Heaven and Nature Sing— Infusing Natural Phenomena in Fiction

I have been fascinated by “magical” natural phenomena since discovering that God has hidden ever so many miraculous things on this earth for the curious to find.  I hadn’t thought of the power of including some of these wonders in our writing until I read the outstanding novel by Amanda Dykes, Whose Waves These Are— which happened to be the Christy Awards Book of the Year for 2020. Amanda ties many of the themes together in a stunning scene that takes place surrounded by a rare natural spectacle. (I won’t share a spoiler in case you haven’t yet read this book.)

Stones

I’ve always loved the story found in Luke 19:39-40. A gaggle of Pharisees (the famous hypocritical scholars of Jesus’ day) insisted that Jesus tell his followers to zip it. Jesus cut them off with this: “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” What a picture. I could

imagine the stones crying out. It made me wonder, could stones have voices? A little research and I found the ringing stones of Montana and Bucks County, Pennsylvania. How about the Sailing Stones that move all by themselves in our Death Valley here in California. Eerie. I could see how intriguing it would be to feature a geologist in a novel working some of these natural phenomena into the themes of the book.

Water

Have you ever heard of a babbling brook? To me it makes complete sense because I have a condition called Audio Pareidolia. I hear music in running water. I can almost hear the words being sung– they remain just beyond my reach. Especially when I am filling my bath. Long ago, my husband got tired of me asking if he heard the music. I thought it might be from pipes channeling songs from neighbors. Now I know the truth. My brain tends to see patterns in natural sounds. I like that I hear lovely hidden music. A fun trait for your heroine?

Ice

And in Sweden, in early winter, the ice sings. A Swedish artist, Jonna Jinton, has spent years going out alone on the ice of her frozen lake, late at night, to record the eerie sounds of the ice singing. Even the ice moans and sings.

Lights

Across the Northern Hemisphere folks are treated to a light show called aurora borealis— the Northern lights. I have longed to see this phenomena but so far, no show, no matter how far north I’ve traveled.

Clouds

How about the lenticular clouds that sometimes form over mountains. People often mistake them for UFOs. Can’t you  picture a humorous scene using this bit of nature.

Trees

We know that trees make creaking and suseration sounds but did you know that scientists have sliced tree rings and used a record player to “play” the disks? The haunting music tells the story of the growth of the tree.

No End to the Magic

There is so much more— ice circles, bioluminescence, frost flowers, brinicles (ice fingers), light pillars. . . but I will stop and let you research even more. And I haven’t even gotten into some of the magic God created with animals.

In this season, when all heaven and nature sing, I encourage you to infuse a natural phenomenon or two into your work. Take time to read Amanda’s Whose Waves These Are  to see how powerfully it can be put to use in our stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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