What is mood in writing

Top Tip : Find out more about our workbooks and online courses in our shop. What Is Mood In Fiction? Writers use tone to establish a mood in a work of fiction. How Is A Mood Created? There are basically five things that allow authors to create a mood: Setting : The way a setting is described greatly affects the mood. Authors often use foreshadowing in their descriptions.

The use of motifs also creates a mood. Style : Our style is the way we use words to tell a story. The way we choose words, the way we structure sentences, and use tenses and figurative language describes our writing style.

Viewpoint : Choosing first, second, or third person viewpoint will affect the mood of a work. Tone : Tone conveys an attitude towards a topic. It is expressed by our word choices, sentence lengths and use of punctuation. If we use a compassionate tone, our readers may feel sympathetic or empathetic. If we use a depressing tone, our readers will feel sad. Genre : The genre also affects the mood.

It simply is. Slaughterhouse-Five offers a great example of the difference between tone and mood. Throughout the novel, the author maintains a mostly deadpan, unemotional tone. Interestingly, this detached treatment of the atrocities of war is precisely what makes the mood melancholic and emotional for readers.

All good literature makes us feel something, whether it inspires us, makes us cry, or reminds us of another time. These feelings bring us together and make us feel connected with the story. Through tone, diction, imagery, and theme, writers can create a specific mood and use their artistic skills to make us feel any of a wide array of emotions. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike.

She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family. After understanding tone and mood,some type of strange feelings are coming to my soul which makes me crying inside. Tone and mood can also include positive feelings if that helps :.

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. The atmosphere takes the reader to where the story is happening and lets them experience it much like the characters. Cheerful : This light-hearted, happy mood is shown with descriptions of laughter, upbeat song, delicious smells, and bright colors.

A cheerful mood fills you with joy and happiness. Travers in Mary Poppins creates a cheerful mood throughout the story by using silly words, such as "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," taking the reader on wild adventures with the children and filling the pages of the book with scenes that make you laugh out loud. Humorous : This mood is silly and sometimes ridiculous. Characters will do and say odd or funny things. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.

Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this entire guide PDF. Teachers and parents!

Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Editions can help. Mood Definition What is mood? Some additional key details about mood: Every piece of writing has a mood—whether it's a masterwork of literature or a short haiku. Moods are established gradually over the course of an entire work, so it's often difficult to pinpoint the elements that contribute to a work's mood at the level of the sentence or paragraph. Mood is often and understandably confused with tone , which is related but different in that tone refers to the attitude of a piece of writing, not its atmosphere.

More on the difference below. How to Pronounce Mood Here's how to pronounce mood: mude Mood Explained Generally speaking, any word that can be used to describe emotion can be used to describe the mood of a story, poem, or other piece of writing. Here are some words that are commonly used to describe mood: Cheerful Reflective Gloomy Humorous Melancholy Idyllic Whimsical Romantic Mysterious Ominous Calm Lighthearted Hopeful Angry Fearful Tense Lonely A single piece of writing can and usually does employ more than one mood, since different parts of the same work can have different moods, but works are generally characterized by a single overarching mood.

What Makes Up a Mood? These are the basic elements that help determine the mood of a piece of writing: Setting: A story's setting is where and when it takes place. Setting is one of the first things to be described in a narrative, and therefore plays a major role in establishing the mood.

In the "dark and stormy night" example from above, the story's mood is established almost entirely by the setting in this case, the weather and the time of day , which makes for a gloomy and potentially even frightening atmosphere. A story that takes place in a cotton candy kingdom, by contrast, is likely to have a whimsical, cheerful, or light-hearted mood.

Imagery: Imagery is similar to setting in the sense that it helps to establish mood using descriptions of physical things in the world of the story. Not every image in a work will be indicative of the story's mood, but images that are repeated or described in detail usually do reflect the mood. A poem that spends a lot of time describing babbling brooks, gentle rolling hills, and herds of sheep might have an idyllic mood.

A story that has a lot of roses, candlelight, and boxes of chocolates might be trying to establish a romantic mood.