Six Ways to Establish an Electric Atmosphere in Your Story

The atmosphere is the mood or tone of the story.  It should draw the reader into the story.  It should enable the reader to imagine the world the writer is creating.  It sets up the expectations for the story.

A novel like Harry Potter is suspenseful and whimsical.  Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities is bleak.  Alice in Wonderland, on the other hand, is both sensible and nonsensical according to blogger Angela Gentry (http://study.com/academy/lesson/atmosphere-in-literature-definition-examples-quiz.html).

How do you, as an author, establish atmosphere?  Here are six ways:

1.  Set the mood for the story through an object, according to Angela Gentry.  She gives the example of a Terry Tempest Williams story in which a piece of fruit helps to set a dangerous tone.

"We smother the avocado with salsa hot chiles at noon in the desert.  We look at each other and smile, eating avocados with sharp silver blades, risking the blood of our tongues repeatedly."

2.  Establish atmosphere through setting.  Angela Gentry quotes the book A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

"It was a dark and stormy night.  In her attic bedroom, Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind."

3.  Description is also a tool you can employ to establish setting.  Use powerful adjectives and adverbs, suggests Esther Newton (http://www.writersbureau.com/e-zee-writer/august-2012/page3.htm).  She gives the example of a hotel.

"She eagerly hurried inside, her eyes soaking up the sumptuous sofas, gleaming floors and dazzling chandelier taking centre stage."

The reader imagines businessmen in suits and women in elegant dresses walking the halls of such a hotel.  Ms. Newton puts forward a second description which creates a very different atmosphere:

"She gingerly stepped inside, her eyes widening at the sagging sofas, the filthy floor and dull flickering lights."

The reader imagines a very different clientele at the second hotel.

When describing your scene, don't neglect all five senses.  Authors tend to centre on sight and sound, sometimes glossing over smell, touch and taste.

4.  Use weather to establish the atmosphere of your story.  Contrast a "cornflower blue sky with a bright sun" to a "grey sky with menacing clouds charging across it".

5.  Use the time of day to establish the mood.  If you are penning a ghost story, make it at night to darken the tale.  The season is also important.  If your story is about hope, make it in the spring, the season of renewal and rebirth.  O'Henry's The Gift of the Magi is set during the Christmas season, for obvious reasons.

"The Magi, as you know were wise men -- wonderfully wise men -- who brought gifts to the babe in the manger.  They invented the art of giving Christmas presents."

6.  Don't forget point of view.  Ms. Newton recommends the first person which enables the reader to feel like he is part of the story.  However, third person allows the reader to see the situation from the viewpoint of more than one character.

"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived." (To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee)

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Eights Steps to Becoming a $100,000 a Year Freelance Writer

"But if you want to consistently make $100,000 a year as a freelance writer, you need to avoid the poverty mentality that holds so many writers back from earning a high income.  A doorman in New York City earns around $30,000 annually.  If an unskilled laborer can make $30,000 just for opening a door, surely you can earn $50,000 to 100,000 for your skills." (Michelle Ruberg)

So, you want to make a living at freelance writing.  Is it possible?  Or will you just be another starving artist trying to make ends meet?  According to Michelle Ruberg, author of the Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Articles, it is possible.  You first have to distinguish the act of writing from the business of writing.  Robert Bly decided to become a freelance writer in 1982.  For the first two years, he struggled, but he kept tapping away at his typewriter.  By the third year, he was raking in $100,000 a year and he's never looked back,  Read about his experience in his book Getting Started as a Freelance Writer.

Here are Michelle Ruberg's eight steps to follow to become a lucrative freelance writer:

1.  Get serious about money

As Michelle Ruberg states:  "But if you want to consistently make $100,000 a year as a freelance writer, you need to avoid the poverty mentality that holds so many writers back from earning a high income.  A doorman in New York City earns around $30,000 annually.  If an unskilled laborer can make $30,000 just for opening a door, surely you can earn $50,000 to $100,000 for your skills." 

2.  Set daily revenue goals

Imagine you set a goal of $100,000 per year.  That's $2000 per week or $400 per day (for a 5-day week).  Keep in mind that some days you will be sending out query letters or participating in self-promotion.  However, on average you should be earning $400 per day.

3.  Value your time

Time is money.  Make a timeline.  Figure out how much you will be paid per hour rather than per word or per assignment.  Keeping in mind the $400 per day figure, aim to make $50 per hour.  Remember that you get paid to write, research and interview.  If you can find someone to do the other tasks better and for a cheaper fee, do it.  Time is precious; it's a non-renewable resource.

4.  Be more productive

Rise an hour early to work uninterrupted.  Nancy Flynn, author of The $100,000 Writer (http://www.amazon.com/The-100-Writer-Nancy-Flynn/dp/1580622658), avoids meetings and uses the telephone or e-mail instead.

5.  Nix Writer's Block

Write daily to ensure a constant flow.  If you do encounter writer's block, make sure you have many projects about various subjects on the go.  If you're stuck on a headline, set it aside to work on another article.  If all else fails, go for a walk to clear the cobwebs from your head.

6.  Get Paid More

Don't haggle over nickels and dimes.  Rather than asking for a five cent a word pay raise, target the high paying magazines to start with.  It will be much easier to meet your $400 per day quota if you are paid $2000 per assignment rather than $200 per assignment.

7.  Create a demand

Try to remain busy most of the time.  The way to do this is to specialize.  For example, write about subjects like gardening, waste water management or investment.  Specialize in format by writing only how to articles, children's articles or online venues.  The more in demand you are, the more money you will earn.  If your demand exceeds your supply, you will eventually be able to pick and choose your assignments.

8.  Get repeat business

When you get repeat assignments you become familiar with your client and organization.  A working relationship develops which saves both you and your client time.  Michelle Ruberg recommends three tips towards achieving this goal:  give each job your best effort; provide excellent customer service; and ask the editor for another assignment (ask and you shall receive).

Above all, believe that you can do it!

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When an Editor Wants a Rewrite

"Editors are frantically busy -- single-working-mother-with-eight-kids busy -- they don't have time to make every piece into exactly what they want it to be.  By delivering a rewrite and otherwise leaving the editor alone, you turn your editor's time poverty to your advantage."  (http://www.helpingwriters.com/newsletter-archives/when-an-editor-wants-a-rewrite)

When an editor requests a rewrite of an article, it's usually a minor rewrite, where the bulk of the piece can be saved.  While it's frustrating to have to rewrite your work, keep in mind that an editor is trying to anticipate the needs of the magazine.  It doesn't necessarily mean that your writing is poor; it might just mean that you and the editor are coming at the piece from a different angle.

Keep in mind what Online Health editor Kathleen Donnelly advises:  "Writers who are intractable and fight with us probably won't get another assignment".  Unless you are Pierre Berton, who flew in the face of editors, you have to have at least some respect for the process.

What steps should you take to rewrite your article?  Michelle Ruberg suggests these steps.  First, re-read your query to see what you promised the editor.  Second, re-read your assignment to see what the editor requested of you.  Third, re-read your article and look for the following.  Did you do one of the following?

-overshoot/undershoot your word count?

-write news that already appears elsewhere in the newspaper or magazine?

-cite too few sources?

-conduct garbage in/garbage out interviews?

-write a piece that is too close to what the competition is publishing?

-come at the article from the wrong angle?

-under/overwrite the piece for the target audience?

-use too many qualifiers, digressions or prepositional phrases?

-use too many quotes regarding a point already made?

What happens if you rewrite the piece and the editor still doesn't like it?  Michelle Ruberg recommends asking the editor to rework one of your paragraphs.  You follow the model for the other paragraphs.  Use the three P's:  patience, persistence and adherence to procedure.  Don't focus just on the structure of the writing.  Brian Smith of Indianapolis Monthly warns:  "Some writers worry so much about getting individual facts straight that they don't hear the flow and what it does to the cadence of the story."

Michelle Ruberg says that any extra calls or extra trips on behalf of the magazine should be compensated.  Request to see the galley of your piece before it goes to print.  That way you're not attaching your name to something that you don't agree with.  Stop at three rewrites.  Enough is enough!

Blogger Scott Edelstein recommends that you don't mindlessly follow the editor's suggestions. Make changes that seem reasonable, but at the same time, do what's best for the piece.  "Editors are frantically busy -- single-working-mother-with-eight-kids busy -- they don't have time to make every piece exactly what they want it to be.  By delivering a rewrite and otherwise leaving the editor alone, you turn your editor's time poverty to your advantage." 

Note:  For more information, read Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing (Michelle Ruberg).

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Manage Your Time Well

"Time slips through our hands like grains of sand, never to return again.  Those who use time wisely are rewarded with rich, productive, satisfying lives." (Robin Sharma)

When I was a child and a young adult, I used to arrive early for everything.  I was so well organized that I was rarely late for anything.  However, once I had children, my life became busier.  Now I find myself arriving on time or even a few minutes late.  I try to pack too much into my day.  If you are like me, here are some tips to help you manage your time well.  

1.  Make a to do list for the day, week, month.  Prioritize your tasks from most to least important/urgent.  

2.  Balance urgent tasks with tasks that can be done gradually in your daily routine.

3.  Focus on your most productive time of the day.  

4.  Manage your time in increments of 15, 30 or 45 minutes each.  

5.  Periodically (ideally every 45 minutes) take a break to refresh your mind and re-energize your body.

6.  Keep track of your progress.

7.  Reassess your to do list.  Add or take away tasks.  Delegate tasks.

8.  Leave time for fun to refresh your mind and relax your body.

9.  Sleep 7 to 9 hours per night to give you optimum alertness and energy.

10.  Don't spread yourself too thin.j

11.  Take advantage of small gaps of time between larger tasks to accomplish something.  A few minutes here and there adds up to a big chunk of time.  Note:  When I first took part in Nanowrimo, writing a 50,000 novel in a month, I realized that I had to do this in order to meet my daily word count. It worked wonders!

12.  Complete each task from beginning to end.  Set "way points" where you reward yourself with something small once you have completed a big chunk of the task.  

13.  Give yourself a Planning Retreat where you spend a day planning your goals for the year.  Visit http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/your-retreat-ebook?ap_id=sheilagregoire for more ideas.  

For more tips on time management, visit http://www.wikihow.com/Manage-Your-Time.  

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