This is a fancy way of describing the mood - generally of your story. So, if you're writing a death scene, you want a sad atmosphere, if it's a party scene, you want a jolly, jumping atmosphere, blah blah blah.
This is important, and what I find is that creating an atmosphere outside of your story helps in creating atmosphere inside your story.
Nate wrote a tutorial on a similar topic: article18799.html
This is me adding my personal two cents worth.
Now, for me, I find that making the writing session special is good. I make sure there's nothing that needs doing, I put my chair in exactly the right place, I close the window so no sound gets through, if my brothers are being noisy, I ask/yell at them to be quiet/shut up now.
Everyone really has their own little eccentricities, so go with what you're most comfortable with. I like the temperature in my room to be cooler than I like it to be normally, because then I put my dressing gown on and get all comfy.
Music
Some people listen to music while they're writing to create a mood, and some people have to have it absolutely quiet. I used to listen to music, but now I'm one of the latter class. So what I do is listen to the music before I start writing, so creating a mood which stays with me as I write.
If you're like me in this, then what you can do is write down how a certain piece of music make you feel. So: Beethoven's Emperor: quiet, falling rain. Beginning of a journey. New beginnings, old endings.
Then, next time you're going to write a scene like the above, listen to that piece of music, and create the atmosphere before you start so it stays with you.
A New One: Smell
I don't think has been mentioned before? Aromatherapy!
The ever wonderful Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatherapy
A lot of it can be interpreted as hocus pocus (Third Eye junk, etc.), but the smells helps create our topic for this evening! Give aromatherapy a big hand folks! It's simple and quick and really works! Here's what our aromatherapists-in-residence have said! ..... and so on and so forth.
Basically, it's burning oils. You put them in a burner (you can buy them cheap on eBay and there's loads of different shapes and sizes), stick a candle underneath, light it and Bob's your uncle. You can use fragrance oils or essential oils (again, eBay); the fragrance oils are cheaper, but it's like buying a paste diamond as opposed to a real one. Your choice, no pressure here, peeps.
You can use anything smelly, I suppose, just make sure you like it and that it isn't going to give you a headache after five minutes.
Conclusion
Don't listen to a word I've said.... no, feel free to mix and match. Take what you want and nix what you don't. But make the time you spend writing special. Put on a fuzzy hat on, quote Bambi to yourself before you start. Evolve your idiosyncrasies! They'll help you and get your muses working. Have fun!
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