The environment isn’t just the landscape, it’s factors such as the weather, the wildlife, the people—anything that regularly affects the area. What forces surrounding Storm Boy’s home make it such a wild place?
Take a look
From thousands of miles round the cold, wet underbelly of the world the waves come sweeping in towards the shore and pitch down in a terrible ruin of white water and spray. All day and all night they tumble and thunder.
Thiele focuses on waves, and how waves affect Storm Boy’s home.
What’s something that can affect your character’s home? What happens around your place that makes it feel wild? Or dirty? Or happy? Or dangerous? Or boring?
You might notice that Thiele starts with the word From… This helps him zoom out thousands of miles, to show us the world from orbit. Try starting with this word to see if you can get a similar zoomed out feeling.
How does the environment convey a feeling in these examples?
From the high rises, the working factories, and the endless supply of swarming vehicles came a putrid mix of smoke and fumes that settled on the neighbourhood and covered everything in a thick coat of grime. It was 24 hours of horns and congestion.
From the flanks of western mountains the rainwaters come, gathering into streams that meet the headland, stop, and then soak into the earth, only to spread and rise beneath the town beyond. All year round the ground is sponged and muddy underfoot.
