How to Set the Mood

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The Shining by Stephen King is recognised as one of the best horror stories of all time. A family stranded in a hotel during winter, and the curious and unexplainable situations they encounter. But what makes The Shining so scary? Is it just the events within the story, or does the writing have something to do with it? The mood of the story plays a large part, so I decided to analyse how writers can set the mood.

What is mood?

The mood is the feeling evoked in the reader. It’s sometimes referred to as the atmosphere that the writer creates, but it’s the readers’ interpretation of the atmosphere that determines the mood.

Every piece of writing has a mood. There’s usually one overarching mood, but every scene within a story could potentially have a different mood. The mood can increase or decrease in intensity. It can also change suddenly or gradually. It can be used to control pacing, differentiate character viewpoints or time-jumps, or clearly separate scenes that might otherwise be jarring.

What does mood do?

Mood helps readers engage with writing. It inspires empathy between the reader and the characters. It heightens tension because readers care what happens to the characters.

Readers are more likely to remember stories because of the emotions they felt while reading than the events in the story. The Shining goes from tense, cautious and suspicious to chilling, perplexing and horrifying. The reader may not remember all plot points, but they remember why the novel is part of the horror genre.

Mood also conveys genre. Certain genres are expected to have specific moods. A romance is hopeful, a murder mystery is suspenseful, and a comedy is humorous. Certain themes or subject matter also have moods; death is sad, marriage is celebratory, and getting fired is distressing. Subverting these expected moods can surprise readers and make the story more unique.

How do you set the mood?

Every reader brings their own experiences and connotations to a story. As such, writers never have complete control over a story’s mood. They can, however, still use certain storytelling elements, such as setting, description, point of view, sentence structure, word choice, tone and dialogue, to aid their effort.

Setting

Setting can be used to establish mood at the start of a scene, or to highlight changes in mood during a scene. How do characters interact with the setting? How comfortable are they? Setting includes description of weather, senses, the character’s sense of safety, and can often help develop foreshadowing.

An overturned chair. A broken window with snow swirling in; already it had frosted the edge of the rug. The drapes had been pulled free and hung on their broken rod at an angle. A low cabinet lying on its face.
The Shining, Stephen King, p35

This scene is full of foreshadowing. Danny has a vision of a place with an overturned chair, broken window, fallen drapes and a knocked over cabinet. This is not how the objects usually are, which makes us cautious and suspicious.

Wendy sat down on Danny’s other side and the three of them sat on the end of the dock in the afternoon sun.
The Shining, Stephen King, p497

In contrast to the previous example, picturing the characters sitting on a dock in the afternoon sun is calming. We might associate the afternoon with relaxing after work, and the sun represents happiness and warmth.

Description

Imagery, metaphors and similes can be used to set the mood. Certain details can be emphasised through repetition or the amount of description. ‘Show, don’t tell’ applies here, especially when it comes to conveying characters’ emotions and building empathy between them and the reader.

He was clad in Doctor Denton pyjamas, but between the Pyjama suit and his skin he had grown a more closely fitting singlet of perspiration.
The Shining, Stephen King, p60

The image of the singlet of sweat is vivid and immediately lets us know that Danny is uncomfortable and stressed. We’re not told this explicitly, but it’s an assumption we can make because of the accompanying mood.

The face in front of him changed. It was hard to say how; there was no melting or merging of the features. The body trembled slightly, and then the bloody hands opened like broken claws. The mallet fell from them and thumped to the rug.
The Shining, Stephen King, p475

This description creates a dark and menacing mood. It’s much more engaging than stating the action – for example, ‘He dropped the mallet’. This holds none of the evocative imagery that accompanies ‘bloody hands’ and ‘broken claws’.

Point of view

The point of view – first, second or third person – can distance or connect the reader to the characters. The tense – past, present or future – can also change immediacy.

‘I went in,’ he said. ‘I stole the passkey and went in. It was like I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. And she . . . the lady . . . was in the tub. She was dead. All swelled up. She was nuh-nuh . . . didn’t have clothes on.’ He looked miserably at his mother. ‘And she started to get up and she wanted me. I know she did because I could feel it. She wasn’t even thinking, not the way you and Daddy think. It was black . . . it was hurt-think . . . like . . . like the wasps that night in my room! Only wanting to hurt. Like the wasps.’
The Shining, Stephen King, p273

The Shining is told in third person omniscient, with the point of view moving between characters. In this quote Danny is confused, disoriented and terrified. The reader knows what he saw, but doesn’t know how he escaped the situation. Not knowing this creates a tense mood, which is exacerbated by Danny’s stuttering. The reader can empathise with Danny’s parents, who are trying to get information out of him without pressuring or making the situation worse.

Sentence structure

Long sentences slow pacing and are contemplative. Short sentences increase pacing and urgency. The use of grammar and punctuation also affects sentence structure – dashes add importance and drama; lots of commas add an element of breathlessness; and continuous and’s make the character seem to be rambling. Reading sentences out loud can help determine their delivery; there’s a rhythm that fluctuates between staccato notes and long drawn out passages.

More hollow booming noises, steady, rhythmic, horrible. Smashing glass. Approaching destruction. A hoarse voice, the voice of a madman, made the more terrible by its familiarity.
The Shining, Stephen King, p35

The multitude of commas and full-stops in this quote is jarring. It’s also daunting, with a ‘fee, fi, fo, fum’ connotation that suggests a chase scene or horrifying wait for someone to be found and punished.

From inside, he seemed to hear an odd wet thumping sound, far off, dim, as if something had just scrambled belatedly out of the tub, as if to greet a caller, as if it had realised the caller was leaving before the social amenities had been completed and so now it was now rushing to the door, all purple and grinning, to invite the caller back inside.
The Shining, Stephen King, p279

Jack is stuck in his head; he’s terrified and his lack of control is emphasised by the long sentence – yes, the entire quote is all one sentence. Jack doesn’t have time to process his thoughts or what he saw, and he’s panicking, letting his imagination lead his astray.

Word choice

Words carry connotations, and there are certain adjectives that relate to some moods more than others; consider cackle and giggle; walk and tiptoe; bawled and cried. Some words also have a harsher pronunciation. For example, sh’s can seem harsh, as can p’s and t’s, because of their diction.

It shrieked; it shrieked but now it was voiceless and it was only screaming panic and doom and damnation in its own ear, dissolving, losing thought and will, the webbing falling apart, searching, not finding, going out, going out to, fleeing, going out to emptiness, notness, crumbling.
The Shining, Stephen King, p483

There’s a lot of repetition in this quote. A lot of sh’s, less’s, and ing’s. There’s an element of nonsensicalness – just words spewing forth, which reflects the entity erupting from the hotel. What’s happening doesn’t make sense, but we know it’s bad and feel the same terror as the characters because of word choices like ‘shrieked’, ‘screaming’, ‘panic’, ‘doom’, ‘damnation’, and ‘crumbling’.

Tone

Tone conveys the author or character’s attitude towards events, people or situations in the story. What’s the character’s reaction to the atmosphere? What do they think of the other characters? Do they view the world through rose-coloured glasses? Is their internal monologue rude? Do they think a lot more than they say?

How many times, over how many years, had he – a grown man – asked for the mercy of another chance? He was suddenly so sick of himself, so revolted, that he could have groaned aloud.
The Shining, Stephen King, p202

In this quote, Jack is very self-deprecating. The reader is inside his head feeling this with him. He’s contemplating past failures and placing blame on himself. He is ‘revolted’ by himself. Depending on the reader, this quote could set a mood of pity, disgust, worry etc.

Dialogue

Dialogue is useful for sharing characters’ feelings. What they say, how they say it, and how they interact can set the mood. Are characters teaming up against each other, accusing one another, or rallying together in support? Are they shouting to be heard above a loud environment, or whispering so they’re not heard? Banter is usually light-hearted, lifting the mood and bringing a moment of levity in serious situations. Whereas short, clipped statements and information-heavy discussion can make the mood seem tense.

‘What about the playground?’ Jack asked in a strange, casual voice.

‘I don’t know. The playground, he said. And the hedge animals.’

Jack jumped a little, and Wendy looked at him curiously.

‘Have you seen anything down there, Jack?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Nothing.’

Dandy was looking at him.

‘Nothing,’ he said again, more calmly.
The Shining, Stephen King, p272

The reader doesn’t need a lot of description here to be suspicious. If someone answers a question with ‘nothing’, it’s usually not nothing. It doesn’t help Jack’s case that he had a ‘strange, casual voice’, ‘jumped a little’, and had to respond a second time, ‘more calmly’.

Reflection on how I set the mood

Mood is incredibly important in storytelling to really bring the story and characters to life. I particularly like creating vivid imagery, teasing the reader’s imagination, and working with sentence structure. I appreciate how grammar can affect sentence structure, and how pacing affects immediacy. Practising writing mood has also taught me restraint. King’s writing is not overly flowery, yet we still get a clear sense of the atmosphere and continue reading because the mood is gripping.