“No story lives unless someone wants to listen.”
From ecstasy to grumpy, cheery to terrified, writers use mood words to outline the flavour of their story. The choice of mood words is one of the most important components in establishing how a reader feels as they make their way through the pages, and they can also further illustrate some of the central themes and ideas an author wants to convey. But, what exactly do we mean by ‘mood words’? And how do you go about choosing the right mood words for your story? Join us at What We Reading as we run you through everything you need to know about words describing mood with the best examples from across the literary world!
What Is Mood In Literature?
Mood is a device used by writers to convey the emotion of a book or short story. Readers should be able to feel the mood, and the mood across a novel should remain largely the same from chapter to chapter.
Think about the mood of a piece of writing as being the atmosphere of the piece and the overall feeling you get as you’re reading it. This is different from tone, which is an author’s point of view.
Different aspects of a story can impact the mood, ranging from the writer’s attitude and the descriptive word choices of adverbs, adjectives, figurative language and others that convey a feeling in a reader. Like real-life emotions, mood words can be wild in their variety. This is why some books feel warm, comedic and uplifting such as Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, or sombre and melancholy such as A Little Life By Hanya Yanagihara.
Why Are Mood Words Important?
Mood words are vital for both writers and readers. For authors, using positive or negative mood words helps with building the world and setting the scene. For example, the opening lines to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: ‘It was a dark and stormy night’; the use of the adjectives ‘dark’ and ‘stormy’ establishes an ominous, haunting feel.
Emotion words let readers know what they have coming when they pick up a book. Descriptive words help them mentally adjust their state of mind for a story. For example, switching from an otherwise cheery mood to a darker one in a thriller might suggest something serious is about to happen.
10 Mood Words To Describe In Writing
Almost any adjective can be used to describe the mood of a story if an author can make it fit. Here are some of the most popular words to describe mood, with some of the most classic examples:
- Melancholic: The Bell Jar – Sylvia Path: This story captures the intense sadness and depression of its protagonist, Esther Greenwood.
- Whimsical: Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll: A fantastical and playful story filled with eccentric characters and quirky adventures.
- Ominous: 1984 – George Orwell: Orwell’s classic dystopian novel uses mood to create a sense of foreboding and an atmosphere of oppression and surveillance.
- Nostalgic: To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee: Through Scott Finch’s recollections of her childhood in the American South, readers are given a sense of nostalgia.
- Tense: The Girl On The Train – Paula Hawkins: A psychological thriller filled with anxiety and suspense as the story is revealed and told through multiple unreliable narrators.
- Joyful: Anne Of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery: The story evokes a feeling of delight through the adventures and imagination of Anne Shirley.
- Sombre: Night – Elie Wiesel: Wiesel’s experiences in the Holocaust are serious and grave, conveying a sombre mood.
- Romantic: Pride And Prejudice – Jane Austen: A classic romance story that idealistically depicts love, passion and relationships.
- Tranquil: Walden – Henry David Thoreau: Thoreau’s reflections on simple living in the natural world evoke a peaceful and serene mood.
- Eerie: The Haunting Of Hill House – Shirley Jackson: This gothic horror story creates an unsettling atmosphere through its psychological tension and supernatural occurrences.
How To Set A Mood
Now that you’ve got an idea of what mood words are in literature, how do you go about using them in your writing? Here are some of the best elements that help writers set the mood in their stories:
Genre
Starting with an obvious one, but the genre and plot both contribute to the mood of a book. For example, a psychological thriller about something tragic will most likely have a tense and suspenseful mood.
Dictation
Dictation is the words an author chooses to use and plays a huge role in setting the mood of a piece. Different words evoke different feelings in a reader. For example, choosing between ‘a dark and silent night’ and ‘a peaceful and starry night’ separates a gloomy mood and a more calm and tranquil mood.
Setting
A story’s setting is where and when it takes place. As we mentioned with A Wrinkle in Time, the setting is often one of the first things established by a writer and therefore plays a big role in establishing the mood. Just as dark and stormy nights can be used to set up gloomy and scary moods, something like a picnic in the park during the summer can evoke a whimsical and joyful feeling.
Imagery
Like settings, imagery is used by authors to help establish mood using descriptions of items in the world of the story. One of the most popular strategies used by writers is to make use of repetition or detailed descriptions to hammer home what feeling they want to evoke in a reader. For example, a story that mentions a lot of candlelight, roses and boxes of chocolates may be wanting to establish a romantic mood.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
