Snowy Surprise: Explore Five Unique and Creative Uses Your Stories

Welcome to another fascinating episode of Writing Rural With Alley! In this episode, we explore some inventive and lesser-known ways snow has been used historically and in modern times.

Join us as we uncover five uncommon snow uses:

1. Sleds (Historical Uses Included) - Discover the various ways sleds have been used throughout history.
2. Animals Eat Snow for Hydration - Learn how animals survive in snowy environments by consuming snow.
3. Building Snow Walls or Fences - Explore how snow can be used to create protective barriers.
4. Making Pathways (For Various Uses Including for Villages) - Understand the importance of snow pathways for communication and transportation.
5. Creating Wind Breaks - Find out how snow structures can act as effective wind barriers.

We'll also explore our segment "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" where we discuss various pitfalls and complications these uses can create in your story. Perfect for fiction writers aiming to add realism and tension to their narratives!

Keywords: fiction writing, snow uses, character development, writing tips, story ideas, fiction podcast, writing podcast, historical snow uses, writing realism

Transcript

How can your character use a sled to help them when deer hunting? Do you know what animals do for a drink when the water freezes over? What character-building can you do when writing about your character digging pathways in snow? Learn about all of this and more in today’s episode. 

Welcome to Writing Rural with Alley, the fiction writer’s weekly inspiration station for rural life and lifestyles, from historical to post-apocalyptic, helping you bring your rural stories to life! I’m Alley, and this is episode #95, 5 Uncommon Snow Uses. Stick around to the end to find out all the ways things could possibly go wrong. Now, let’s get into this.

1) Sleds 

Sleds are designed for one simple purpose; to easily move things from one place to another. They have been around for at least 10,000 years in arctic regions of the world. Believed to be first designed to be pulled behind a person, they soon expanded to being pulled by dogs, oxen, horses, and more. For the Captain Obvious fans, sleds are made to make moving things from one place to another easier, and the weight that can be put onto a sled depends on who is pulling it. Oxen can pull more than a dog. I know, shocking! 

These sleds can be everything from the metal-railed kids’ sled to dog sleds used for racing or even a full wagon sized and shaped. All of these have been used in history and are still used today. 

I have two memories of this as a child. The first was using baking sheets to sled down a hill on snowy winter days. The second was attaching two long sticks in a V shape, and then one about three to four feet about a foot from the end of the wide part of the V sticks. Then, a second sick was attached further up, based on size and what we needed. Sometimes we carried things, and sometimes we carried people. We stood at the V tip and pulled it waist-high to push it forward. It was fun as a kid, not so much as an adult, but still practical in the forest. 

Now, sleds are most often used with snow, but that isn’t the only time they are used. They are often used for muddy areas, too. I know many hunters who use toboggan-styled sleds to pull deer out of the woods, even when there is no snow. They will slide over the ground, grass, and things like this, easier than lugging the deer out by dragging it by the hooves. This is also helpful in boggy areas of the world. 

2) Animals eat snow for a drink 

A little-known fact is that many animals will eat snow to get a drink. This is very common for dogs, but other animals do it too. This is even more common when watering spots such as streams, watering bowls, or throughs freeze over. 

Now, this one comes with a warning. While animals can do this, it also lowers their body template for a bit until the body has melted and warmed the snow up. This is not a huge deal in the middle of the day when they are running around, hunting, or something like that. However, if they eat snow and go to sleep, or if they are already on the verge of hypothermia, they could become hypothermic and that can be dead. Will that happen every time? No. In fact, most of the time, they will be perfectly okay because their animal instincts are decent. But we make stories, and who wants normal? 

Bonus, the same warning, is useful to humans in survival situations when they have no other water except snow. 

3) Build snow walls/fences 

In areas that get more snow than we usually do here, snow can be built into walls or fences. This comes in handy for many things. It’s a great boundary for kids to know where they can play and not play, blocks the ugly neighbors, and can keep people from seeing your laundry drying on the line. Okay, freezing on the line at that temperature. 

Alright, I mostly joke, but there are good uses for it. Snow can be piled over a garden to keep an insulating layer between the freezing temperatures and your character’s garden plants. I know that sounds crazy, but to put it in layman’s terms, think of it like an igloo for the plants. 

Another thing is that these walls can block snow drifts from going past the wall. Yes, there will be a huge snow drift on one side of the wall, but that makes it easier to keep pathways clear to get to places like the barn or up and down the driveway. This also keeps snow from drifting on more delicate structures that could collapse easily. 

Or if you are writing a hermit-type character (aka, the recluse) like my dad, you might use it to make a privacy fence so the neighbors can’t see you as they drive down the dirt road. Wouldn’t want them to look at your character. 

4) Making pathways

I know this one sounds like a duh moment, but stay with me. Pathways are important in almost all stories. Historically, to get to barns, wood sheds, root cellars, chicken coops, and other homes if they lived close enough, and were essential in historical villages. In modern times, this would include snow plows and road clearing. These pathways make things safer to prevent accidents of all kinds. Whether it is a car accident, a slip and fall, frostbite, being out too long in the cold, or something else. Also, if there is an emergency, it makes things easier to get to safety or get help. 

These times offer you a wealth of ways to work things in. If your character is doing this alone, it gives a time of self-reflection or even offers a good time for flashbacks. It can even show how angry or short-tempered your character can be. 

This is also a good chance for more than one character to work together and build character depth, show off their bond with teamwork, show their type of communication skills, build character relationships, and so much more. Hard work in the cold is just a great way to show off what kind of person they are when things are not going easy in the moment. This can be telling. It can also be a great way for you to sneak in a bad day for your character to throw off the reader to who your bad guy might be. Just a thought. 

5) Create windbreaks 

The last today is creating windbreaks. Whether the snow is made into a fence or just left to drift against a home. This can be important if the wind is bitterly cold. It can also be important in areas where there are not a lot of trees. Now, I grew up where there were a ton of trees! When I went to visit Kansas, I was shocked at how windy it was. According to the locals, it was not a windy day there. You see, I hadn’t realized how much trees, hills, and everything in between blocked or slowed down the wind. In flat areas with no trees, like Kansas, it is windy all the time. 

Now, why is it important to block the winter wind? First, winter wind is one of the top reasons people lose body heat. This can lead to hypothermia or frostbite. Around here, we call it the wind blowing right through you because it feels like it blew your heat away. This also affects the homeless, hobos (yes, we have them out here, too), pets, and livestock. 

Second, below-freezing winds can freeze water pipes or anything with water. It can also freeze plants. Most plants will die if they freeze. It can cause other types of structural damage, such as roof or siding damage. It can also cause downed power lines and even break off tree branches, which can fall on homes, cars, livestock, or even characters. Yes, it does happen, and it has happened on our homestead many times. Although getting sideswiped by a deer during an ice storm takes the cake, but is a story for another day. 

So, how does this come into play in your stories? On top of all the above ideas, downed power lines make a great romance setup or the beginning of an apocalypse. Or both, if we are lucky. It gives your characters challenges and obstacles to overcome. It can show off your character’s creativity and innovation. The options are as endless as your imagination. 

Fun fact: The coldest wind ever recorded in the lower 48 of America was on January 20, 1954, in Rogers Pass, Montana, when it hit a record low of -70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

One quick reminder before we get to the best part of what could possibly go wrong in your story:

If you are enjoying this content, I hope you will check out my Buy Me A Coffee page. I have lots of rural gems and stories that you will not find anywhere else—links in the description. 

Likely to go wrong: Your character makes a pathway in the snow to their barn. On the way, they slip on the pathway and fall, hurting themselves. 

Likely to go wrong: Your character tries to make a windbreak for their chickens and make a tiny wall around the chicken fence. However, the wall is not tall enough to block the wind, and the chickens are cold. 

Possible to go wrong: Your characters are forced to work together to make pathways through the snow. However, they argue about how to make them, which to do first, and so much more that nothing gets done. 

Possible to go wrong: Your character is on a dog-drawn sled and accidentally falls off. The dogs keep running, leaving your characters stranded with no supplies. 

Unlikely to go wrong: Your characters are pulling a sled load of wood with horses back to their home when the sled slides into a ditch and gets stuck. 

Improbable but still technically in the realm of possibilities: Your cowboy character is making a tall snow wall to make a windbreak for themselves and their horse. However, the wall was not thick enough, and the wind blows it over onto them, crushing them under the snow. This could be deadly. 

Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy wordsmithing.