How to Write When You’re Not in the Mood (3 Simple Steps)

Apr 7
3 min read

Your mood has a significant impact on your writing (shocking, I know). Feeling sad can draw you to describe gloomy days and dramatic conversations, while exciting events can make you feel pumped and act as fuel for more dynamic, fast-paced, or romantic writing (or make the dragon your heroes encounter in the cave suddenly start singing like a Disney princess).

But while it can help, mood can also be a significant hindrance , and potentially prevent you from writing altogether. While some people turn sadness into writing fuel, others find that it depletes their energy, preventing them from writing at all. And if some can write when they’re feeling uplifted, others feel too distracted or engaged to even want to write.

If your mood affects whether you write at all, consistency becomes almost impossible. What’s more, your mood can affect how you write, making it difficult to maintain a consistent tone, pace, or character behaviors and motivations.

The good news is that it is possible to control your mood so it doesn’t affect your writing. Here’s how.

Step One: Identify Your 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, not just for writing. 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.

Step Two: Reset Your Mood

Meditation can be an amazing stabilizer for your mood. Whether you’re doing it by sitting down with your eyes closed, while walking, or through a mind-relieving activity (like coloring books).

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.

Step Three: Create the Right Mood For Writing

A great way to create a consistent tone for your novel is to set 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 aligns 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 current mood into the world in which your fictional story takes place.

Another way to get into the mood that suits your book is by creating a mood board that represents the themes, atmosphere, and aesthetics of the story you’re writing. 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, feel it, and set the right mood for writing it.

Final Thoughts

While our moods and feelings can fuel our writing, we don’t always want to be at their mercy. Learning to control your mood and set the right one to write consistently can help you not only with building a writing habit but also ensure your tone, style, and characters are consistent.

To help you take charge of your mood and tune it to the story you’re writing, you’ll need to: