Really creative writing

Quite often writers are fascinated by a phenomenon - by an event which is so unusual they feel they just have to write about it. They might not have a storyline to wrap around the phenomenon and they might not have any characters to wrap around it but in their view that’s irrelevant at this stage, they can be created laterThis is the situation which I am in with the phenomenon of smokers and non-smokers effectively being segregated at certain times of the year but being allowed to integrate at other times of the year.
To explain, in Britain smoking is banned in bars and pubs. British smokers have to smoke outside, and they usually do this in `smoking shelters’. These are quite similar to bus shelters, they have a roof and walls but there are no doors and there is always a gap between the walls and roof, to allow the cigarette fumes to disperse.
Some smoking shelters are pretty basic while others are more comfortable; they might have seats, overhead electric heating and a TV screen showing football (soccer) games or rock videos. Many pubs also have gardens or patios. Smoking shelters are popular in the winter months but are hardly used during the summer months when it’s usually warm enough to go into the garden or patio and smoke.
Here’s the first draft of the story: `In the summer months the smoking shelter was deserted. Smokers had no need to shelter there, it was warm enough to sit in the pub garden and smoke. Non-smokers liked to sit there during the summer months too, so this was the migratory season, the kind of migration where herds of the same species, who have spent the winter in different locations, briefly migrate to seek better grazing.’
In the next part of `Problem story’ I’ll take a closer look at the phenomenon of writers being fascinated by a phenomenon but having little idea what to do with it, and hopefully I’ll find a solution for the problem, a solution which may help you if you are ever in this kind of situation.