In a literary piece, the tone refers to the attitude that a writer has towards its subject matter. This is conveyed in several different ways. For example, the tone can be conveyed by the type of words that an author chooses to employ. It can also be conveyed by the details of the story that an author chooses to include. Finally, the tone can also be conveyed by the imagery that the author presents and the type of image that he creates in the reader's mind.