Wednesday's Writer's Tip - #amwriting, Atmosphere, Inspired by How To Write Mysteries

Atmosphere, just what does this mean? Whether you're writing a mystery or some other genre the reader needs to know what to expect when they pick up a book. In mysteries if you're writing a cozy and you start out with words that evoke hard-boiled detective, the reader isn't going to enjoy the book. They'll probably toss it aside and not pick up your stories again. This holds true to other genres.

I judge several contests where unpublished writers are competing for various things. Sometimes I can't be sure just what kind of story they are writing. The opening sentence or paragraph don't reflect where the story is heading. Imagine yourself as the reader of what the opening sentence makes you think you're in today's wrold in a large city, only to discover this is a science fiction story centuries from now or a story that takes place in the past.

The atmosphere of a story doesn't stop after that first sentence but continues to the last one. So when you're revising make sure you look at the words you've written to see if any are out of place. These are the words, phrases and sentences that will jar the reader out of the story you've written and may keep them from reading more of your works.