The best model for novels, I believe, is the world around us. I've blogged before about trees and rain and sudden changes in the weather. We write what we know, and whether we recognize its influence or not, we know about the physical world around us.
I'm not saying you need to be a botanist or a geologist. I'm saying we all know about seasons and the changes they bring. We know the basics of birds and rain, of dirt and wind.
Let me give you an example. I walk my son to school each morning. The street we walk is lined with flowering trees of various kinds. I could use this simple walk as a framework for a story in any of a number of ways. My son noticed the blossom petals on the sidewalk. In front of one house they were pink, but in front of the next they were white, only to return to the pink. Is life cyclical? Only in a dozen different ways. Or what about the trees themselves. Only last week, they were greening up with no hint of blossoms. Now they are bursting with color. The trees are the same trees, but given some warmth, they burst forth into beauty. It's not hard to see how that metaphor could translate into a plot.
These are just two small examples of the myriad ways that nature is a metaphor for everything else! (Okay, so maybe this is a bit of hyperbole, but I'm having a difficult time coming up with exceptions.)
Whether you are a writer or not, don't you find great lessons for life from the world around us? Isn't it a glorious place?!
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