Wednesday 12 January 2011

MOOD IS NOT TONE - IT'S VOLATILE

Tone is the writer's attitude; it is used to describe the writing as a whole.

The mood of a piece can change based on the situation, character development or their understanding of their circumstances. It is the feeling the reader gets from the writing.

Mood is created by vocabulary selection and also by the length/structure of individual sentences.

Whether you are trying to portray the mood as:
·         eerie
·         feeble
·         depressing
·         dreamy
·         gullible
·         gloomy
·         artificial
·         ominous
·         reckless
·         humorous
·         brooding
·         dated
·         intense
·         extravagant
·         sombre

creating the proper mood will draw the reader in but it may take a few additional twists to keep them there.

When I am hunting for the right word, or inspiration of any sort, I head over to Becca and Angela's blog - The Bookshelf Muse.  They have collated the widest collection of words to empower your writing. 

Happy Writing... or intense or frightening or tragic or magnificent! ;) 

10 comments:

  1. Hi Ivy
    Hard to write happy when the depression of synopsis is waiting for me to finish it. Even with preparation and advice etc I get bogged down in the middle - flick over pages of narration and think how can I get all that in there :(

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  2. Good post. The Blake poem and picture are lovely.

    I've really been enjoying your blog's new look. I've given you an award on my blog.

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  3. Great post! That is an important distinction. I'll have to check out The Bookshelf Muse sometime.

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  4. Hi Anne
    Thank you for the award. I'm glad you like the new blog look.
    I love the Blake poem it can be interpreted in many ways but the mood remains the same.

    Hi Alexia
    *blushes :) Thank you.
    The Bookshelf Muse is a very comprehensive resource.

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  5. I have blogged about that site before. They are seriously one of the best thesaurus sites on the internet.
    CD

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  6. Hi Clarissa
    Finding a tone is closely linked to voice. Mood is harder to capture without a few well chosen words. Sometimes you just need a few ideas collected together to get the narrative flowing Becca and Angela have more than a few ideas over there. :)

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  7. Oh, no. I'm sorry to read that you're bogged down in the middle. Would it help if I teleported you some gluten-free chocolate chip muffins?

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  8. Hi Ivy
    For a person on the othersideoftheeatherandtheatlantic,you know me too well ;)

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  9. We have a local market that carries an entire area of gluten-free goodies. I've tried these crakery biscuity (for lack of better words), crispy things with garlic and herbs. Can't recall the name but they were quite good.

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