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Remember the black tulips in video one?

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They likely evoke within you[br]an emotional experience or image.

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I'm referring here to the idea of mood.

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Mood refers[br]to both the atmosphere of the story

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and the effect of the story on the reader.

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Mood is communicated subtly[br]through tools like setting.

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Now think about how you felt when you were[br]reading the excerpt from The Road.

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Many of you probably felt[br]uneasy, depressed.

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Perhaps you felt a sense of bleakness,

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but I guarantee that some of you did not.

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What's magical about mood[br]is that it exists in that important space

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between what a writer puts on the page[br]and how the reader receives it.

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Here's an example.

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For some reason, my mother and I have seen[br]a lot of Chekov plays together.

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Despite the fact that my mother[br]kind of hates Chekov,

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every time we see a play,

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she emerges super depressed[br]and feeling like life is meaningless.

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I, for some reason, feel buoyed.

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Maybe it's because I already [br]thought life was meaningless,

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so I feel validated or affirmed.[br]Who knows?

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The point is, we have seen the same play,

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listen to the same words being spoken,

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yet the emotional response[br]evoked in each of us is unique,

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and that's how it should be.

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You cannot control[br]the reader's experience.

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You can only do your best[br]to help them experience your vision.