Word choice: Change the atmosphere

Changing the atmosphere.
 

Present a setting with the same people, but write two versions with very different atmospheres by choosing specific words that change the mood. For example, the basic story might involve a teenager taking groceries up the front steps to an elderly couple’s home. The words you choose to describe the weather, the teenager’s attitude, the condition of the house, and the couple’s reaction at the door can vastly change the atmosphere of the story. After writing one version, try writing it again using the same people but different word choices that alter the mood. Here is a template:

A person(s)

approaches a building

at a time of day

in a certain type of weather

carrying something.

Some person(s)

answers a certain type of door

in a certain way

with a particular attitude

saying something.

As a result, something happens:

Blah blah blah blah blah…

This prompt can be:

1. Stage instructions for an opening scene in a play. Write the dialogue that follows. 

2. A poem with lines broken as above. 

3. A flash fiction piece of about 200 words.  

4. A memoir, something you remember from your own life. My own memory is of me as a child at Halloween approaching my grandparents’ door which was three hours from home.

Now try rewriting the piece using words that convey the opposite atmosphere!