Road Trip to NaNo: Infusing Your Novel with Mood

NaNoWriMo is an international event, and the stories being written every year reflect our hundreds of participating regions. We’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear from our amazing volunteers and writers all around the world. Today, Magdalena, one of our Municipal Liaisons in the Europe :: Poland region talks about the power of setting a mood:

In Poland, we have this game we play every year on November 11. A challenge, if you will, because why not crown this extreme caffeine-induced haze of madness with another hurdle? Each year, on our Independence Day, we dare our Wrimos to insert two words—“eleven” and “owls”—into their novels. Owls have become a symbol of NaNoWriMo in Poland.

Cool, right? We have a mascot. Even cooler when you consider that owls generally stand for two things: wisdom and the grim stuff. They can be harbingers of death, messengers of dark powers, or simply bad omens. Combine that with the extremely melancholic All Saints Day (which in Poland suitably falls on November 1), and you get a mood so dark you start to understand why so few of our Wrimos write comedy.

So yeah, let’s talk about mood.

It’s my personal favourite. It’s subtle, omnipresent and powerful. Skilfully used, it can carry the reader through your whole novel. Mood is like the background of a picture—think how much can change with that. When everything else fails and I get stuck in a story, I always rely on atmosphere to get me out of a corner.

You need to know what you are going for in a scene. You know your plot point, you know your characters, you know what’s going to happen: that’s the picture. Now decide on the background. Is it nervous and tense? Or light, relaxed? Or maybe your first-person narrator is delusional with fever, and everything is just slightly off? Whatever it is, know the aim. Even though I’m a big fan of improvisation, I promise you: in this aspect, wandering blind just won’t work.

Needless to say, you can’t create your desired atmosphere by simply stating it! “The mood was tense” or “Everyone felt calm”. It has to be built piece by piece, detail by detail, around your characters. They don’t just have to feel the atmosphere, they can also create it, too. Engage all their senses; make them move: tap on the glass, sweat, bite their lips, and murmur to each other. Show their emotions, either in action or in narrative. They are the most dynamic tool you have–use it.

Finally, when you have your aim in mind, and the character details to achieve it, all you have to do is word it correctly. Choose words with the right connotations; don’t write about fluffy clouds dotting the blue sky in a noir novel.

So let me extend the invitation: create a mood. And if you feel like it, you’re welcome to participate in our Independence challenge. On November 11, insert eleven owls into your novel. After all, they are pretty cool birds.

Magdalena Owczarek is a Polish ML whose first published book is, in fact, a NaNoWriMo novel. She will sell her soul to Satan for a good plot twist (but it has to be like really good), and the ability to walk in high heels. She hates describing herself in third person.

Top photo from Flickr user NicoTrinkhaus. Kick-off photo and bio photo by Marta Magdalena Lasik.