Using Characters to Create Mood and Atmosphere in Your Story

Usually, when we talk about setting the mood or atmosphere in a scene, we tend to focus on description and adjectives. However, there is a different way to go about this. You can also use your character's reactions, dialogue, and internal monologue to help you set the mood or atmosphere of a certain setting or scene in your story. I should note that this works very well when used in addition to description and adjectives. That being said, this creates another layer of atmosphere to your storytelling that will ensure that your reader is immersed in the world you have created.
 

What this essentially means is leaning into the character's senses: what they're feeling when they enter a space or a situation. For example, imagine you've just come home after a long day at work. How do you feel entering your space? You probably feel relieved, relaxed, and calm. You feel safe. Now, imagine you come home and there are visible signs of a struggle. Things are thrown on the floor, something is broken, the door has been forced in… Now you probably feel a lot less relaxed and a lot less calm. You will react in a negative way. You will feel fear - perhaps anxiety and nervousness. You may panic. There's an uncertainty related to the situation because you don't know how it happened or who was involved or if they're still there, so you are unsure if the danger is an imminent danger or something that has passed, but you know that something bad has happened in that space.
 

Similarly, if a character enters a situation or a setting or a scene where they notice, through visual or other sensual cues, that something is not quite right or something is very wrong, they will react accordingly. Here is a very simple and probably very relatable example:
 

A character climbs up into the attic. The attic is dark, messy, there's not a lot of light coming in, but there's a lot of junk up there. There might be a lot of spider webs and insects and creepy crawlies, there's a lot of dust, lots of creaky boards, and all of the junk that is piled up in the attic makes shapes that may even look like somebody standing in the corner. These visual cues give the character a reason to react in a certain way.
 

Having the character react to their environment allows a stronger connection between the environment and the character experiencing that environment. Sometimes we forget that not only do we need the character to connect with the reader and the reader to connect with the environment, but we also need the character to connect to the environment.
 

 

Here's another example: a character is exploring a network of tunnels. Now, obviously, there is already the visual cue: a tunnel is a very dark, small space, so it's a little bit claustrophobic, and in addition to that, perhaps there is a bad smell or some kind of sound happening in the background. As the character is walking through the tunnel, he suddenly hears a loud growl or a low rumble. It's not near the character but it's somewhere in the vicinity, and now they're concerned. This character would have feelings of anxiety, of uncertainty, and might have these thoughts: Is that coming from in front of him or behind him? Which direction should he move? He should get away from it. How can he make sure that he will be safe? That it hasn't already found him? …and so on and so forth.
 

So, we can represent the character's connection to the environment through their reactions to their environment, especially reactions to sensual cues - things that they see, things that they hear, things that they smell or touch or feel. All of these are important to our character's perception of the environment that they are in, and since the reader is seeing the story through the character’s perspective, it is important for you to include that information so that the reader can have the entirety of the experience of being in a particular environment or situation.
 

But what about characters whose perspectives are not included in the storytelling? So, what if you have a secondary character or another character that happens to be with your character (the one whose perspective the reader is reading), and that character is also potentially experiencing the same reaction to the environment? How can that character show the reader that there is something wrong with this environment? There are some very easy ways to do this:
 

The character can have certain facial expressions. They can behave in certain ways. They can say things that reveal to the reader that they are nervous or unsettled. Something as simple as suggesting that they leave that area and come back another time could reveal to the reader that this is not a place that these characters want to be in.
 

The reason that it is so important to include character reactions to environments and situations is because, as humans we have had this experience of being in a situation where it just feels wrong. There are obvious cues and hints such as what we've already looked at, but there are also sensations that we can have that tell us you shouldn't be here, and sometimes these are subconscious messages that our minds are giving us. There is not always an evident and discernible reason why we feel the way that we feel. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is any danger or threat where we are, but there can be different kinds of discomfort that a character or a person can feel when they're in a certain setting.
 

For example, if you walk into somebody's bedroom - their private space - and they're not there, there's a very strong feeling that can come over you that tells you you should not be there. You need to leave. Sometimes, this is just a result of the way we were taught and the way we grew up: it is inappropriate to be in somebody's personal space without them (or to snoop around it much less).
 

But sometimes, such as in the case of liminal spaces, there is something off about what seems to be a particularly normal space. For example, if you're at school in the late evening and nobody is there, it feels strange; it doesn't feel like you should be there, and that can give you a sense of unease, dread, perhaps even flat out fear.
 

So when you are trying to create mood and atmosphere in a certain scene setting or situation, you need to make sure your character is reacting to their environment in order to really bring home the feeling or mood that you want to give your reader. And that's not necessarily only limited to fear or unease! This is important to do also in areas that give your character a pleasant feeling, or a feeling of safety, or whatever it is that you are trying to convey as a mood.
 

Give this a go and let me know if it has helped you build your mood building in your story.