WEATHER AND EARTHLY PHENOMENON THESAURUS

LIGHTNING



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HELPFUL TIP:

Don’t be afraid to pair weather conditions with your setting choice to contrast or reinforce a character’s emotions. Hopelessness might be mirrored in the relentless drizzle of rain and the resulting heavy drag of one’s clothes; alternatively, this feeling can stand out in stark contrast to sunlight dancing over fresh snow. Can weather also provide symbolism, thereby enriching the reader’s experience? Think about your goal for the scene and the mood you are trying to create, and then layer your description with meaningful choices.
SIGHTS:
Roiling dark clouds that blanket the sky
Blinding jags of electricity that stab at the ground or splinter overhead
A gusting wind
Clouds that form a wall of black
Multiple strikes concentrating in one place in quick succession
Rain or hail slashing down from the sky
Sheet lightning that lights up the sky in an ominous flash
The reflection of lightning on the underside of a cloud
The afterburn image behind one's eyelids when one looks directly at a flash of lightning 

SMELLS:
Rain
An ozone-like smell
Smoke from lightning-struck trees

TEXTURES AND SENSATIONS:
Hair rising on one's arms as the air charges near a strike location
Cold raindrops soaking one's clothing, hair, and skin
The intense searing pain of electrical burns from a lightning strike
Internal damage and resulting pain caused from being thrown by a lightning strike (broken bones, cuts, scrapes, a punctured lung, etc.)

SOUNDS:
A clap or crack of thunder that seems to echo
The slash of rain against a window 
Rain pounding against a roof
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REINFORCING A MOOD:
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SYMBOLISM:
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COMMON CLICHÉS:
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WEATHER NOTES:
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SCENARIOS FOR ADDING CONFLICT OR TENSION:
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