How to Set Tone and Mood in Your Scenes

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Setting the right tone can go a long way to drawing readers into your story and keeping their attention.

I'm a little weird when it comes to scary movies. I enjoy (most) of them, but sometimes I also get so tense I can't watch them. I figured out ages ago it the music that gets me, not the scene itself. It builds, pokes at my emotions, and builds the tension in a masterful way that also builds my anticipation and fear. This also happens in games during boss fights or any mission with really stressful music.

When a movie or game starts getting to me, I mute the volume and all that built-up tension drops to the floor.

What do movie scores have to do with tone and mood?

Leave a Message at the Tone: Setting the Right Tone for Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Tone is an important part of any story. The wrong tone can ruin the mood and steal the thunder away from the words.

There's a great moment in the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean where Captain Jack Sparrow is standing in the crow's nest as his ship pulls into port. It has a big adventure feel, the mighty pirate surveying his domain. Then, as the camera pulls away, you see his ship is sinking and it goes under just as he reaches the dock and steps off.

It's silly, it's comical, and it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the movie. We’re not taking ourselves too seriously, here.

Which is exactly right for a movie based on a ride at Disney World.

The scene is a bit over the top, but but it informs viewers right away to just go with it and enjoy the ride. It's all about fun, not a realistic look at pirates. You know what you're going to get after that, so anytime the movies gets a little silly you accept it.

How the Wrong Tone Can Change Your Whole Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Tone is a funny thing. Words spoken in a light tone can convey playfulness, but the same words in a serious tone can convey anger, fear, or even a threat. This holds true for actions as well—playfully chasing someone looks and feels different than chasing someone to cause them harm.

Too-flippant characters in a serious novel might undermine the danger and lesson then tension. Characters who never laugh or behave too seriously can turn a light-hearted comedy into melodrama. Even the words we use to describe the setting can send the wrong message if the tone conflicts with the scene (and that’s not the intent).

Five Things I Learned About Tone Writing The Tree of Souls

By Katrina Archer, @katrinaarcher

Part of the How They Do It Series

It's always a special treat to host folks I've met and cheer their success. I first met Katrina Archer at the Surrey International Writers Conference back in 2007, and it was at that conference that I A) had my heart ripped out during a master class on pitching, and B) was given the kick in the butt that led me to write my debut novel, The Shifter. Katrina was kind enough to offer support to a writer who'd had a very bad day back then, and I'm pleased to say we've both gone on to publish our novels since.

Katrina is the author of dark fantasy The Tree of Souls, YA fantasy Untalented, and nature photography book Shorescapes of Southern British Columbia. A professional engineer, she lives on her sailboat in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Katrina has worked in aerospace, video games, and film, and has been known to copy edit for fun. Her work has been a finalist for the Toronto International Book Fair’s Creation of Stories award. She is an alumnus of the Viable Paradise and Paradise Lost writing workshops, and a member of Codex Writers.

She owns 500 books, four vehicles (none of which is a helicopter), one dog, too many Apple devices, and is tolerated by her cat, who is more famous in Germany than she is.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Take it away Katrina...

Painting With Prose

By Bonnie Randall

Special Guest Author

Sometimes I see a meme like this and get ridiculously excited (I tell myself it’s because I think like a writer—but really, it’s just ‘cause I’m the most pathetically easy-to-entertain date in town). This one, on the nuances in a palette, had me reflecting on how we, as authors, can employ color to create a bigger, richer feel to our stories. Such as:

1. Capitalizing on Color’s Connotations

Notwithstanding cultural and geographical variances, we tend to associate certain colors with certain things. Such as:

White = innocence, purity, virginity, new
Purple = regal, royals, sometimes mysticism
Green = growth, life, abundance
Orange = fire, sun, energy
Black = grief, mourning, death