image: header
Home | About | Contact | Editing Services | Resources | Workshops | Mythic Impact Blog | Sowing Light Seeds

“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Overview Setting: Language: Tone

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

Tone overlaps with voice as we discussed earlier. To be a background influence that impacts setting, the word choices need to be precise giving a clear visual. Strong verbs that can stand on their own without punctuation, such as exclamation marks, help give a solid atmosphere.

Another way that tone can have an insightful influence is when what one character is saying or acting outwardly while at the same time is internally having an opposite or other emotional reaction. It turns the setting upside down.

Take into consideration the age you’re writing for as well. Five year-olds and under can rarely hide their feelings from family members or even want to try. Unless? Perhaps they are in on a surprise for a family member. And trying to keep a secret. There are opportunities for all kinds of humorous misunderstandings all around.

The older the character, and the more intense a situation, though the tone can become a shadow for a mystery, or a personal grief, or a difficult moral decision. The tone needs to be authentic to the character’s perception of the situation even if he is in error.

If the reader is in the dark as well they will connect to the character’s struggle. If the reader knows the facts are different they will still empathize with the heroine’s dilemma and be rooting for her.


Action Steps:

1.     Do an internal dialogue of feelings with a character who is interacting the opposite way externally.

2.     Now do the same with the person to whom they are speaking.

Share: Who would be able to tell what either character is really thinking based on her body language?


Read deep, marcy


No comments:

Post a Comment

 
"The Seeker" Rachel Marks | Content Copyright Marcy Weydemuller | Site by Eagle Designs
image: footer