Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Tone in fiction

I'm thinking about tone now, because I'm teaching a Scenes class, and tone is important in scenes. But... but what IS tone? It's not voice. It's not character. It's not plot. Related to all those, surely.

I'm thinking tone is more about effect-- the mood this is meant to create in the reader, and everything that goes into creating that mood is tone.

What do you think? Examples? Ideas? How is it different from voice? Help! Is there a corollary in music?

I'm going to make a list of tones I've found in book lately. I'd say there's usually a connection to sub-genre (that is, you wouldn't have a rollicking tone in a suspense novel), but I'm not entirely sure how one-to-one that is, if there's really only one basic tone per sub-genre. Anyway, types of tone-- are these too "individual" for use in explanation? Any to add?
Inquisitive
Rollicking
Thoughtful
Ponderous
Slapstick
Wry
 Rambunctious
Slow
Quiet
 Tense
Intense
Excruciating
Suspenseful
Comedic
Intellectual
Emotional
Restrained
Dignified
Haughty
Adventurous
Risky
Spooky
Conversational
Argumentative
Cautious
Legalistic
Carefree
Joyous

As I type those, I realize that I'm trying to capture in a word the -experience- of the books I'm thinking of. That is, when I think about, say, the Charles Paris mystery I just read, it's a "wry" experience-- humorous but understated and ironic.
Alicia

Thoughts? Additions? Examples? Arguments?