Remember the black tulips in video one?
They likely evoke within you an emotional experience or image.
I'm referring here to the idea of mood.
Mood refers to both the atmosphere of the story
and the effect of the story on the reader.
Mood is communicated subtly through tools like setting.
Now think about how you felt when you were reading the excerpt from The Road.
Many of you probably felt uneasy, depressed.
Perhaps you felt a sense of bleakness,
but I guarantee that some of you did not.
What's magical about mood is that it exists in that important space
between what a writer puts on the page and how the reader receives it.
Here's an example.
For some reason, my mother and I have seen a lot of Chekov plays together.
Despite the fact that my mother kind of hates Chekov,
every time we see a play,
she emerges super depressed and feeling like life is meaningless.
I, for some reason, feel buoyed.
Maybe it's because I already thought life was meaningless,
so I feel validated or affirmed. Who knows?
The point is, we have seen the same play,
listen to the same words being spoken,
yet the emotional response evoked in each of us is unique,
and that's how it should be.
You cannot control the reader's experience.
You can only do your best to help them experience your vision.