How to Make Normal Scenes Creepy
Want to make a mood? Try changing the weather.
This is part of my “Art of Noticing” series, in which I learn, find, or discover the things around me that usually go unnoticed and turn them into an endless source of creative inspiration.
NOTE: The last of these “Noticings” blog posts will run on April 13th. I’m going to keep recording the 9-minute daily podcast on which these posts are based, though, so if you want to keep your dose of daily Noticings, be sure to subscribe to the Art of Noticing podcast here on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
(You could also listen here on Substack, but that’s a miserable way to listen to a podcast so I don’t recommend it. Do yourself a favor and use a podcast app so you can listen on your commute or at the gym or something.)
My wife and I walk our dog Abby every morning. As Abby’s gotten older, there’s less walking and more paranoid meandering around. The paranoia isn’t new. This dog’s been paranoid, about other dogs, her entire life.
We’re in a quaint little neighborhood, but this morning it was dark, shadowy, and creepy thanks to some thick fog. Suddenly familiar trees looked like monsters. Other walkers seemed out to abduct us. The sounds were muted. Everything felt ominous, even though we were right at home.
It all made me think of how big a difference the shift of one modality can change the mood of everything. Same neighborhood, new weather, whole new aura.
It’s kind of a neat magic trick — almost a cheat — for a writer to keep as a handy tool for changing mood.
Here's how this "noticing" can influence my stories and art:
Including Lighting and Mood in Written Stories
I like to write as if I’m an observer of a scene, not its maker. I also like to write visually, as if I’m directing a movie and trying to get my audience to see it the way I see it.
If you’re like me, there’s opportunity here. You can “light” your written scenes like a movie’s gaffer would. You can dress sets and write in a way that almost seems to add music to change the mood.
Think outside the sentence. You’ll see.
Familiar Shit Made Weird
Add a supernatural element to a familiar place, like a glowing figure appearing on a neighborhood street corner, and you get a whole new vibe. I think the magic here isn’t the supernatural thing, but instead the presence of something known and familiar. What’s creepier than having something comforting suddenly made uncomfortable?
The juxtaposition of eerie with the everyday has a way of unsettling people — in real life, but also in fiction. Mixing known and unknown creates a sense of strangeness and discovery. Play with it. There’s fun to be had just by mixing it up.
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"writing as an observer of a scene, not as its maker" - love that. To me, that means, focusing on how that scene makes me feel, instead of trying hard to put all the graphic details into words. Great point!
We have a lot full of trees across the street. When the wind blows the ones that are leaning on others creak like rusty gates. Much creepier in the dark and fog. That sound has been used in movies since their inception for good reason.