It perfectly sets up the disastrous events that will occur and makes the reader aware of the sad nature of what is to come. I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me. The sentence—the dread sentence of death—was the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that, the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate hum.
It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution—perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill wheel. This only for a brief period; for presently I heard no more. Yet, for a while, I saw; but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw the lips of the black-robed judges. They appeared to me white—whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words—and thin even to grotesqueness; thin with the intensity of their expression of firmness—of immoveable resolution—of stern contempt of human torture.
Edgar Allen Poe is known for his dark and macabre stories and poems. They were raised on small, poor ranches in opposite corners of the state, Jack Twist in Lightning Flat, up on the Montana border, Ennis del Mar from around Sage, near the Utah line, both high-school drop-out country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered, rough-spoken, inured to the stoic life.
Ennis, reared by his older brother and sister after their parents drove off the only curve on Dead Horse Road, leaving them twenty-four dollars in cash and a two-mortgage ranch, applied at age fourteen for a hardship license that let him make the hour-long trip from the ranch to the high school. The pickup was old, no heater, one windshield wiper, and bad tires; when the transmission went, there was no money to fix it. He had wanted to be a sophomore, felt the word carried a kind of distinction, but the truck broke down short of it, pitching him directly into ranch work.
I love creating story mood boards — in Ye Olden Days of the s I did this with scraps cut from magazines and newspapers and pinned onto a corkboard, but now it's and we have Pinterest this will open in a new window. When I sit down every morning to work on a story, I have a quick scroll through my mood board to get myself in the right frame of mind here's this will open in a new window my mood board for The Gracekeepers. If you don't think in visuals, choose another sense: a song, word, phrase, scent or memory that evokes the atmosphere you want to create.
There's no need to describe the image or use the word: it's about holding it in your head as you write. As much as you can, choose the media you consume as you're writing. You're not doing this to directly take any plot elements, characters or details — you're trying to keep yourself in the right head-space, so that when you sit down to write, the atmosphere of your story feels strong in your imagination.
If you write to music, make sure it fits the tone of your story. Perhaps pin some relevant pictures to your desk, or change your desktop background to an image that creates the right feel. If it's possible to choose your physical surroundings — for example, to walk on a deserted beach as you write about isolation, or wander in a museum as you write a historical story — then do take a day or even your lunch hour to do this. You'll only be able to create a strong atmosphere for your reader if you can feel it yourself.
It isn't always possible to have control of our listening or viewing material when we have to consider the choices of our family, friends or workmates, but even small things can help. One minute you're comparing something in your dystopian world to a rotten apple; the next minute there's an industrial pipe; then a labyrinth, and an insect, and a sunbeam, and a temple, and reality TV, and a stovepipe hat, and — you get the point.
Piling on visual metaphors randomly will give a muddled, inconsistent feel when you really want a strong, coherent atmosphere. Fast-paced and thrilling. Readers want to feel heroic, purposeful, and daring.
At 12, feet they leveled off, sat like eagles in the shining galleries of sky. The air was much cooler up here and Kern was glad of his flying suit. He felt the weariness slide off him with the sweat that had swamped him on the ground. But it was more than just the air that was invigorating him. He had felt like this on other mornings, but now the feeling was heightened, there was almost a sexual edge to it.
Cleary used details like the shining galleries of the sky, the weariness sliding off with the sweat, and an almost sexual tension to convey an atmosphere of conquest and adventure.
These stories take the reader back in time and must do so convincingly, with accurate detail and reconstruction of events. The atmosphere varies widely, depending on the subject, and can range from a romantic view of the period to a brutally stoic one.
The reader is pulled into the historical scene, learning factual details while absorbing the flavor of the moment through the details Deaver chose to include: clubfooted scarecrow, adoring eyes, name-dropping, and damning gossip.
Readers want to feel a chill, a sense of menace and supernatural terror. Atmosphere is key, and must permeate the story with a sense of foreboding and unease as readers await the unexpected. Create the ominous and macabre for the reader, with a crucial element of surprise and sometimes an unresolved ending as the horror lives on. It was steamy here, steamy and hot with the sweat of the earth. He flipped on the flashlight with trembling hands and followed its narrow beam with his eyes.
The place was almost like a room in the side of the hill, a room perhaps seven feet high, with a floor of mud and ooze that seemed almost to bubble as he watched. Reading this description, hot and steamy with the sweat of the earth, a little room buried in the hillside, makes it feel as if we are being swallowed by a malevolent earth monster, and the floor of mud and ooze bubbles in our minds as we wait for something horrific to emerge from it.
What I gave you above is just a tiny sampling of the atmospheric possibilities, but let me emphasize how important the right flavor is to readers.
Determine the atmosphere you want to create—the type of emotional experience your reader desires—and deliver it through the senses, emotion, and opinions of your POV character. Do you crave a certain atmospheric flavor in the books you read?
Tell us about it in the comments. Use your novel or short story in progress or choose one of the scenarios below and let the atmosphere come alive as I did in the hospital example above. Let the atmosphere shine through! Write for fifteen minutes. When you are finished, post your work in the comments , and be sure to give feedback for your fellow writers, too.
For example, if something unfair happens in the workplace and a group of employees lost their jobs, this group's mood can be described as frustrated and enraged. If a group of students gets to go on a fun field trip for the day instead of sitting in the classroom, the mood can be described as excited or elated. Descriptive writing can be used to set the mood of a place.
When describing a place, you will want to add plenty of detail and use vivid words. For example, if writing about a beach use words such as salty sea air, gentle breeze, soft sand, lapping waves or warm sun rays. The mood set for this beach is calm and peaceful.
When referring to a period of time or specific era, moods can be used to set the scene. Use words that describe how people felt during the time and reflect on how they lived their lives. People lost their jobs, went hungry and experienced a wide range of emotions.
Words such as frightened, panicked and depressed are commonly used to describe people's moods during this time.
In literature, mood is the feeling created in the reader. This feeling is the result of both the tone and atmosphere of the story. The author's attitude or approach to a character or situation is the tone of a story and the tone sets the mood of the story.
Atmosphere is the feeling created by mood and tone.
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