When I looked up the meaning of the word I found two definitions for tone as a noun and two more for tone as a verb.

Pitch, quality and strength of musical sound.

The general attitude of a place, piece of writing, or situation.

To give strength or firmness to the body.

To alter the color finish of a monochrome photo.

As a writer, the second definition, attitude is the one I’m trying to understand. Though I believe cadence is also a part of the tone of a story. As a reader, tone is the feeling I get as I’m reading the story, and I believe that comes from the narrator or the main character.

I don’t think about tone when I’m writing my rough draft but I usually know if I want my story to be serious, comical, scary or romantic.

It is through the emotional lens of your narrator or point of view character that the reader experiences the story. The hard boiled detective and the popular teenager will not have the same attitude, outlook or emotional growth, and that will change the reader’s experience.

In the original Tales of Sherlock Holmes, Watson is the narrator. Watson, unlike Holmes, is calm, kind and thoughtful. He is curious and concerned about his friend and this shows in the tone of the narrative. As a reader we get to discover the story along with Watson.

The movie Clueless, popular rich girl, Cher is upbeat and confident until she makes a terrible mistake. The tone changes only slightly when her confidence is shaken but soon she is back making confident decisions with an upbeat attitude only with a more maturity.

We can often tell the tone of a story from the genre expectation. A gritty, police story or a romantic comedy will have a different tone because the characters will be in different places emotionally as well as physically.