Writing: Atmosphere

Lessons from Ann Patchett's State of Wonder

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Let’s discuss how to create a sense of atmosphere.

Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, set in the Amazon rainforest, illustrates beautifully how to establish a sense of atmosphere:

‘The outside air was heavy enough to be bitten and chewed. Never had Marina’s lungs taken in so much oxygen, so much moisture. With every inhalation she felt she was introducing unseen particles of plant life into her body, tiny spores that bedded down in between her cilia and set about taking root. An insect flew against her ear, emitting a sound so piercing that her head snapped back as if struck. Another insect bit her cheek just as she raised her hand to drive the first one away. They were not in the jungle, they were in a parking lot.’ ¹

I love this last line because it represents the immediacy of sensing a change in atmosphere; from the moment one steps off the plane, before even leaving the airport. It reminds me of travelling to Hawaii as a child. I remember little of this time; my strongest memory, stepping just outside the airport to the immediate warmth in the air, it’s different quality.

Here, Patchett’s description is layered, richly depicting her character’s new environment in a bombardment of senses. The moisture filling her lungs and deepening her breath. The abrupt, piercing sound of insects; the intrusion of their touch.

Here’s another example.

‘At dusk the insects came down in a storm, the hard-shelled and soft-sided, the biting and stinging, the chirping and buzzing and droning, every last one unfolded its paper wings and flew with unimaginable velocity into the eyes and mouths and noses of the only three humans they could find.’²

In this example, the excessive use of verbs helps establish this sense of bombardment; most, not all with negative connotations. Note, too, the nouns pertaining to the human body clustered together to resemble the way the insects are at once everywhere and all over: eyes, mouths, noses. I also love the way the onslaught of insects is referred to as coming ‘down in a storm,’ describing nature with nature.

Lastly, let’s look at the way the natural world filters through into the action.

‘He brushed some sort of leggy cricket out of his hair.’³

This line sits alongside dialogue, illustrating one of the many ways in which the natural world shapes the everyday experience of its inhabitants; while this next example announces the time of day:

‘…the bats span out of dead trees to announce the dusk…’⁴

While the atmosphere is not always the focus, it is impossible for one to forget where this story is set.

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Have you used this technique in your own writing? What aspects of writing do you want to learn how to master?

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1. Patchett, A. (2011). State of Wonder. Bloomsbury, p. 77

2. Ibid., p. 201.

3. Ibid., p. 253.

4. Ibid., 276.