Mood helps set the atmosphere in stories. It helps inject emotion into our stories. A story told with an effective atmosphere can emotionally impact the reader, which can stay for days.

In our 4th Creative Writing lesson, the students were given the following image, a teddy bear in a suitcase, and assigned a particular emotion. Here were some of the highlights.

bear HD.jpg — Exercise

This is your box. You’ve just opened it after ten years.

Charlotte Yung 6G
Assigned Mood: Cheerful

I opened the old suitcase and smiled. Picking up the dusty teddy bear that had accompanied me in my childhood, the happy memories flowed back in my mind. I hugged the teddy bear tightly.

Samantha Siu 4B (24)
Assigned Mood: Lonely

After ten years, I've finally found this old chest. Right when I opened it, I saw this old dusty looking teddy bear. But the only item in there was just a teddy bear, nothing but the teddy bear.

Gisele Tyanna Poon 6F
Assigned Mood: Loving

I was tidying the attic when I saw a rusty and dusty box. Due to my curiosity, I opened it and memories started flooding my mind. I saw my teddy bear, which reminded me of my childhood dream of being a bear as well. I then saw my old diary, which is now like a picture of my life, and it reminded me of the good old days when I was playing under the sun. Although in a single blink of my eye, being back here, standing ten years later, alone but not lonely. With a flashback like this, I felt warmth.

Yanni Chen 6D
Assigned Mood: Gloomy

It was winter break and it was snowing heavily, everything was covered in snow and ice. I slowly grabbed hook of the ladder and climbed up reaching the attic. A box. There was a box. As I crawled over to the box, I had a feeling of guilt inside my stomach. This box...it hasn’t been opened in 10 years...I’ve completely abandoned it. As I put my hand on the box, I dusted off everything on it. I opened it and found a toy puppy. This puppy...I was absolutely devastated...

Summer Choi 6A
Assigned Mood: Confused

When I opened my box which was ten years old, I wondered what was inside. Could it be a doll? Could it be a skeleton? I opened my box. Dust flew out of the box. Suddenly, a chicken and a giant dog bounced out. The chicken chased the dog around my room, but why?

Austin Wong 6B
Assigned Mood: Exhausted

After I had worked for a whole day, I could finally call it a day. However, I was assigned to open the box that I hid underground. I wasn't willing to open it, all I wanted to do is to take a rest. There is a teddy bear, only a teddy bear with dust. I should go to sleep now.

Isaac So 6A
Assigned Mood: Surprised

When I was in my room tidying, there was a box. It was brown and it looked very old. I didn't know what was in the box. I was very scared, but more than that I was curious. I opened the box and saw a clown hat. It was red and there were black spots. I remembered that I was playing with it when I was five years old. I wore it with a clown costume on Halloween. I took it and put it in my hands, but at that moment there was a clown face under it. I put it down and quickly ran away.

Class Exercise: Mood