Tone guides readers in figuring how they’re supposed to view a story. Funny? Serious? Edgy? Sarcastic? Wielded with understanding, tone will help you create a more cohesive story and will pull readers that much deeper into the emotional web you’re weaving.
But if you’ve chosen the wrong tone for your story, it can fragment your narrative and distance and confuse readers.
Sound scary? It should! Tone alone can either destroy your story or raise it even higher. Let’s look at how to do the latter and never the former.
Tone vs. Voice in a Story
Before we dig deeper into the nitty-gritty of how to choose the right tone for any given passage in your book, let’s first differentiate between tone and voice.
Are they the same? They both affect how your book sounds. Tone is an integral component in voice. And voice always influences tone. But, in spite of all that, no, they are not the same thing.
“Voice” describes your authorial presence on the page. This is both something that just flows naturally out of you and a skill you will be evolving throughout your life.
Your voice is the unique way you parse together words and guide sentences on the page.“Tone” will always be a part of that. But tone is also much more specific to each book. You might write a tragedy today and a comedy tomorrow, and although your authorial voice will remain much the same in both, the tone will be different in each one.
Tone is even more specific to each passage within that book. For instance, your tragedy might contain moments of comedy, in which the tone will necessarily differ from the tragic bits.
The #1 Rule for Choosing the Your Story’s Tone
Now that we’ve clarified the difference between tone and voice, how do we know what tone is right for what scene? This will always be an authorial decision. But, generally speaking, here’s a handy rule to follow: The higher the emotional pitch in any scene, the “flatter” the prose should be.
Intense Scene? Tone It Down
Creative Nonfiction by Philip Gerard (affiliate link)
In Creative Nonfiction, Philip Gerard reminds us,
The tension between the high-octane material and the understated telling will usually cause the strength of the material to work on the reader…. The more complex the idea or technology you are trying to explain, the simpler, more straightforward the writing ought to be.
High-pitched emotion plus high-pitched prose equals melodrama. Whenever you’re writing a hugely dramatic or complicated scene, resist pouring on the lush prose. Instead, use shorter sentences and smaller, punchier words. Doing so will allow you to retain the emotional integrity of the piece without dunking it in melodrama.
Straightforward Scene? Turn Up the Tone
Gerard adds:
Conversely, sometimes the simplest, most obvious phenomena give you an opportunity for an exquisitely intricate, lyrical metaphor. Beauty always arouses emotion.
The very fact that simplicity is familiar and understandable gives you more room to expound. Write “sunset” and readers instantly get what you’re talking about. They’re already on the same page as you, which gives you room to deepen your prose and help readers see that plain ol’ familiar sunset in a new and interesting way.
Same goes for most scenes of low-key emotion. Your “heavy” tone might detract from a funeral scene, but it might be just the ticket for that quiet scene in which your heroine is walking her dog on a beautiful morning.
Remember: the flatter the tone, the safer your prose. As we discussed a few weeks ago, never launch into complexity without scrutinizing what it brings to your story. Still, you’re the sheriff in this town, so you ultimately get to make the rules. If you feel any particular passage in your story would benefit from a more dramatic or lyrical tone, go for it!
Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! How do you go about choosing your story’s tone? Tell me in the comments!
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