In today’s installation of Think Like a Writer, we’ll look at creating a certain mood for your story, novel, or picture book.

Writers know that readers want a certain experience and part of that is creating emotion or feeling. In other words, we need to create a setting that has a certain mood.

How to do that? Creating a mood is fairly simple, if you start with the basic idea of sensory details. Now, the writer’s eye kicks in as you select details. Once again, think about your story and what sensory details your character would be experiencing. What do they See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Feel?

But this time, you want to select details that support your mood. For example, if you want a scary beach, the sky is dark, brooding; the waves crash so loudly that you can’t hear the gulls; the cold wind grounds all seabirds and cuts through your flimsy sweater; the wind blasts your face and you can’t get away from the taste of salt; you smell nothing but the wool scarf wrapped around your face.

If you want a happy beach, you choose different details; soft wind ruffles your hair, sunglasses slide down the sweat on your nose, the smell of sunscreen brings back memories of that time on the beach in Jamaica, the mojita tastes perfectly minty, and the sea is a glassy swell.

Writers notice sensory details. Then, they choose the right details to create a mood.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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At my house, we’re iced in today, with schools closed for the weather.

How Does the Weather Affect Your Story?

Have you ever included a snow or ice day in your story? Does your character sweat through a scorching day while mowing the lawn?

If not, you’re missing a great chance to include sensory details and bring your story to life!

• Character. Develop your POV character better by including thoughts and references about weather. Would this character describe a sunset in flowery terms or barely notice it? This is a great place to explore voice for a character. For a week, try stopping three times a day and writing a sentence or paragraph about the weather, trying out different voices.
• Plot. You can choose to support or contrast the weather and the plot events. If there’s a blow up between characters, will you also include a thunderstorm or a blizzard? Or will it be a beautiful spring day, by way of contrast?
• Setting. Of course, part of most settings is the weather. Where are we? In the Arctic tundra, or scuba diving in the Caribbean? Choose sensory details — not just what you see, but using all the senses — that evoke the setting in a unique way.
• Mood. Try writing about a playground, using lots of sensory details. Now write about a scary playground or a happy playground. You change the mood of the story by choosing different sensory details. The setting controls much of the mood of a piece and that definitely includes weather.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Match Emotional Structure to the Novel’s Settings

Always try to matching the setting to the emotional layers of your story.

For example, the setting of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy is a New England coastal village, appropriate for several reasons. It’s built on a solid cliff, like Turner’s life is built on the solid foundation of family and church. Lizzie is physically separated from Turner’s life because she lives on an island. And the coast is a place where a boy might row out far enough to come face to face with a whale, a place where a boy might look into the eye of a whale. It speaks of foundations and separations and inspiration and growth.

Generic School Settings. My particular pet peeve is school settings while are all generic. Yes, to an extent, if you’ve been in one school, you’ve been in them all. But teachers–and characterization of teachers is important–can create a micro-environment within a school. Do they have family pictures on their desk, or awards, or vacation pictures, or just generic posters?

What is the emotional environment of your story? When you choose a setting, make it echo that emotional environment! This could include the time period, the geographic location, the buildings, the clothing, the time of year, the weather, and the bit characters who populate this setting. Evaluate all these in light of the emotional journey your character is taking

Does this sound too much like your English class trying to analyze a story? Well, it is. Another book I like that provokes me to think about this is How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Foster.   When is the weather not just the weather?  When is a meal not just a meal?

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Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win