Recently, I’ve been in the mood for a certain type of book—books like Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier, and the Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud (all of which I highly recommend). They’re all dark, spooky, and supernatural. In other words, they all have a certain atmosphere.
Atmosphere is a slippery subject to wrap our heads around. It’s a combination of setting, emotion, and style. To achieve it, you must first decide what kind of atmosphere you’re aiming for. Light and funny, warm and cozy, dark and haunting, heavy and sad—the list goes on. Then you must build your setting, your characters’ internals, and your language so that they all work toward this atmosphere.
When done right, atmosphere soaks through every page of a story. It heightens the reading experience and can elevate a good story to a rich, vivid, lived-in one. Here are a few techniques I’ve been using to tackle atmosphere in my work-in-progress.
- Put yourself in the atmosphere. Watch movies, read books, and listen to songs that evoke your desired atmosphere. If your house is too bright and cozy for your creeptastic book, go to a cemetery to write. Find what works to evoke the feeling of the atmosphere in you, so you’ll be prepared to evoke it in your writing.
- Make a mood board. This can be done on Pinterest, or the old-fashioned way with a bulletin board and magazine clippings. Choose a variety of images that evoke your atmosphere—not necessarily your plot or characters. It’s okay to have an armor-clad alien on your romance novel’s mood board, if his smoldering stare evokes the sensual vibes you’re going for. A mood board can transport you to your atmosphere no matter where you are, and it can give you fresh ideas when you’re stuck. Don’t know how to describe your setting’s snowfall in a fresh way? Turn (or click) to your images of snow, and you may notice an unexpected detail to add to your story.
- Study other atmospheres. When watching a film with strong atmosphere, take note of what details are used—elements of place, weather, props, and character attire. When reading other books, note how the authors incorporate emotion and use stylistic devices to their advantage.
- Make word lists. Keep a running list of adjectives, nouns, and verbs that fit your atmosphere, then consult it the next time you’re stuck. I’ve found this helpful for my current novel, which has a dark, spooky atmosphere. When I need a color for a minor character’s T-shirt, I check my list and find options like rusty brown, charcoal gray, and blood red, all of which suit my atmosphere better than lilac or magenta.
- Get sensual. With atmosphere, sensory detail is key. This doesn’t mean choking your story with purple prose or pages of dull description, but rather a few well-chosen images throughout. Take the time to consider what sensory details might crop up in each scene—making sure to incorporate all five senses—and choose the most impactful ones to include.
- Use motifs. Too many different images and analogies can make a story feel scattered, even if they all suit your atmosphere. Look for common symbols you can use over and over again, a technique called a motif. Plant life is an evergreen one (See what I did there?), likely because it’s universal and it has natural variety. You can use images of a rotten apple on page five and an aggressive weed on page eight, avoiding repetition while still maintaining a sense of cohesion.
What atmosphere are you crafting in your WIP? What tips and tricks have helped you? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you for this terrific blog post, Rachel. As always, you’ve given us practical and easy to apply how-to’s. Much appreciated!
Timely and welcome, Rachel. Thank you!
Great post. Thank you.