Help Me? (Stare)

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Stare
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and i will hold you tight / like the moon in the arms of the sky

Help Me? (Stare) Dec 13, 2015 18:16:46 GMT -5

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Post by Stare on Dec 13, 2015 18:16:46 GMT -5

A beautiful post and wonderful example. Well done ^^

Theme and mood really work together to tie together a post. Some writers even go as far as to use a framing device to thoroughly incorporate these elements. A framing device is when an author starts and ends their story (or in this case, post) with the same idea or sentence. For example, I may start a post off with "This was the worst day ever", discuss how disastrous my character's day was and how it gets even worse, and then end it with "Yes, this certainly was the worst day ever". While framing certainly isn't necessary and we won't be focusing on it too much right now, it's a good tool to have if you ever want to use it.

The best way to incorporate mood and theme is to have a clear idea of what they will be ahead of time. Before I start to write a post, I try to think about what it is, exactly, that I'm writing toward. Will my tone be serious or more lighthearted? Do I want to focus on how awkward my character is, or would I rather focus on their past? This helps give everything in the post a sense of uniformity and direction. Not every sentence has to be about the theme or mood, but oftentimes if you keep them in the back of your mind you'll find that writing goes a lot more smoothly.

I also like to try and start off my post with a sentence that relates to the theme or mood. This is my "attention grabber", if you will - I often refer back to it when I'm struggling with the rest of the post, and it helps a lot.

Exercise!

Sometimes, I just can't come up with a theme, so I refer to this resource for a little help. It has 100 unique themes for you to choose from, and a lot of them are broad enough to be applicable to just about any situation.

I want you to choose a theme and write a paragraph from the perspective of any of your characters using it. Again, not every sentence has to tie into it, but keep it in the back of your mind.

Good luck! <333

thompson harvard - d2b - arc
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Help Me? (Stare) Dec 27, 2015 9:37:12 GMT -5

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Post by thompson harvard - d2b - arc on Dec 27, 2015 9:37:12 GMT -5

using the prompt of DEATH with this part of my character, Kristian's bio.

They had grown apart as they grew older slightly, but her direct impact on him never flew away through their small time of separation. During that time, she had been pounded, stomped on, wailed on about her looks and her personality. It seemed that she kept her head high throughout all of it, trying to fight her way through all of the insults that'd be thrown towards her as she walked throughout District Nine. Nobody seemed to have respect for her. He thought this was never going to get to her-- she had been fighting her battle for a long time.

And every moment after it was an actual living hell.

Every intake of breath was one where she wasn't there.

Every time he let it out, he'd be wishing that she would be standing right next to him, making him enjoy every moment he has with her because she had so much energy that it would last decades.

But all of that is broken and stomped into dust by society.

Stare
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and i will hold you tight / like the moon in the arms of the sky

Help Me? (Stare) Jan 12, 2016 22:44:46 GMT -5

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Post by Stare on Jan 12, 2016 22:44:46 GMT -5

Very good, Arc. It was really clear in your writing that you used a specific theme to guide it - well done!

There are a lot of tools you can use to emphasize theme/mood in your writing. As stated earlier, framing is an excellent example (check out this amazing post by chelsey for an example).

Another (perhaps even more powerful) technique is to utilize setting. This can tie directly into your character's thoughts, as we discussed earlier in this thread. The way your character views the things around them affects the mood conveyed by your writing. Think about the first snowfall. To someone in a good, optimistic mood, they would see the snow as beautiful, delicate, and pure. They would probably describe it vividly, emphasizing its pretty appearance and how it "cleanses" the world. But a different person - a homeless person, let's say - would view it with a completely different perspective. They would think of the snow as frigid, colorless, and condemning. They would probably focus on how the snow feels - cold, wet, and numbing. It's the same snow, but the character and perspective changes the mood/theme used while describing it.

Exercise!

I'd like you to write two different paragraphs describing the setting in the picture below. Use two different moods of your choice, though they should be different. Good luck! <333