How cliche do you think it is for it to be raining at a funeral?
March 16, 2010 by
Filed under cliche
Do you find the concept of it raining at a funeral to be overused and cliche? Would you think much of it if you read it in a book or wrote it in a story?
I’m asking this because I have an interesting scene in my mind to take place during the funeral in my book, but it would require it to be raining (more so, the people need to have umbrellas). Later in the story, a storm sweeps through the neighborhood, so do you think it would be less cliche for the character to just visit the grave when it’s raining?
I see nothing too generic about it. Sure, we often associate gloomy events like funerals with damp, cold environments, but that is because they go hand-in-hand atmospherically.
Your scene will, of course, depend on how well you flesh out your plot given the environment you have created.
ringworms
and i really don’t know. there aren’t many books with raining funeals in them. i have never read a book on my own.
honest to god
Every funeral I have ever been to was nice an sunny, except for my heart. It is like the world keeps on, and doesn’t give a crap about your misery
I`m sorry, but the raining-while-grieving is older than dirt, and the dinosaurs thought it was cliche.
No… funerals are sad. The rain adds to the gloominess. It rained at my grandfather’s funeral… also the day he died.
It isnt, in fact, I think it would be a good idea. It adds effect, it adds emotion, like the whole world was crying.
What I would do is during the storyline maybe a few days before the character dies, have it look stormy. Maybe your character mentions it has been getting cloudier, and colder. Maybe he or she passes by a TV talking about the weather, and you hear a bit about a possible storm front passing by. Something tiny, nothing really important, but something that your readers will look back on. Foreshadowing, if you will.
Im sure something must have been going on to cause the character to die. An illness, a crime, something. The threat of a storm would be great foreshadowing, and representation of what the future might hold. Then, when the funeral comes, it pours.
It could represent the main character as well. What if during the time before the death he or she is distressed or unhappy in some way. The oncoming storm would represent her building stress, and the rain at the funeral would represent the release of her feelings. All of her emotion just spilling out, and the sky is crying with her. The lightning is her anger, and the thunder is her screams.
It depends on where and when the story takes place. If it’s seasonal or in a part of the country with high precipitation and makes sense, there’s nothing wrong with it.
I’ve been at funerals when it snowed, rained, and even hailed. Go with what you feel works best with your story.
I have to smile. It seems every funeral I have attended it has rained! I am not kidding! Funerals and rain go hand in hand. I don’t think it would be an overused concept. Go with it. This is my answer to part one of your question.
The second part I can’t answer. You have to write it the way you see it. You have a scene in your mind. Go with what you envision. See if it works.
Go with snow, at least it justifies the umbrellas.