified, IE the biggest modern volcanic eruption” and “flat out not gonna happen unless you insert magic/Sci-Fi into the mix” (more on that in a bit). And if we don’t do the research, knowing where that line is can actually be a little tricky.

Which is sad, because there’s so much research out there. Youtube videos of natural disasters like landslides or eruptions, earthquakes or tsunamis. Pages upon pages of encyclopedia articles, books, recountings, speeches given by experts … it’s all out there and very accessible.

But here’s another reason why we should be doing this research: Because often we tend to “fixate” on one or two aspects of a natural disaster. Something shiny or attention-grabbing about how they work. But, because of this fixation, we might miss something else that’s less known that could be very useful for our story, even better than the known element we were planning to use.

In other words, researching natural disasters before we use them doesn’t just keep us from making mistakes, but also widens our toolbox with said disaster. For example, everyone thinks about the heat of a wildfire when trying to drive through one, but a lot of people miss that the fire also uses up oxygen, which makes a traditional internal combustion engine struggle, as it needs that oxygen, and though you might be temporarily safe from the heat, having your car stall or die while driving through …

Okay, what about that “magic/Sci-fi” bit I alluded to earlier? Well, what if we do want to write a story where natural disasters could be amplified or impacted by means beyond what is currently available to the modern world (or unavailable, as research can also tell us how a society 200 years ago would have responded to a drought compared to now)? Well, knowing how a disaster functions and what causes its various components can give us insight into how to amplify or control aspects of it. Or rather, what might be used to do so.

It’s one thing to say “My wizard can control tornadoes.” It’s another thing to know how said wizard does it, and then start thinking of the limits to their power, and how they can work within those limits to do all sorts of things. Or, when they might be tempted to go outside those limits and spawn something they cannot control.

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Now I do wish to address one last thing when speaking about disasters and writing about them: Don’t neglect the distant impact.

I’m speaking of the afteraffects of such disasters. Your story may not be the kind that delves deep into the emotional scars disasters can leave on people, but even if it is not, it’s something you as the writer need to be aware of. There are costs with every disaster. Impacts that can last for decades. Volcanic eruptions can bury whole villages in stone … but also produce fertile croplands, similar to floods. After, of course, the initial impact.

Some natural disasters wipe thousands of human lives from the map in a single moment of tragedy. Others deal millions in damage, but thanks to preparation, don’t kill anyone.

Some are even controlled: Places now exist where flooding can be deliberately done to keep croplands fertile, without the negative impacts it once had because “Hey, we scheduled this. Yay technology.”

It’s a little roundabout, but my point is that natural disasters leave scars on the landscape and on the people, for good or bad. Don’t neglect to understand the later impact these disasters have. It may not be relevant to the story … but it might be, and you should be aware that it’s in your toolbox. How does a town that lives in the shadow of a volcano, wealthy with crops but knowing that the volcano could erupt again, adapt or acknowledge the danger?

Lastly, while disasters can be fun to write about and use in clever ways, don’t forget that there have been horrific human costs sometimes. And while it isn’t needed to make every story acknowledge that these disasters do take human lives, there may be moments where you find it is appropriate to acknowledge or give note to the very tragic sides of these events.

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All right, that’s it for writing about natural disasters. I hope you found this post helpful in some way, since it is a bit of an odd topic to discuss. But I felt it was a good one, one many might not think about until halfway through a story on the topic. As always, do the research, but don’t forget to plan out how a natural disaster might impact your story.

Good luck. Now get writing.

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