This week, let’s talk about how to stay consistent with tone in your writing.

Writing Tip for Today: What are some ideas for keeping your writing’s tone even and appropriate?

Find Your Angle

You can write about any topic in a variety of tones. Humorous, elegiac, informative, for instance. Serious or lighthearted. Somber or heartfelt. I tend to be a little sarcastic in my work, too, so unless I’m doing a satire, I am always trying to keep that snark in balance.

Deciding and then sticking to a tone is harder with book-length work. Discover a good guide to an appropriate tone by asking, “What do I want readers to take away from my work?” Like the story promise concept, an even tone sends a message to readers.

Going from humor to a serious or even academic tone may confuse or confound readers. By switching up the mood, readers are left wondering whether they should laugh or cry. Help them by staying on a dominant emotion.

Find Your Strength

As with other writing aspects, you will be most successful if you lean on your strengths in setting the tone. If you can’t help but be funny, temper that humor for a more serious piece. If humor is not one of your strengths, avoid trying to make your work funny—it may end up like a dad joke.

What sort of tone do you prefer to read? Sometimes, your reading choices can help you develop a tone and voice. Practice with the technique you like to read and see if you can maintain an even tone in your own writing.

For fiction writers, your genre may dictate your tone. These days, there are many subcategories within most genres. Romantasy, dramedy and other blends are places where tone really matters. Practice writing in these niches to improve your overall skill in tone.

Avoid flip-flops in tone–your readers will thank you. 

Find Your Darlings

All writers can come up with a tone that is a bit over the top. These “darlings” as they’re known, usually pull readers out of your story with their outsized drama. A sentence or passage that feels a little too literary, a little too breezy or a little too serious might be a darling.

The best way to deal with darlings is to delete them—but it can be difficult to rid your writing of a beauteous phrase or paragraph. One of the criteria, no matter how creative or stunning the darling, is to make sure the passage meshes with the overall tone. If not, it should go away. Allow some time to write, evaluate and possibly axe a darling. As you gain objectivity, it gets easier.

An integral part of self-editing should be sifting your writing for tone. Keeping tone constant allows readers to understand your message in an emotional way. Avoid flip-flops in tone and don’t try too hard. Your readers will thank you.