Comments on: The Mood Ring: What To Do With Mood In Your Story?

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:55:17 +0000

I don’t understand mood at all. In the writing course I’m taking right now, I’m constantly being told to set a mood in my writing, but I’m not sure how (which, with a quick Google search, led me here). I’m probably a bit young, compared to your usual audience (I’m in middle school…), so forgive me for my ignorance and need for stuff to be dumbed down. Do I scatter choice words among the paragraphs of my essay? Or do I just let it play out?

I’m not much of a technical writer, because I usually just play things by ear– if it sounds good, flows well. I’m worried my writing is doomed with last year’s skills…

Help?

Great article, by the way. Love the metaphors & humor- kept it interesting.

By: Writerly Ramble: Mood. « deannaknippling.com

Writerly Ramble: Mood. « deannaknippling.com — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:24:53 +0000

[...] over at Terrible Minds was writing about mood the other day, and it made something click. Mood is how the narrator feels about the [...]

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:18:33 +0000

You did say narrator, yes. But you listed authors (Chandler, Kafka), and further reference the author in regards to how she throws herself into the story.

– c.

By: DeAnna

DeAnna — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:08:25 +0000

I said “narrator,” didn’t I?

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:40:57 +0000

De:

I think you’re onto some good stuff there — and I think you’re right to suggest that mood can be an *author* thing over a purely *textual* thing. Once more, though, I don’t know that those two things are exclusively married. Were that true, I’d wonder why some authors are capable of writing different moods into different works. I have to believe mood is not always a vehicle for the author’s own point of view.

– c.

By: De

De — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:30:17 +0000

Okay, I throw “mood” under the “description” bus all the time, and, being me, suck at it. But here’s my take – mood is the narrator’s outlook on life. Any change in mood comes about when the narrator changes her mind about the story itself. Chandler – cynical, just the facts. The facts are ugly enough; don’t need no explainin’. Kafka – cynical, but darkly humorous, explaining irony at an ironically torturous length (but not by description, by action).

I think flaws in mood don’t necessarily come from excessive explanation, but from the author not throwing herself into the story, reacting to it, loving it, hating it. The mood gets too, too winky and cute.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:11:37 +0000

Dawn:

Do you find that “more mood” lends itself to overwriting, though?

Josh:

You’re on the right track, I think, and Lovecraft is another example. That said, I don’t know that “mood” and “description” are exclusively bound to one another, no more than “mood” is tied to “dialogue” or any other element.

– c.

By: Unblogged Bits for Sunday, 13 December 2009 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Unblogged Bits for Sunday, 13 December 2009 | ***Dave Does the Blog — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:01:40 +0000

[...] The Mood Ring: What To Do With Mood In Your Story? – @chuckwendig speaks truth. [...]

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:19:48 +0000

In gaming I have learned that whatever mood I wanted to set will fly out the window with a neon pink and green pig. The ending scene of a child-eating psychopath’s inner lair and decaying half-eaten bodies… blase. Having high tea and pleasant conversation with said psychopath before hand… had them shaking in their boots. I’ve just learned to scratch my head in bewilderment, and move on.

In writing I tend to lean towards more mood than less. I carefully choose which adjectives to use because of what images they can conjure up in the reader’s head (e.g. candy-apple red versus crimson).

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:59:13 +0000

As important as I believe mood is to writing, there is such a thing as too much. Look at Tolkien – fantastic world, memorable characters, touching drama & blazing action, but it’s all seated in long-winded descriptive passages meant to set the mood when all he’s doing for pages and pages is describing Tom Bombadil’s hat.