Thursday, July 5, 2012

Thursday Sets Da Mood with Disney Love

I really hate mood. It’s one of those things that I hate my English teachers asking about. Why can't I just say the mood was sad and that be the end of it? Better yet why couldn’t the author set the mood like Sebastian from the Little Mermaid.


“First, we got to create da mood.
Percussion
Strings
Winds
Words”

Now we can't exactly add a music number to a book to set up da mood unless we made a singing book like those greeting cards (which would be amazing for the record).

The key to mood is word choice.

There's a big difference between
It was a dark and stormy night.
and
It rained a lot at night

Choose your words carefully. Just because "it was a dark and stormy night" sounds good doesn't mean it's right for a perfect love scene at the beach or a happy go lucky wedding.

I suggest being in the mood when you write to strength the mood in a scene. It's like trying to write about being sick after being sick. After the fact, we tend to change up the details (why would we want everyone to know about how we puked our guts when we could sugar coat it). If we are sick, we know how full well how crappy it is.

When I'm writing a scary scene, I like listening to the rain. It’s been raining up here in Michigan which is making me so happy since I love rain. Maybe it’s because I’m from Texas where any amount of rain is much needed. Whatever the reason, I love rain. Rain is the perfect way to set the mood for writing.

When the rain starts, I itch to write. I love listening to the pitter patter of rain on my window and the roar of thunder. It’s like my ultimate background music. It get me and my writing in da mood.

Yeah mood is the kinda stuff I hate thinking about for English essays, but it's super important. Not only do you have to get your readers in da mood, but you also should be in da mood yourself.

How do you get in da mood? How do you write mood in your scenes? What's your favorite Disney movie (is it the Little Mermaid with the amazing Sebastian)?

BTW big things are in the future for YaLit Six, so be excited. Be very excited. If y’all want us to talk about anything or you need help/ advice, y’all can contact us on our twitter age (which I am finally learning how to use. YAY!), comment or email us at yalitsix@gmail(dot)com. We wanna hear from y’all.

Happy writing!