We met our friends, Denise and Mike in the dog-friendly city of Carmel, California. They brought their dogs, Amber Joy and Scooter T. Rocketboy. At the beach, yorkshire terrier Amber actually grinned as she romped, kicking up sand and flying, wind whipping her ears and fur.
With childlike wonder, she seemed to ask, “What IS this stuff under my paws?” She’d look back at us once in awhile, as if to say, “This place is SO much fun!”
A mild-mannered havanese, Scooter took the experience in stride, following Amber, but staying closer to Mom Denise, for protection from this unusual setting.
It reminds me we need to write with Amber’s mood if we want our readers to experience that elation. Need your readers to experience a character’s frustration? Sadness? Fear? Your word choices and details will transport them into the scene.
How?
Slow down the moments with sensory details and reactions. Choose words which show the mood.
Writing Prompts:
- Create a scene at various settings: the beach, a forest, your backyard. Write a detail for every sense you experience. Show, through dialogue, thoughts, and actions, how your character feels in the setting.
- Change the feeling in the scenes above. If the scene in the backyard shows you’re ecstatic, write a new one with details which show fear. Your choice of details and descriptions will change with this mood you convey.
- You’ve just met a Martian who is new to our planet. Have the Martian experience objects and people in a setting. How can he/she misinterpret ideas? Show the character’s ignorance and perhaps create humor? Show how his world is different from ours?
