As well as painting a scene, you need to set a mood within your nonfiction piece. Is your story lighthearted? Is it somber? The mood you set will show the readers what is coming and help them to better identify with you.
This excerpt is from a story in my book, Rest Stops for Single Moms.
Loving Too Little, Loving Too Much
Susan Titus Osborn
Staring out of my hotel window on that winter’s day in Washington, DC, I watched huge chunks of ice drift lazily down the Potomac River. I rubbed my arms and shivered—partly from the cold, but mostly from the memory forming in my mind.
I recalled the morning several years before when my husband, looking tired and tense, walked into the kitchen. He sat down at the breakfast table and said, “I care about you, but I don’t love you enough to live with you anymore.”