Mood Magic: How Your Emotions Shape Your Writing (and How to Take Control)

We tend to think of ourselves as having consistent worldviews, opinions, and attitudes, but our mood affects us more than we know. In a research I remember from my days as a psychology student, researchers interviewed people as they came out of movies and asked about their opinions and views. They found that people who had just stepped out of a sad drama had more pessimistic views than those who had just watched a comedy.

And while you could say that perhaps it was the melancholy-inclined ones who went to watch a drama in the first place, while the optimists gravitated towards the comedy, you probably know from your own experience that mood has a great effect on how you feel and act.

But we’re not here to talk about psychological research (though it’s a great topic); we’re here to talk about writing. More specifically, how your mood affects your writing.

A Spell of Sadness

Being in a bad mood can have profound effects on your tone and themes in writing, adding a touch of melancholy to every scene.

This can show itself in pacing that tends to be slower, in conversations that might gravitate towards despair, in descriptions focusing on the dark (whether in nature or people), and even in the actions and decisions of your characters.

This might not be a problem if you’re writing a novel that’s meant to have a dark and gloomy mood, but it might pose a challenge if this sudden gust of autumn wind is changing the overall atmosphere of your book—especially if your story has a positive or adventurous tone.

Another issue with a bad mood is that it might prevent you from writing altogether, lowering your motivation or belief in your work.

Fairy Dust of Positivity

Compared to being sucked into the Swamps of Sadness (anyone here as old and nerdy as me to get the reference?), you might think that being in a good mood could be great for your writing. But riding on a natural (or other) high might pose its own challenges.

Just like a negative mood, a positive mood can also affect the tone of your story, which is not a problem if it’s the intention, but might not work for a drama or a psychological thriller, where goblins and silliness have no place.

Aside from shifting your tone towards the positive and, at times, comical, a good mood can seep into your characters’ actions, causing them to be more reckless, hyper, and romance-inclined, whether the plot calls for it or not.

A good mood might even get you excited about new ideas and shift your focus away from your current work-in-progress, or simply get you too hyped to sit down and write.

No Mood, No Problem

So what is the solution?

While being in a good mood is a great thing, and a little bit of sadness won’t kill you, you don’t want the novel you’re writing to look like a quilt—a patchwork of scenes and characters that constantly change in tone depending on how your day is going. So how do you prevent your mood from dictating your writing or affect it in unwanted ways?

Identify Mood

Just like the “Identify Magic” spell in D&D, you should have an “Identify Mood” spell in your spellbook. It’s the first step in ensuring that your mood doesn’t control your writing, and it does so by helping you become aware of it and acknowledging it.

Identifying your mood is an important practice and could even work as a habit or a ritual to set the mood for writing (see what I did there?). It can be done in the privacy of your mind or while journaling or meditating.

Asking yourself, “How am I feeling right now?” can help you turn your attention inward and become aware of your state of mind. Once you’re aware of it, you can decide whether it suits the atmosphere and tone you want to infuse your writing with or not.

Meditate Like an Elf

The lucky elves in D&D have the ability to reap all the benefits of a full night’s sleep with only four hours of meditation. We might not have this luxury, but we can still utilize meditation to our advantage.

Mediation can help calm your spirits, steady a fast beating heart, ease sadness, and bring more clarity. Whether you’re overexcited or down in the gutters, meditation can help bring a bit more stability and balance into your headspace.

Setting the Mood

A great way of creating a consistent tone for your novel is setting up reminders that help immerse you in your novel’s atmosphere and the mood you’re trying to convey.

One of the strongest mood-setters, and basically a spell on its own, is music.

Music can drag you out of the moment you’re currently living in and into a brand new space.

You can find a track, a song, or a whole mix that align with the atmosphere you want to set your scenes in. Think of this as the soundtrack to your book and immerse yourself in it while writing. This can help you transition from your ordinary life and its uplifting or unpleasant events, and into the world in which your fictional story takes place.

Another way to remind yourself what your book is about is by creating a mood board that represents the themes, atmosphere, and aesthetics of your book. This board can hang on your wall above your workstation, or live as a virtual Pinterest board on your phone or laptop. The idea here is to paint a picture of how your story would look if it were a movie, to help you envision it and shift your mindset.

Conclusion

We might change like the seasons, being happy one day and sad the other, but to ensure that our writing keeps a consistent tone, we need to learn to control our moods.

Any of the techniques described above can help you take the reins and prevent your mood from dictating your writing. Finding the music and visual cues that work for you can help you write more efficiently and stay on theme.

These techniques can easily be combined—the first steps becoming your ritual, stepping into your writing time, and the last serving as  the overtone hovering over you as you write.

The important thing to remember is that your story isn’t at the mercy of your mood. It’s a force you can learn to control, harness, and use to improve your writing.

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