Dear Authors: Write Your Atmosphere
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Atmosphere is one of the things authors seem to struggle most in crafting their stories. It is one of those elements in immersing a reader in your story that seems to require almost an X factor. Here I explore what makes a great atmosphere.
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What books atmosphere grabbed you the most?
Gentleman bastards series
Probably mistborn? first sanderson books i read so I have a bit of a soft spot though
Lotr,
Branden sanderson books and gentleman bastards series
Elantris
You’re not procrastinating, you’re building tension!
Daniel: "I'm very good at procrastinating"
Also Daniel: *Posts a video every day*
I think characters are the most important part of building an atmosphere. It sounds strange but I know a book is good when I start imagining conversations between characters when I’m just doing chores or whatever. You can have the best world ever but if the people living in it don’t feel distinct and interesting it doesn’t matter.
Language is a really big thing for me. I’m halfway through Red seas under red skies right now, and one of the things that really stand out to me in his atmosphere (other than what you pointed out) is how not only his characters are dirty and yet funny, his descriptions are as well.
I’m one of those people that gets bored by description very easily, but with scott lynch I find myself enjoying so much. It feels like the world is speaking to me. Not only the characters
In my experience, one major contribution to atmosphere is word choice. Knowing what kind of atmosphere you want to establish and selecting words that connote that atmosphere can make all the difference. One book that did atmosphere really well was "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Philip K. Dick did a fantastic job of creating a world that feels empty, dreary, dirty, and hopeless. It's definitely a book I recommend.
As a ... beginning hobby-author, I try to put meaning in small things.
Have a character notice something small, like a gray hair in someone's beard, or the smell of a river while inside a building, and without too many adjectives or a 2-paragraph exposition, use it to show something about the character's current emotional state.
One of the decisions you have to make when you are writing is how much you devote to characters and how much to world building. ASoIaF for example Martin was not trying to tell the story of any character especially, it is about the story of his world itself.
@@notchbeard9007 would slightly disagree because whilst he does not have any one main character, nearly all of his pov character are spectacularly realised
@@alpha1solace slowly and painfully.
The character's way of thinking being shaped by the world they live in and consistency in descriptions make an atmosphere feel real for me.
One of the aspects of the “Master and Commander” series I enjoyed most was “atmosphere,” especially but not exclusively aboard the ships.
Aw hell yeah! That's one of my favorite series ever!
I feel like Scott Lynch owes you and Murphy a little something for all the free advertising you give his books. ❤️ I love how much you folks love his work. Reader passion is beautiful ❤️
What immerses viewers into your story is how it weaves together the characters and world. They don't exist as two separate entities that infrequently interact, the interaction never stops.
In my opinion atmosphere isn`t about the world or even the story itself, but about the emotional colour of the story. Thats why I agree to you that horror and lovestorys have it easier because they have a rather clearly defined emotional beat while other storys mix emotions to a composition which can go horribly wrong.
me: How do you describe the undescribable
DG: hold my cat
No idea if I'm doing it right, but, in the mentality of writing things you'd like to read, I typically try to create atmosphere by writing in the "cinematography" you mentioned. As perspective shifts and the scene unfolds, it impacts how the reader absorbs what's taking place. I try not to over-utilize the technique, but I tend to enjoy starting with an action and peeling back the backdrop from there, with even the order of elements introduced furthering the tone of the scene and how it builds on all those that came before. Again, this is just me basically going off of what "feels" right, but hopefully it at least adds something to the discussion.
I loved the Wheel of Time atmosphere. Jordan built an epic world and put me into it. I think it's a combination of
1) setting the tone of the world from our protagonist's perspective,
2) showing characters interact with the world consistently, and
3) writing that puts me in the head of the character.
I find visualizing my writing and giving it a color palate and directorial style in my head helps me nail down just what my atmosphere ought to be. Actually writing it is much more complicated of course, but I find that a good first step.
@Daniel Greene. Great video. Not enough people address this. For me, atmosphere is when theme, setting, and character are all in alignment with the story being conveyed. There's millions of aspects to my made-up worlds, but I'm only going to focus the reader on the things that are pertinent to the characters and how they think and feel, which informs the theme and builds an atmosphere. I think atmosphere can be clearly illustrated by real-world major cities, like LA and SF for example. Both in California, both liberal, both ethnically diverse. But both with vastly different atmospheres. Atmosphere seems to be an overlapping venn diagram consisting of culture, characters, geographical setting, resources, and core values.
Elantris was book #6 for Brandon and he wrote 13 books before it was even published. That's right folks. The greatest fantasy author of our time wrote 13 books before he was published. Let that sink in.
He said they were really long epic ish books too
I believe that atmosphere is a bit subjective and it is sometimes based on your perception and your feelings for the book. For instance, KKC was the first fantasy series that I read and it has a special place in me; that is why I love it's atmosphere, it takes me back to good memories.
Amazing video as always. Dear author series helps me a lot with my own books actually, so thank you!
By the way, you got me hyped about the second character tournament when you first mentioned it, like 9 F'ing months ago... :D still hyped though. Please tell me it's coming soon!
I have to agree with this, it is why I hold WoT so near and dear to my heart.
I love these Dear-Authors video.
I agree with your opinion on LOTR. In my opinion, there isn't that much of an atmosphere.
But in my opinion, the Kingkiller Chronicles have a great atmosphere. It's something I really like about these books.
I think it's hard to say what 'makes' an atmosphere. I believe, for me, it's mainly the interactions the characters have with the world. Though the worldbuilding also plays a big part.
@Jack Heir
Of course, the worldbuilding in LOTR is amazing. But I didn't think there was that much atmosphere. Remember, this is just my opinion. I can see why other people might thing there is a great atmosphere.
I think of atmosphere as a crossroads where character development meets plot or emotional content. World building just helps the series and strengthens the plot.
I loved KKC's atmosphere... perhaps my favorite one
Same. The way you learn about Lanre for example or Iax, that thick atmosphere, the frame story's atmosphere, the faen realm with kvothe and felurian speaking in verse builds an incredible atmosphere! Could go on for ages
Senses are the primary tool to write atmosphere... then characters... and environment (the two can be linked). Finally, the author’s prose will help, word choices, etc...
For me, it's the subtle world building. Having a gritty, lived in world. I love it when a story really feels like it's been kicked around.
The atmosphere of hope and the themes about ones ability to change are what make me love Brandon Sanderson’s works. That’s something you don’t see in books that lean into the more depressing grimdark. Sanderson said at one point that he tried to write two novels similar to the style of George R R Martin, but they flopped because it wasn’t his voice. So Sanderson’s voice of hope is what makes his books what they are and what makes me love them.
Hey,
In my opinion it helps to build atmosphere if the author tells short storys aside to the main story.
As an example I think about Neil Gaimans American Gods and the "somewhere in America " storys in which he describes how the gods, shadow is interacting with in the main story, arrived in America or how they live in their daily life.
I think in this way the world feels more alive.
Things which destroy the atmosphere are: plotholes, "plotarmor" (when it feels like the main character just survives because he is needed for the following story ), incomprehensibly character decisions and most importantly: what kind of words the characters are using.
The story is in the medieval: they don't talk like we do today.
The boy grew up on the streets : he doesn't talk like the price etc. .
I know its pretty obvious but I think you should keep this in mind when you write your story.
Good luck by the way, I would like to read it when you are done :D
To anyone who reads this text: if want to correct the grammar you are welcome
I always feel depth and investment of characters helps a lot with the overall atmosphere, and genuinely love to be immersed in that sort of sense. I also love a strong buildup of tension and I feel a lot of good horror stories manage to utilize this to an extent, it really helps set a haunting atmosphere I love to feel connected to. I also love your use of "Logan" in your thumbnail, if anything knows how to pull of atmosphere it's definitely that film!
Hey Daniel! Atmosphere works for me when I find descriptions that approach telling environments in a new way; a way that triggers a memory of something I've experienced or felt while also making me see it through a new lens. Ive never been to Venice and I've never been on a gondola but Lynch describes all these experiences in such an accessible way that it's reached a lot of people's personal experiences to service the story's atmosphere.
An important part of building atmosphere is consistency. ASOIAF builds a gritty, dark atmosphere because that is what the world is. In Gentlemen Bastards the atmosphere is build through its consistency in the world’s general horribleness. To build atmosphere you can’t have the character’s be inherently good or bad, then have them go against that.
I think something very important to
creating an atmosphere is establishing early on what the worst thing that could happen to your favorite characters is. Is it being to death or getting dumped?
A simple way of conveying this is buy revealing or hinting at the worst thing that ever happened to the main character.
I know this one is an older video, but the question is so interesting that I just have to comment. For me, as a writer and a reader, atmosphere is mostly the words. Not what the words convey, but the words themselves. Sentence structure, word choice, use of punctuation, verb tense, rhythm (and sometimes rhyme) of words: all of these things make an atmosphere for me. It’s why I love writing short stories or in shorter “chunks”: I can focus more of my attention on these things.
I totally agree with you on this. Atmosphere is one of the most powerful weapon for writers. Most of the times it's one the things that i remember best from a piece of work
I think dialogue and imagery are the biggest factors. Been reading the witcher series and riding around in Geralt’s head definitely gives u a certain feeling...
What immerses me the most is how an author describes the various elements of the story and uses that against conveying emotion/though.
For some - the curl of the smoke from a cigarette and the how the dirt under fingers nails of the guy holding it makes him self conscious of his new surroundings - does more than saying it was a very clean, posh area that he isn’t used to. (Insert better adjectives)
It is equal parts what is said and what is implied that creates and connection for the reader.
I hope that makes sense because it’s hard for me to describe.
Also, a close 2nd is world building. I’ll forgive a lot for good world building.
I create Atmosphere by thinking about what feeling certain words and phrases give me. Writing is at the end of the day just words on a page. If certain words makes me feel a chill running up my spine then I can build on that to create a suspenseful or Horrific atmosphere. I will think about universal Fears. If certain words paint a happy picture I csn build on that and create a more Mellow and Calm or excited Atmosphere, etc. and so on....
Not going to lie, your videos are a tone of fun to watch! Glad your love for the WoT and your reviews introduced me to such a great channel!
I am really enjoying this Dear Author series so keep it coming please! Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale is always the first book that comes to mind when I think of atmosphere.
As for writing it, I personally recommend not paying too much attention to atmosphere while outlining/drafting. Like you said, the story and its themes tend to inform atmosphere. That's why I wait until I'm closer to a final product to really go to work. One hack I like is to use prose to create atmosphere e.g. the willow swayed in the sticky breeze vs the great oak cowered beneath the wind's authority. But again, this is soooo hard to do in a first draft so don't be too hard on yourself :)
Unless the world itself is somehow going to directly contribute to the story, then I like the focus to stay on the characters, since they are the ones that are the instruments of change in the story. The world-building will take care of itself, if the characters are engaged in it enough. Take WoT for example. The Pattern is the essence that the whole universe is created from, so it IS by definition the world. It's such an integral part of the story that without it, nothing would exist. It almost comes to life as a character.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like the focus to remain in a place that makes the story move best. I seem to be crap with words today, so do forgive me.
Great video again. I was trying to add atmosphere with my choice of vocabulary but what you're saying makes a lot of sens. It's really hard to control the atmosphere. It seems to just appear by itself and then you can reinforce it. But I agree that it is very important.
When it comes to atmosphere I always felt it was improved when I saw the world through the lens of a character, especially if that character has a unique take on things in the world (Auri from kingkiller 2.5, Lift from storm light, Wayne from mistborn era 2).
I have a great idea for a fantasy book (in my opinion) but when I thought of it I hadn’t read much fantasy at all. Lord of the rings the hobbit silmarillion and his dark materials maybe 2 or 3 others so I decided to jot down a rough outline of the plot and I’ve spent the last 6 months going through as much fantasy as possible. I’ve read ASOIAF KKC Magician by Feist, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norelle, Lies of Locke Lamora, The Eye of the world the dark tower 1-2 and mistborn 1 to name just a few. Just to get a good idea of how they feel. It’s made my own story stronger. Initially it was 2 different book ideas I had but the more I thought about them they seemed to fit together beautifully. This channel has been very influential to me since I found it a few short months ago. So thank you Daniel and best of luck with your work.
For me, the way I really notice atmosphere in a story is through prose. If you’ve got some great prose that lifts me up and makes me feel like I’m inside your world, then I’m sold.
I like various Post-apocalyptic themes. The Vagrant series by Peter Newman had great atmosphere.
My favorite feel for atmosphere in stories feels like traveling to a location with very different culture. Idioms, slang, idiosyncrasies in the populous, cuisine and faith usually works it's way in. Things that stick out like a sore thumb when they aren't part of your everyday life. That's really difficult to capture if the main character is part of that world. To them everything is normal.
Got another sub, this was an amazing breakdown and I really appreciated you breaking down what atmosphere really is. I'm working on my first story and no other author on TH-cam has earnestly explained it... They spoke so non-chalantly about it, but to me it seemed really complex with a lot of moving parts.... thanks for this
I have really started diving into writing my first fantasy book, and part of a planned trilogy. As someone who has been a DM for D&D for a long time I approach setting up my atmosphere as I would to my players. Then how that would make the current POV character feel. At least for me it helps set the characters apart as well, where one may feel a city is claustrophobic and oppressive another my find it exciting and full of life. Of course some elements have to remain throughout to keep things consistent.
you hit the nail on the head with your comment about the lack of atmosphere in LOTR.
Wow, you have single handedly set me back to a fear of writing because I'm not good enough.
You get better through trial and error
You will learn along the way
So do it but do it because you want to and nothing will ever be wrong
Characters. It's all about the characters and how they perceive and interact in the world around them.
I think a lot of it is experience, but also maybe instinct. Neil Gaiman on e said the trick was to "smuggle in as many details as possible". I always took that to mean being thorough but organic with descriptions.
King does a great job of incorporating the 5 senses into his descriptions and I feel like this is what pulls me in to the world
Elantris was actually Sanderson's 6th novel, and by the time it was published he had been an unpublished author of 12 books. His 13th book was Way of Kings, and Mistborn came after, but was published first. It really took him a long time.
Most of those unpublished works you speak of were never meant to be published, as stated by Sanderson. They were works completed solely for the purpose of achieving his English lit and ceative writing degrees at BYU. This is very common among writers who have achieved the sort of master's degrees that Sanderson has. His first novel ever submitted for publication was Elantris. However, he'd begun writing Way of Kings prior to writing Elantris (by at least 4 years). He finished Way of Kings without publishing it, and then focused on the original Mistborn trilogy.
I love this style of videos
I agree with your assessment on Lord of the Rings. In terms of atmosphere it lacks based on modern standards. My favorite atmospheric book is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Launage and detail, how the world is seen through the character's or narrator's eyes... King will explain something plainly then throw in an odd world or a reference to something not yet known. To me it keeps me uneasy even at calm times.
Hi Daniel,
In response to your curiosity over the atmosphere, I like the idea of how the character would respond to their surroundings.
I have just started in writing and reading fantasy and I think Brandon Sanderson might be a good mentor in terms of inspiration and what I want to achieve in the genre.
But, I imagine the story could be more immersive for the reader to hear about the surroundings from the protagonist's perspective.
I *think* that what you're getting at refers to a few distinct concepts (at least from my academic perspective): first is building what, in narratology, we refer to as the storyworld, which is the version of the book that forms in the reader's own mind. No two storyworlds are identical, but the idea is that the author must use language to hint at and inform that storyworld to inspire sensations such as visualizing the narrative, apprehending the world, etc. A good (and short) book that deals with this in regard to fantasy is Audrey Isabel Taylor's "Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-Building."
Then again, you might be referring to the general role of style, in which case I would recommend Samuel R. Delaney's essay, "About 5750 Words" (PDF available on Google) and Ursula K. Le Guin's "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie," which can be found in her (criminally) out-of-print book, Language of the Night.
However, these are just my best guesses at resources that might be helpful to you, based upon what I understand from your video. And, granted, you and I have fairly different aesthetic approaches, so texts that I would find helpful may not be so useful to you.
As to your closing question, the two most intensely felt atmospheric experiences I've had with fantasy, I would easily pick Little, Big by John Crowley (which is super soft on plot but is beyond gorgeous in its prose) and Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. And to round things out to a more stable three books, I'll add Book of the New Sun by recently departed Gene Wolfe.
Dear Daniel! Please do another review of The Lady of The Lake! Xoxoxo
You've helped me so much as an aspiring author.
To me, the biggest X factor for atmosphere is author voice. I’m talking word choice and sentence structure. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer doesn’t have incredible world building, only one character has depth and is flushed out, and the story line is hard to follow. But, his word choice and sentence structure, along with the fact that the plot is mysterious and confusing, makes for tension, unease, and a sense of being just on the edge of terror for nearly the entire novel.
I've never really focused on atmosphere if only because I tend to write for a visual medium, so this was eye opening for me.
I've always thought that the Star Wars movies are an example of mediocre story, great atmosphere. Let's be honest, the Star Wars movies, especially the originals, have a pretty bland story. Farm boy learns of destiny, saves princess, leads a war against evil empire, wizards. That's it, that's Star Wars. But the universe is so interesting. It's kind of crapsack, but there are mysteries, and all sorts of flashy things. Light sabres, force lightning. I wanna be a space wizard. And then there's the Old Republic, and you get both intriguing stories and a great atmosphere. Yeah, screw the Star Wars movies, the games are where it's at.
The atmosphere is as wide as the ocean, and deep as a puddle. There is only like 2 factions that matter everytime. Light vs dark.
Procrastination is one of the most important elements of creativity.
Love how much you’ve been uploading lately! Thanks for the content :)
Weird fact 7 months late. Cats usually do that because their whiskers help them measure tight spaces. If the bowl is to small and touches their whiskers on both sides, it triggers anxiety and some kind of flight response; and they will drag the food back out so they can eat it in an open space. Try an open sided bowl :)
Personally i find that the two things that are make or break are the realism of the world and the believability/intrigue/journey of the characters
I like to create a charismatic atmosphere by deftly placing an Obama poster in the background.
LOL
Evoke the 5 senses with awesome description.
Terry Pratchett and his story Night Watch had an atmosphere that was truly astounding for a book in that genera.
Personality + ascension or descension and maybe a twist. (Arch?)
New cultures and "out of our time and space" thinking. Like in WoT or Dan Simmons cantos, Hyperion =) dun have to be poetic like Dan did it..
Close to our reality but still far away.
And tech.. or magic.. or both =)
Thank you Mr Greene for doing what you do!
Much love
Keep it up man
I've only read one of her books but I think Sue Grafton's 'W is for wasted' is written well. I really like her authors voice, especially when it comes to the characters. Sue Grafton isn't fantasy focused at all, detective mystery is where her books fall under.
Probably the best atmosphere I can remember from a book is Hyperian by Dan Simmons. Even though the book was mostly multiple short stories combined together by people on a ship together sharing their stories, there was this connected tissue of dread and sadness that completely combined the stories even though they would be on different worlds and different times.
If you ask me, atmosphere is just matter of the distortion of the senses. A light isn't interesting, but blinding light is. The smell of flowers isn't interesting, but it's suddenly interesting if something is wrong with the smell. The 5 senses are how we see the world, and the 'atmosphere" is where we are drawn to imagine the world simulated in our own senses. This is much easier to do if something is exaggerated, abnormal, or distorted, as the reader likely can't quickly and easily picture it and move on. Describing the sensation of a smell or feeling by itself won't make the reader imagine it in detail, they'll try to skate through it if can. But if you describe something almost familiar, but distinctly not familiar, it coaxes them into imagining it. Especially if you leave distinct gaps in the information provided than can be quickly filled in if the reader stops and pictures the scene in greater detail. Once they do that, you've created the tangible sense of atmosphere in their head. Once you do that over and over and hit the same tone(s), your book has great atmosphere.
A quick dirty example of a line would be "The air was dusted with smell of soured leather", as the smell of leather is something anyone is likely familiar with, but as it's not sour, it coaxes the reader to imagine that specific "new" smell. They can then pretty quickly come to the conclusion the atmosphere is that of an old armory or battlefield. Compare this to a line like "The air inside was old, and molded scraps of leather cluttered the floor" ... Not a bad line, a lot more descriptive without being much longer. But hardly coaxes the reader to imagine something new. By giving the readers imagination a "task" you kick it into gear. You don't really need your imagination to absorb the information in the later quote. Visuals are quick to manifest and leave little impact on the mind. But since you do need to use your imagination in the former to piece together two distinct smells, not only does it sink hooks in deeper with using smells over visuals, it forces the reader to come to a very brief pause. A tiny bit of information hidden behind a cognitive math problem. But if they skate past it, they can end not coming to the picture something right at all.
This is why atmosphere is subjective. If you don't "Pause" to absorb it, you just miss it. Some prompts to pause and absorb the atmosphere work better on some people then others. For example, if someone has a disability, ad lacks a strong connection to the sense you keep trying to prompt them with, or you use an anchoring idea they are just unfamiliar with! (Example, maybe they've never actually smelled real leather, somehow) Some authors shoot themselves sin the foot with this, and hold the readers hand and describe everything in detail to them. A lot of people can see this as a lack of atmosphere, but then those with poor imaginations (sorry lol) find it to be MORE atmospheric, sense they suck at picturing the stuff when prompted to themselves, and the authors detailed painting of their world is thorough enough for them to actually managed to see it solidly. Where as, to these readers, a lot of "good" atmosphere is totally lost upon them.
It's also worth noting, if you LINGER, it ruins it. Pause, but don't linger. Taking longer won't make the reader do what you want, but it can make someone who was imagining things get bored, frustrated, or decide he doesn't need to imagine it cause you are describing it well enough. That last group I just mentioned might like it though! For every quirk that's disliked, some group loves it for some reason.
I attended a writing workshop by Maggie Stiefvader and she encouraged everyone that the first thing you should think about when writing a story is atmosphere. Before you think about plot or characters or world-building think “How do I want my readers to feel when they read this book?”
For me the characters' relationship to the setting really builds the atmosphere. Perspective really helps; the way a thief would interact with a city compared to a king or a passing traveller. Even people from different ethnic/religious/social factions. Interaction over observation most of the time. And a very specific sound/smell/feeling attached to a place, or a striking mental image that connects to a character. Like, maybe the kaleidoscope of canal water reflecting off the undersides of bridges coming from a boy who used to sleep there.
It's easier I think, to immerse a reader in an uncomfortable atmosphere than a positive one. A place that makes your stomach turn is more likely to linger than a generally happy setting. I'll stop before I start on a full fledged dissertation
i had a cat once who picked up her food and ate it off her claw, like a fork. Elantris wasn't his first book i think it was like his 5th, i forget. But he's said that he used to hate editing and instead he'd throw out a book and start a new one.
My cats eat out of the bowl. However, they seem to take a mouth full, and then shake out the kibbles they don’t want, or what are in excess. This then gets sprayed out across the floor. Will they clean it up themselves? No. They won’t touch it. Eating off the floor appears to be beneath them.
Brian Staveley's novels have an interesting atmosphere. George Lucas created wonderful atmosphere in Star Wars. It has a definitive used and gritty feel to it.
It would have been nice to have some examples of good and bad atmosphere. Citing a host of books which I have not read does nothing to help me see what I'm missing. I do agree atmosphere is important, critical even. I just don't have any better idea now how to create it than I did ten minutes ago.
To me, it’s descriptions. Just because a description is accurate doesn’t make it the appropriate choice-for the character, the setting, or the tone. I don’t need to just know what it looks like. I need to know how it makes me feel.
Neuromancer is a perfect example. When the first line of a book describes a cloudy sky as being the color of a television tuned to a dead channel, you know technology is gonna be important to the world you’re about to spend your time in. It’s the lens through which the natural world is perceived by the narration. THAT’S the magic touch.
Love the dear author metaphors 😂
Study "descriptive writing" this will allow you to improve atmosphere amongst other things.
You're a smart kid daniel
I think Lovecraft is my best example of atmosphere as a reader. I agree it's easier in horror.
There's a horror type scene in Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen and it oozed atmosphere was really enveloped in it at the time. Still wrapping my head around how it write it in fantasy.
I've always liked how characters interact with the world. Having watched Brandon Sanderson's lectures on TH-cam about writing, he says if you're going to screw any aspect of your writing up, don't let it be your characters. Well written characters can carry the story and world building comes second and I can completely agree.
I've recently begun delving into hobby-writing myself, thanks in large part to booktubers like yourself (though the spare time in which to do such is non-existent) and I find it difficult to write something that when I read back to myself I don't just want to puke.
One aspect I want to highlight in the World building VS Character development is The Force in star wars and magic systems in general as that is one of the current road blocks in my own work.
EP 4-6 as George was initially coming up with the concept of it you can see it's portrayed as this sort of mystical spiritual energy that few people know much about, even to the point that Han scoffs at the idea of someone believing people will dedicate their entire lives to some unknown entity.
EP 1-3 muddies this purist ideology a bit as the force is so prevalent that it no longer becomes unique which I dislike as a personal preference. The Force has almost become more of a science rather than an unknown mystical energy and as nothing remotely similar exists in the real world in terms of a mystical energy that allows things like telekinesis, x-ray vision etc. without the use of technology.
In the early stages of George Lucas' The Force presented to us the OT it feels as though Lucas' both our and Lucas' knowledge of what the force is and what it can do makes it more interesting and mysterious and once George Lucas has the time and budget to delve into what the force is where we get the Prequels does the force loose its significance.
The whole OT was in a destroyed galaxy, so having the Force be far more mystical works
Silo series is all about that, being stuck in a silo and even makes up social status.
I think atmosphere for me goes into a balance of consistency of characters. If the characters are too consistent, the atmosphere feels forced, ham fisted, or worse predictable and boring. If characters are too inconsistent, a central atmosphere never really gets the chance to grow.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and instead of using fantasy book examples, I'll use anime examples.
Take two of my favorite animes: Cowboy Bebop and One Piece. Both have widely different atmospheres but both have a nice balance of consistency of characters.
For Cowboy Bebop, generally you're going to see characters with jaded pasts, possibly philosophical codes of living, and end up falling onto one side of the law or the other.
In One Piece you're going to run into characters who have child like dreams and grand ambitions, or people who have given up on dreams, and varying degrees of both parties.
Some nice tips here!
A friend told me LOTR is supposed to be read with the feeling of reading an ancient document, as it approaches the kind of writing you can find in works such as Beowulf, which might explain the lack of an atmosphere :)
Word choice, specifically in regards to how characters speak. One of the standouts of The Dark Tower is the distinct dialects that different characters have. Susan doesn't talk like Roland who doesn't talk like Eddie or Jake. I don't mean writing accents, I mean cadence and syntax and local vernacular. This is *hard* to do. But it pays off. To me this is one of the biggest fails of the Dark Tower movie; they didn't bring over the Midworld dialect.
If I remember correctly Sanderson said in an interview that Elantris was his sixth book he wrote and that he got published only after he had already wrote 12 or 13 books. His first wrtitten book was White Sand. He also said that White Sand was so poorly written, with so much unnecesary details that he changed it into a grafic novel in order to be publishable.
to me it's a lot about the senses. what does the character or all-seeing-eye see, smell, hear, feel, taste
Commenting on a video from five months ago, but I actually have some thoughts on this from my own experience writing.
I think that the atmosphere of a story doesn't come from any one source. It's a mixture of these ones (and probably more that I haven't thought of.):
1. Character-character interactions
2. Character-self interactions
3. Character-world interactions
4. World-world interactions.
The way I kind of think of it is that an author can use any mix of these ingredients to create atmosphere, but they need to think carefully about which ones best suit their story and what 'flavor' of an interaction they need. For example, Brandon Sanderson uses a lot of Character-character and Character-world, with the majority of those being positive and friendly. This gives his books a very character-deep and culture-deep feel with a positive spin. He obviously uses the othes as well, but to me those two interaction types are what gives him that atmosphere.
So for instance, if you were writing a book that you wanted to have a large, but unfriendly and dour atmosphere with an emphasis on the worldbuilding and how the character fits into the worldbuilding, I would focus on world-world and character-world interactions in a negative and almost 'empty feeling' light. This would make the world seem dark and cold, but populated.
I feel like the best atmosphere is created with a good balance between world building and characters reacting to the world around them. Too much world building, and it’s dry. Focusing too much on the characters makes the world around them confusing
Love your thoughts on gentlemen bastards. Honestly its criminally underrated. Also in your pet peeves video you talk about how you would prefer not to see a world at stakes conflict but a conflict between nations, Im curious if you think Gentlemen Bastards is a good example of this whether the conflict is between Locke and the nobility or Razza and the nobility or Locke and Razza.
Word choice and prose is really important for the atmosphere i think
Not a book but the game: salt and sanctuary
Manages to have such an effective word choice and names
That it really drew me in and gave me a strong sense of atmosphere
But on a side note the game isnt perfect and the poetry is not as outstanding
Ps that is also just my own experience
H.P Lovecraft is also really a genius when it comes to building atmosphere imo.
Im having trouble feeling the atmosphere when Im listening to audio books somehow :/
If you're writing a novel, post some in your website!
The Terror (AMC) is in my top series ever in terms of atmosphere.
My cat eats food that way too.
An "Atmosphere" for Me, is how the world Interacts with the characters and how each of the characters View the world.
Say for instance: one character is a glorious knight who everyone adors and he sees the world through a rose colored lense, while his friend the shady rogue is treated with contempt and sees the world as large shadows with judging eyes.
I guess I'm saying an "Atmosphere" is a complex realistic point-of-view, that is - as you said - hard to write.