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Remember the black tulips in video one?
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They likely evoke within you
an emotional experience or image.
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I'm referring here to the idea of mood.
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Mood refers
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
through tools like setting.
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Now think about how you felt when you were
reading the excerpt from The Road.
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Many of you probably felt
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
is that it exists in that important space
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between what a writer puts on the page
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
a lot of Chekov plays together.
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Despite the fact that my mother
kind of hates Chekov,
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every time we see a play,
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she emerges super depressed
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
thought life was meaningless,
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so I feel validated or affirmed.
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
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
the reader's experience.
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You can only do your best
to help them experience your vision.
