Make your setting create the mood

The same park can feel joyful on a sunny afternoon and threatening at midnight. Writers choose setting details to build the mood they want.

Choose details that match the feeling

For a happy scene: warm light, children laughing, the smell of cut grass. For a tense scene: a flickering streetlight, a swing creaking with no one on it, the gate left open.

Pathetic fallacy

This is when the weather or surroundings reflect a character’s emotions. Storm clouds gather as an argument builds. Sunlight breaks through as a problem is solved. Used lightly, it is powerful. Used heavily (“it rained because I was sad”), it becomes a cliché.

Contrast for surprise

Sometimes a setting that clashes with the mood is even stronger: terrible news delivered at a cheerful birthday party.

Show the setting through the character

A frightened character notices exits and shadows. A bored one notices the clock. What your character notices tells the reader how they feel.

Try it: describe your school corridor twice in 60 words: once on the last day of term, once on the morning of an exam.