How do you add atmosphere?

[ink wench]

Hi all, what do you do to give your story atmosphere or mood, etc.? Here's my problem... I wanted my WIP to have a certain feel to it, mainly rather dark and dangerous. I tried doing this several ways
1) By making it part of the story. My characters tend to have well-founded fears of ghosts, malevolent or mischievous fairies, and the plot itself is dark.
2) By choosing apropriate verbs or adjetives.
3) By adopting a specific voice, which is something I've never consciously done before.

It worked, sort of, some of the time. There are scenes though that just didn't seem to lend themselves to that sort of 'treatment' and the feel doesn't come off as very consistent. I assumed from the beginning that I would need to smooth it out during the edits (my first drafts are very bare bones anyway), but it's far more difficult than I'd thought it would be.

So, I guess my question is, what else am I missing? How do you create mood and how do you sustain it even through the 'different' scenes (e.g. inserting humor in a tragedy, or a love scene in a horror, that sort of thing)? Thanks!

[jerrymouse]

use all your senses when you write. see, hear, feel and smell the things around your characters.
to get the right mood choose things that are associated with what ever mood you are trying to counjure. wet gravel vrs silk pyjamas

[jodiodi]

What jerrymouse said.

I write what my characters tell me and I know everything they feel, see, hear, smell, taste and think. Just put yourself in their place and experience it then write it down.

You seem to have a good handle on the mechanics of it from your OP.

Good luck.

[Jamesaritchie]

I think mood and tone are two of the more important aspects of good writing, and two of the most neglected. I've read a ton of books on the subject, I've even taken classes on it, but I'm darned if I can really say how to do it.

Mood and tone come from setting, word choice, sentence rhythm, and description, but for me, it's a feel as you go sort of thing. You have to see the story and the setting. Mood and tone are atmosphere, and they invoke the emotion of the story. For me, it boils down to setting and description, more than anything else, but it's all in the details.

[Cath]

I agree with James. For me, word choice and sentence structure are essential tools for creating mood. Not just the meaning of the words, but how they look on the page and how they sound (aloud and in your head). Think Under Milk Wood for a great way of using words to evoke mood (and yes, I know it's a play, but I still think it holds true).

[farfromfearless]

A Barry White album, a bottle of red wine and some candles.

[CaroGirl]

I agree that atmosphere is in the details. And in the senses. Imagine it, feel it, and write it.

[Jamesaritchie]

Think Under Milk Wood for a great way of using words to evoke mood (and yes, I know it's a play, but I still think it holds true).

Um, yes, good example. I also think many horror novels and gothic novels are pretty good examples. For an old and free one, I think Bram Stoker's Dracula does a pretty fair job of setting mood and tone.

[ink wench]

use all your senses when you write. see, hear, feel and smell the things around your characters.
to get the right mood choose things that are associated with what ever mood you are trying to counjure. wet gravel vrs silk pyjamas
Yup, I try to do that, but it's worth looking at the problem areas with a more critical eye to this. Thanks.

Mood and tone come from setting, word choice, sentence rhythm, and description, but for me, it's a feel as you go sort of thing. You have to see the story and the setting.
True. I wonder if that's part of my problem. I get very into my MC's head when I write, and it's in the scenes where she's not feeling oppressed that I have trouble maintaining the overall mood. Of course, since it's all from the MC's point of view (3rd, limited) maybe that makes sense then? When she's happy, the story seems lighter? Maybe I need to concentrate on sentence rhythm and voice, which seems less intrusive, more in these scenes.

I'll try to take a look at Under Milk Wood. I do have a copy of Dracula, so I'll consult that for sure. Thanks for the ideas everyone!

[SpookyWriter]

I think mood and tone are two of the more important aspects of good writing, and two of the most neglected. I've read a ton of books on the subject, I've even taken classes on it, but I'm darned if I can really say how to do it.

Mood and tone come from setting, word choice, sentence rhythm, and description, but for me, it's a feel as you go sort of thing. You have to see the story and the setting. Mood and tone are atmosphere, and they invoke the emotion of the story. For me, it boils down to setting and description, more than anything else, but it's all in the details.Very good points. I agree. But I do also think the writer needs to be in a similar mood to express themselves into the narrative or description. Like the ambiance of a good horror story. How do other people imagine atmosphere when they are in a somewhat sterile environment?

[PeeDee]

I wouldn't know how to consciously and purposefully create a mood for a story. I don't think it'd matter how many times I said "I am going to write this story creepy," if it's a creepy story, it comes out creepy. Otherwise, it's something else.

[SpookyWriter]

I wouldn't know how to consciously and purposefully create a mood for a story. I don't think it'd matter how many times I said "I am going to write this story creepy," if it's a creepy story, it comes out creepy. Otherwise, it's something else.How do you create atmosphere or mood for a creepy story when you live in a state where it never rains? See, I find mood and atmosphere from where I'm at for the moment -- like living in London and writing horror is so easy -- and find it difficult to draw a curtain around a creepy scene when it's sunny outside and 68 degrees in January. Errr...

[PeeDee]

How do you create atmosphere or mood for a creepy story when you live in a state where it never rains? See, I find mood and atmosphere from where I'm at for the moment -- like living in London and writing horror is so easy -- and find it difficult to draw a curtain around a creepy scene when it's sunny outside and 68 degrees in January. Errr...

To use creepy as an example, I can physically be sitting in my nearby park, with geese on the lake and bright sunshine and green grass (obviously not at THIS time of year)....but mentally, I'm rain and London pea-soup fog, and dirty cobblestones, and menace.

It's what being a writer's all about. I dont' have to have weather, music, or anything else to write. Hell, when I've written some disturbing scenes, my wife is next to me watching Deal or No Deal, or some such. It's all in my head.

[jodiodi]

How do you create atmosphere or mood for a creepy story when you live in a state where it never rains? See, I find mood and atmosphere from where I'm at for the moment -- like living in London and writing horror is so easy -- and find it difficult to draw a curtain around a creepy scene when it's sunny outside and 68 degrees in January. Errr...

Sometimes bright, sunshine-filled settings can be intensely creepy. There is something delightfully frightening about things appearing 'normal and happy' on the surface, but somehow not quite 'right'.

For example, using PeeDee's park, sunshine, geese on the lake and green grass, one chan have that setting but have the mc notice the little girl off to the side of the lake washing something in the water and the balloon she's holding is smeared with blood. Then she turns and looks at the MC and laughs, her mouth full of several rows of long, sharp, fang-like teeth. That would be creepy to me. (I know, it's a heavy-handed example, but you get my point, I hope.)

[PeeDee]

Thank you.

I'll just go ahead and sleep with the lights on tonight.

[SpookyWriter]

Sometimes bright, sunshine-filled settings can be intensely creepy. There is something delightfully frightening about things appearing 'normal and happy' on the surface, but somehow not quite 'right'.

For example, using PeeDee's park, sunshine, geese on the lake and green grass, one chan have that setting but have the mc notice the little girl off to the side of the lake washing something in the water and the balloon she's holding is smeared with blood. Then she turns and looks at the MC and laughs, her mouth full of several rows of long, sharp, fang-like teeth. That would be creepy to me. (I know, it's a heavy-handed example, but you get my point, I hope.)Sounds like IT. But drawing on a creepy horror scene with a lake (not a lot of them in Phoenix) and ambiance or atmosphere helps if you don't live in the desert. I can write creepy horror stories in the right setting and under the right situations with nature playing a helping role.

But life in a sterile environment doesn't add mood or atmosphere to my horror stories. I need nature to help get me into the real creepy stuff.

[PeeDee]

Sounds like IT. But drawing on a creepy horror scene with a lake (not a lot of them in Phoenix) and ambiance or atmosphere helps if you don't live in the desert. I can write creepy horror stories in the right setting and under the right situations with nature playing a helping role.

But life in a sterile environment doesn't add mood or atmosphere to my horror stories. I need nature to help get me into the real creepy stuff.

I would hate to have to rely on my surroundings to let me write creepy, happy, tense, or anything else. Last night, I wrote six pages of a short story that had some deeply disturbing stuff in it...and I wrote it while sitting comfortably in my bookstore with the forums open and some light music going in the background.

If nothing else, I think this thread is making me more grateful for being able to do that...

[SpookyWriter]

I would hate to have to rely on my surroundings to let me write creepy, happy, tense, or anything else. Last night, I wrote six pages of a short story that had some deeply disturbing stuff in it...and I wrote it while sitting comfortably in my bookstore with the forums open and some light music going in the background.

If nothing else, I think this thread is making me more grateful for being able to do that...Do you happen to live in the mid-west or east? Hmmm...I can do dallas dearly, but Phoenix for my horror (atmosphere) of my current wip(s) isn't cutting it. Try to imagine what a tree (forrest) looks like for a story when you're living in a desert. Difficult at best. What does pine smell like? Hmmm...

[ink wench]

For example, using PeeDee's park, sunshine, geese on the lake and green grass, one chan have that setting but have the mc notice the little girl off to the side of the lake washing something in the water and the balloon she's holding is smeared with blood. Then she turns and looks at the MC and laughs, her mouth full of several rows of long, sharp, fang-like teeth. That would be creepy to me. (I know, it's a heavy-handed example, but you get my point, I hope.)
Bwahahaha! Love it. Creepiness in the mundane, like evil in the mundane, is the creepiest of them all, imo.

Spooky, I can totally see how surroundings can help build a mood for your writing. I'm kinda the opposite though. I write best when I'm in a cheery place (mentally and physically) no matter what I'm trying to write.

I wouldn't know how to consciously and purposefully create a mood for a story. I don't think it'd matter how many times I said "I am going to write this story creepy," if it's a creepy story, it comes out creepy. Otherwise, it's something else.
Ah, but that's what's giving me problems. It is dark, but it's not all dark. Even tragedy has some humor. The dark parts are dark, the not-so-dark parts thus seem to stick out in a bad way to me.

[PeeDee]

Ah, but that's what's giving me problems. It is dark, but it's not all dark. Even tragedy has some humor. The dark parts are dark, the not-so-dark parts thus seem to stick out in a bad way to me.

Not at all. Not EVERY dark situation is devoid of humor, nor should it be. Evne if it's not slapstick humor, nothing is tense and violent and dark every single second. There is laughter in war, in the trenches.

There's a story from World War II about a group of men in the trenches, and a shell landed near them. And one man shouted, "I've lost my leg..!" and one of his companions shouted back, "No you haven't, it's over here!"

And they all laughed. Sometimes, it's laugh or bust.

Which, again, is not to say you have to have slapstick humor. But you haven't GOT to have every moment be grim and black.

[Saundra Julian]

IMHO, I don't have to be in a creepy setting to write creepy scenes. It should all come from your imagination! Ever had a nightmare? There are no external factors in dreams, are there?

Ink wench,
You don’t want the dark parts to dominate every page of the book. Readers need a break from tense, scary scenes. You must allow them to relax occasionally, then “hit” them with more horror or dark scenes.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I have some pictures on my wall of different environments. Forests. Mountains. Oceans. Glaciers. They help me visualize a place. I don't have to actually BE at the place.

And I hope that we're not talking about clichés when we discuss atmosphere. We're not making it rain at every funeral, are we? Not having it sun-shiney and warm at every outdoor kid's party. Sometimes the wrong atmosphere can make the story corny.

[SpookyWriter]

Not at all. Not EVERY dark situation is devoid of humor, nor should it be. Evne if it's not slapstick humor, nothing is tense and violent and dark every single second. There is laughter in war, in the trenches.

There's a story from World War II about a group of men in the trenches, and a shell landed near them. And one man shouted, "I've lost my leg..!" and one of his companions shouted back, "No you haven't, it's over here!"

And they all laughed. Sometimes, it's laugh or bust.

Which, again, is not to say you have to have slapstick humor. But you haven't GOT to have every moment be grim and black.Dang, Pete. I admire you more and more, daily, for such insightful posts. Who are you? Really.

[jodiodi]

I can write pretty much anything anywhere. I have some tales that are very gothic and spooky and I've never in my life been snowbound in a deserted yet perfectly preserved castle keep where shadows whisper to one of the characters and flit around the ceiling near the door leading to the dungeons or a dark shadow-shape like that of a man watches a character from mirrors. I think I wrote that story in the summer time in Alaska when it was daylight 20+ hours out of 24 and the temperature was in the 90s with no AC.

I can see how the writer's setting may help get one in the mood to write certain things, but it's never been necessary for me.

Now game playing is another thing entirely. I can creep myself out playing one of the Silent Hill or Fatal Frame games at home, alone except for the dogs, with the lights out, on the big flat-screen with surroundsound ... I love it!

[Carrie in PA]

I do the bulk of my writing in my obscenely cheerful room with bright orange and pink walls and my gorgeous new curtains that are orange with multi-colored butterflies. I have my favorite pictures all around me, which are also pretty darn cheerful.

When I'm writing, I don't see any of that. I can be floating in the ocean on an old ship, or trapped in a cave in a thunderstorm, or crossing the desert with the sand stinging my face and my throat dry, or on a front porch in the deep South. I just kind of go inside to that *place* and I can taste the sea or feel the rumbles of thunder or feel the sand or hear the creak of the old rocking chair...

Dunno. I can't explain how I get there, I'm just glad that I do.

[PeeDee]

Your brain has its own set of your five senses, and a writer learns how to access them, no matter the setting.

I do, anyhow.

[lfraser]

I wrote the moodiest, most hallucinatory story I've even written while sitting on my back porch on a sunny day looking out over my cheerful summer garden.

And no, I wasn't eating the plants.

[finch]

Generally, when I'm adding atmosphere, I stick to the old standbys. You know, 8 parts nitrogen, 2 parts oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide to taste and then a few secret ingredients to really give it that extra punch.

Oh. You mean -- ah. Never mind.

(edit because I feel guilty about having contributed absolutely nothing: sensory input primarily, combined with the reactions of the characters to that sensory input. A clownish, oblivious, carefree character may enhance a suspenseful mood, for example, if the actions of the character are completely counter to the description of the setting. Course, it might just come off as comic, too, but that's all part of the execution.)

[limitedtimeauthor]

Ink wench,
You don’t want the dark parts to dominate every page of the book. Readers need a break from tense, scary scenes. You must allow them to relax occasionally, then “hit” them with more horror or dark scenes.

Yes!! The light scenes intensify the suspense, because you just KNOW something evil is lurking around the corner!

For fiction, I am more a reader than a writer (so far), so I may be off base in saying anything at all...

but I will anyway :D. I was just thinking about this very thing. If the mood changes, and the writer has taken me along with (for ex. some very good thing the MC has been waiting for - and I know she/he has been waiting for it) then I'm good with the change in mood. I understand it. If the writer just tells me, suddenly, that the MC was extremely happy that day, when all along it's been bad and dark and serious, well then I'm p*ssed.

I have to get to take the ride with the MC. Why is she suddenly cheerful? Could be something external, like that good thing that happened to her, or it could be that something triggered a memory - a memory of her mother laughing and dancing with the MC in the daisy field out behind the house, and the mother said to her, "As long as you are laughing, child, you are stronger than the darkness." Blah blah blah. (Yeah, I know! Sucky example. But I TOLD ya I don't do this much, LOL!)

ltd.

[ink wench]

Hmm... so it sounds like many people are suggesting that to leave the lighter moments as lighter moments, etc. so long as they have a reason. I agree with that. I'll reread those scenes when I'm done editing and try to get feedback.

I don't think it's so much a matter of mixing in humor or happiness. I think that's all necessary to some degree. The way I've been thinking of it is like how a director uses lighting to convey a feel or a look to a movie. Only this has to be done with voice and words. Does that make sense? Maybe I'm not communicating this idea very well with words, which probably means it's a good thing I have no delusions about being published. :rolleyes:

Generally, when I'm adding atmosphere, I stick to the old standbys. You know, 8 parts nitrogen, 2 parts oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide to taste and then a few secret ingredients to really give it that extra punch.
I was waiting for that! Surprised it took so long!

And I hope that we're not talking about clichés when we discuss atmosphere. We're not making it rain at every funeral, are we? Not having it sun-shiney and warm at every outdoor kid's party. Sometimes the wrong atmosphere can make the story corny.
Oh dear, no! At least, I hope not.

[KiraOnWhite]

I usually just listen to music which is appropriate for the scenes...want to try to draw my characters and various places, just to remind myself better of their personalities. It takes a real writer to write a depressing scene with the setting of happy bunnies crawling around the place, or a light scene in a graveyard.

[Jamesaritchie]

A lighter moment breaks the tension and allows a reader to catch his breath.
Usually a good ting. But so is relentless tension and terror. It depends on the book you're writing.

[Carmy]

A lighter moment breaks the tension and allows a reader to catch his breath.

Very true. If anyone has read Shogun, do you remember the morning-after scene when the warlord surveys the earthquake damage? He bemoans several things and ends up thinking "and I lost my pesky sword." Suddenly all the tension of the earlier chapters disappears like magic and I, the reader, can go on with some relief.

If I am inside my character when I write, it doesn't matter what my surroundings are -- I'm in that character's world.