General Strategies for Increasing Tension

[FifthView]

That anxious fear one feels can sometimes become an antagonistic force all of it's own.

I really like this. So many of the strategies for creating or increasing tension revolve precisely around the notion of creating a new antagonistic force or situation that stands in the way of a character's accomplishing his goals.

 

[Caged Maiden]

i have novels that have no antagonist, but the characters (all heroes if you want to call them that) struggle with each other and their individual goals, and themselves. I use internal tension as a major force in my stories, because I have no great evil characters for several of my novels.

I find that often characters have deep secrets, maybe their identities or their pasts, and those function as antagonists!

 

[Velka]

You can also create tension with the structure of your story. One chapter is the bad guy finding out the good guy's plans and then setting up an ambush in his temple of doom. The next chapter is the good guys sneaking into the temple of doom, thinking they're being all sneaky. The reader knows they're walking into a trap and the tension of how bad the trap will be and how/if they can get themselves out of it keeps them turning pages.

 

[FifthView]

Velka, maybe that would be

18. Create a danger that the reader knows about but the good-guy protagonists do not. (Relates to #11 above also.)

As for structure...that reminds me of....

19. Use a cliffhanger. Sure, it's one of those strategies that can be overused or used in a facile way, because it's so easy to do, but when done well it's quite effective for creating tension.

 

[Heliotrope]

Thanks Velka! i was wondering if anyone else was going to step in with more suggestions! Structure is a great one, they also do the same sort of thing with most horror movies (notice how Jaws opens up with the shark attack, and Jurrasic Park opens up with the Dino attack etc?)

They show the really big, scary problem first so it is in the back of the reader's mind the entire time the MC is wandering around in the forest in the dark all alone with no cell phone. George RR Martin does this in Game Of Thrones with the 'Others'. He starts the series off by showing the threat of the 'others' first, so for the rest of the series we understand the great threat and what they mean by "winter is coming".

Another way to use structure is to show a brief section of the climax, or an emotionally charged part of the story, then go back to the beginning to show how they got there. This is used in Mission Impossible 2 to great effect. My favourite use of this sort of structure is in the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce.

Fiction: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

 

[FifthView]

Helio, that has me thinking of adding a new one, something to do with being vague about threats, or withholding information. Particularly, I'm thinking about the way the shark or the dinosaur are not shown in full at first. You see the fin maybe or a blur behind the branches and bushes.

 

[Heliotrope]

Yes, I just read that strategy in Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, or Science Fiction by Philip Athens.

He notes that letting the reader use their imagination for the most of the book is MUCH scarier then showing them the creature right away. That part of my earlier suggestion… he notes that showing what the creature does (make it original and frightening) and then leaving it up to the reader to imagine how the creatures does such terrible things is much more frightening then showing the reader the creature right away. He suggests you leave the visual reveal until later on, or even until the climax.

 

[FifthView]

Yeah you have mentioned showing what the monsters do in an earlier point also.

I think the vagueness/withholding key information about a threat could be expanded to include many things however. Like the first season of 24: There may be a mole in Jack Bauer's unit but we don't know who it is. Or, say, in a book people around the MC keep dying in mysterious ways.

 

[Heliotrope]

20. Red Herrings.

If you have a mystery, make a list of 'traits' about your culprit. So for example, my culprit is a child, she has dark hair, she is an orphan and was wearing a blue shirt.

So at the crime scene they may find that the culprit had to fit through a rather small window in order to get in, there is a blue thread attached to a loose nail, a strand of long dark hair is found in the corner, and dirty smudges were left on the glass.

Through out the story, leave Red Herrings for the reader to confuse them. Include another character in the story who also has long dark hair, another who wears blue regularly, another who is an expert thief called "tiny" because of his small stature, etc.

Keep the reader guessing.

 

[Heliotrope]

21. Sexual tension.

I can't believe this didn't come before # 20!

Sexual tension is great in romance, but it can be used across the board. Why not give some of your characters some "history"? That romance that just didn't work out? This works especially nicely if one character fills the antagonist role, like in Oceans 12 where the detective hunting down Ocean and his team happens to be an ex-girlfriend of one of the team members.

If any one else has ideas I would love to hear them! I'm basically sharing my list for anyone who needs a little tension boost in their story, but this is by no means a comprehensive list, and I would love to hear others thoughts or strategies!

 

[Heliotrope]

21. Posing Questions

Going back to what fifthview was saying, I think it might be categorized as "posing questions to the reader". Present just enough information that it raises questions in the readers mind. This could also be considered "the hook" if it is a big enough question.

Is there a mole?
What just destroyed that park employee and left him dangling on the fence?
What killed that girl in the water?
Who is killing all the woman named Sarah Conners? And why?


Try to raise as many questions as possible.

So for examle, my wip currently opens with a news article about a series of jewellery store burglaries that have been going on. Police believe it is the same suspect, and they are looking for something in particular. They believe the culprit is quite small, and was wearing a blue jacket at the time of the burglary. The culprit also seems to leave a calling card of gold sand, sprinkled in a thin layer through out the stores. The employees of every store have been unavailable to comment, as many have either left town unexpectedly, or have been declared missing by family members. Any information would be appreciated.

So in my first scene I have my MC, crawling into the open window of a jewellery store... But the golden sand is already present, and the jewel cases have already been smashed. The reason her foster father picked the store was because he had noticed it had been empty for a few days. She navigates around the sand, and tries to steal some stuff, but her father is hounding her to hurry up. Finally tired of doing his dirty work, she manages to trap him in the office and pulls the fire alarm, hoping to alert the police. He gets out and chases her, and she throws some of the sand at him. He aprupty disappears.

She is left alone in the jewellery store, with the police quickly on the way... And the sand begins swirling...

Raise questions. Don't give too many answers. The bigger questions you can raise, the more your readers will be on the edge of their seats reading for answers.

 

[FifthView]

Helio, you have 2 #21's!

I particularly like the way "Posing Questions" can be used in tandem with "Red Herrings." Again, S1 of 24 does this very well. We are told that Bauer's unit may have a mole, and then throughout the season we are given reasons to suspect X, Y, Z, etc. might be the mole. (It's also complicated by the fact that there might be more than one plant in his unit.)

By leaving questions in the reader's mind, you can get the reader to try to piece together the puzzle; but you can offer clues that lead to "answers" that turn out to be red herrings.

 

[FifthView]

23. Add a plot twist.

I don't think a plot twist needs to be extreme, totally altering the direction a story is going. Sometimes a plot twist merely expands the story. A reader thinks the story is leading up to point A, and, sure enough, it does; but then a reveal lets the reader know that this story is really about something larger. Point A, which seemed big, becomes merely a stepping stone.

A plot twist can also change the parameters of the goal in an unexpected way, perhaps complicating the goal:

“No, I am your father.” To that point, we'd pretty much been led to expect that Luke would have to confront and defeat Darth Vader. This threw a wrench into the works.

Incidentally, having recently watched those first three Star Wars movies again, I think that "No. There is another" is far, far more shocking. Perhaps this is because I've known about both reveals for so long now. But also, Darth Vader's reveal had been foreshadowed somewhat; at least, the pieces had been laid. But the reveal about that "other" was totally out of the blue. Up until that point, the movies had established Luke's sole role as a type of anointed one. When Yoda says, "No. There is another," this very foundation is almost obliterated.

But Lucas failed in delivering on that stunning reveal. In a way, it was a sort of red herring plot twist. (Used, I think, merely to get Luke out of dangling on that antenna later in the movie, and then for trying to amp up Luke's anger in the third movie.) If it had been a real plot twist, Leia's role as another Skywalker would have been more significant to the resolution of the plot. (OH how I would have loved to see the final fight being Luke & Leia vs Darth Vader & Palpatine!)

 

[Heliotrope]

24. Don't use the first idea you come up with.

This is actually a Pixar tip, and one that ties into what Fifthview is saying.

When you reach a conflict or a plot point, don't use the first idea you come up with. Try to make a list (like I mentioned earlier) of ten possible things that could go wrong. Then stretch your brain to come up with ten more ideas.

If you use the first idea you came up with, chances are that is the first idea the reader came up with… making your piece too predictable.

Even if it takes a few days, try to achieve at least ten alternative possibilities to keep your plot twisting and turning in unpredictable ways.

 

[Heliotrope]

Which then, I guess brings me to:

25. Defy expectations

Your detective walks into the library where he has received a tip that a murderer is hiding out. He surveys the scene. There is a mother and her child in the check out line. A little old lady and a little old man are sitting at the computers trying to check their email unsuccessfully. A large teenager in a hoodie is hiding in the horror section. A middle aged man is drinking a coffee in the back corner. The Detective strides to the back corner…

The little old lady pulls out a gun.

George RR Martin does this successfully when Jon Snow first meets Mance Ryder. He enters the wildling's camp to find it surprisingly un-warlike. He is brought to the tent of the King-behind-the-wall. Inside the scene is, again, not what Jon expected. A grey haired man plays the lute and sings. A pregnant woman roasts a brace of hens. Jon picks out a large bearded man as the king, but he is wrong. The King is the lute player.

If you keep defying your reader's expectations, they will be on the edge of their seat wondering what little surprises you have in store for them next.

 

[Heliotrope]

26. Micro-tension

Micro tension is that line by line, paragraph by paragraph tension that keeps the reader engaged.

I was thinking about structure, and my example of MI2 and how it started by showing the climax, then went back to show how they got there.

The same can be done even just for a single chapter or paragraph. Always try to write sentences that don't quite give the reader all the information so they have to read on...

"I first noticed the gold dust on the night Piper was taken."

- I could then go on to show what happened that night, and end the chapter with 'them' taking Piper.

Or, you could just start the paragraph with a 'hook' or a question…

"Let's get one thing straight. I don't steal because I like it."
(Reader: So why do you do it?)

"The black town car was not where it always was."
(Reader: Where was it? Where was it supposed to be?)


Notice how each sentence creates a small hook... A question in the reader's mind. This is micro-tension.

If you can build your setting description or exposition into micro tension then you can hold your reader, even during boring explaining parts.

Dont' just save your hook sentence for the beginning of the story. Try to scatter them all throughout, line by line, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter.

 

[pmmg]

I failed at 24 a few times.

 

[pmmg]

Just reading through all of these, I think this is an excellent thread, and both Fifth and Helio should be commended as site treasures (course, Helio is not around as much anymore, but....)

Helio's post between 19 and 20 might have me go make one of my monsters less descript....

And I hate no 12. When someone has a secret and wont tell, I start to lose patience with them. That whole 'Trust me, I've got a plan..." does not fly with me. Thought, Clark keeping any from knowing his is Superman, would be a notable exception. In which case, i would want it to hurt him that he cannot.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

There are a bunch of fabulous old threads hanging around in the skein of the forums. As I recall, I think this one formed off of some others. The active members in that period made for some conversations that are rarely rivaled now.

 

[pmmg]

Helio is/was great at starting conversations, which I have no gift for. But members come and go and shift around. MS is still fairly active, so maybe threads like those will pop up again. Last Forum site for me is a ghost town now. But new writers start up everyday, and all us old forum pro's can look all wise when they have questions.