Let's talk about tension.

Ok, I had to sleep on this one because I've tried to have this discussion on three separate occasions over the past few years and every single time got shot down in a blaze of glory.

But I'm a glutton for punishment.

Tension is a tricky one to master because it is terribly nuanced. There are so many facets to creating tension, and it changes depending on the type of story you are writing and the writing style.

But I will say this. Tension is NOT action. Stop for a moment and read that again. Tension is NOT action.

A few years back there was a certain philosophy on this site that tension = car chases and fight scenes. The more of these. you had, the more the reader would be turning pages. This is absolutely not true. That is not what tension is. I have no clue where that idea came from... probably film, but in fiction it is not what tension means.

In fiction tension refers to that feeling you get as a reader when questions are raised in your mind.

What will happen next?
How will she get out of this one?
When she find out the truth?
Will she ever get her boyfriend back?

Those questions are what makes reader's keep turning pages. If they are connected enough (care enough) about the character and the plight of the character, you can have basically NOTHING HAPPENING and they will still be riveted. That is because tension runs under the surface. Tension is that bubbling pot of questions in the reader's mind.

You can create this in romance, historical drama, fast paced action thrillers, children books.... everything. On its most basic level the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carl is packed full of tension for kids. Why? The very first line is:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

It is an explicitly stated question. What does he see? Let's turn the page to find out. We are presented with another question. We keep turning pages to find the answers.

In your work you don't need to write explicitly stated questions... but if you are finding that reader's are just not connecting to your work, or having trouble turning pages, there are definite tried and true ways of increasing tension. Methods that have been around for thousands of years. And these methods DO NOT include adding more action.

1) Simply making sure the character's goal is clearly shown is a valuable tool for heightening tension. Having a direct through line of "This is what the character wants"... and "these are the obstacles he will have to face" gives the reader an idea of what might happen, and raises questions of "How are they going to achieve that?"

2) Creating a character that readers really care about is a great way of creating tension. When reader's care about the character... when they really love the character, then they will care what happens to them.

But at the end of the day, simply remembering that tension = questions raised in reader's minds is a good place to start.

What do you think, Scribes?

What are your tried and true ways of creating tension for your readers? What are some methods have you learned that work for you? What is some of the worst advice you have heard in regards to tension?

 

Hmmmm, interesting. I'm wondering how piques interest is different than raising questions?

If I see an interesting scene that piques my interest, I feel like my head is swimming with questions. Who is that guy? What is happening? How will this play out?

 

Example? I’m still thinking, even if I knew exactly what was happening, I don’t know how it will play out.... so there is still the mystery there...

 

Yes, so like dramatic irony, where the reader knows more than the characters?

 

Yeah, so I would still argue that even with dramatic irony, where there is literally ZERO mystery... all the thoughts and motives are on the table... there is still the questions as to the outcome.

Will Paul make it out of this okay? Will he find out about the plan? Will he be able to stop them?
Will Frodo be able to complete this task? Will they figure out the way into the dwarves caves? What will they find in there?

Even if the question get's answered in the same page (they do get into the cave, Gandolf does come back, etc, etc) then there are new questions being raised, which leads you to keep turning more pages.

Etc, etc, etc.

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh, yes. Truth. And as you said, conflict does not necessarily have to be action. It can be as simple as a road block in the way of a quest... a wall. Or a locked door. At any rate, the conflict raises the questions.

 

Totally makes sense to me.

Love this so much.

 

Hmmmm, I think the only way I could coax would be to use gentle examples?

It really bugs me that tension has become synonymous with "ramp up everything bad you can possibly think of until your head explodes" and Make It Worse has become synonymous with Make it Grimdark.

I'm not sure how that happened, but I think the way it is presented has a lot to do with that.

Tension is any underlying, bubbling under the surface question. There is tension in Curious George cartoons. I will use that as an example because it is hardy grim dark, and nothing really bad ever happens to Curious George. Remember, the way I'm explaining tension is tension for the reader, not for the character. So at the beginning of a Curious George story George always wants something. Maybe to make a birthday gift for the man in the yellow hat. George maybe wants to paint him a picture. But... (and here is where they ramp it up... lol), George has no crayons! He lent them to Bill for a project! Oh No! This is, literally, the worst thing that can happen to George in that minute. So he goes to Sally to get some crayons. On his way it rains... and his paper gets wet. Oh dear! Things are really getting bad for George. Will he be able to finish his picture before the man's birthday? Let's keep reading to find out!

That is all tension is. Tension is just the conflict and the questions. It does not have to be Game of Thrones intense. It can be very tame. Very simple stuff.

As far as Make it Worse. That does NOT mean make it Grim Dark. Make it worse just means "make it more complicated".

So maybe a girl goes to break up with her boyfriend. It is already pretty bad. Tears. Angry words.

Could you make it worse? If you are thinking only in terms of yelling and screaming... no. It would be overly dramatic and dumb. But what if the girl showed up to break up with him and he thought she was coming to make up from a fight and he had bough an engagement ring? Maybe he had been saving for a car, but thought she was more important and spent the money on a ring. Maybe he even had made a romantic dinner, and bought her favourite dessert. Here she shows up to dump the guy and crap... This is terrible. That would be pretty bad. Going to break up with a guy you fought with is one thing. Going to break up with a guy who thinks you are the one and just spent his car money on your engagement ring is a whole new ball game.

I hope those examples make sense?

 

I just did the above in my own WIP. For the longest time in my draft I had Andy come home from school after missing the auditions for a major speech competition (because of her dad). She comes home and sees him giving the landlady one of her mother's treasures because he has been having trouble paying rent. Andy is pissed. She is ready to slaughter the guy. Originally she just stomped into the house and gave him what for.

The other night I thought, what if she stomped into the house and he had tried to throw her a "congratulations party"? What if he assumed she would win the contest, had no clue that he delayed her so much that morning that she missed it, and went to all the trouble to make a banner and a cake and get her a gift that he couldn't afford? That would suck. She rushes into the house to fight with him and is faced with all this love. His pride for her is literally hanging from the ceiling. It created some amazing inner conflict.

That was how I made the scene worse.

 

All amazing questions.

I think, to answer them, one must consider the point of the story. The themes. What is the story about. In my case, the story is about the girl and her dad. The relationship. The scene did a ton of extras besides just "making it worse". It showed the inner conflict the girl has for her dad. He is not a bad guy. He is actually a really kind, loving, proud father who is struggling to do what he can for her. He messes up sometimes. She wants him to be perfect and he isn't. That is her character arc. She has to accept that he isn't perfect, and she isn't either. So the scene set all that up for me.

In the past three months I have cut at least five characters from my first draft. Entire story lines, character arcs, relationships, romances. Gone. Delete. Entire "make it worse" scenarios cut. Gone. So that I could simplify and focus on what mattered to the story. The true theme.

You could go crazy bending characters backwards into pretzels, and you may want to... but only if it serves the story you are writing.

So it's not that it is necessary, but thinking about it sometimes helps you to stretch a scene further. Give it more impact. Make it do double duty. Use it as a way to really showcase what you are trying to do with the story. Offer an emotional moment of change and transformation where one maybe didn't exist originally.

The examples are given to show what is possible. Not to say "Do this in your story." You have to know your own story. You have to know where a tool like this could be valuable and where it would be junk. Where it is not necessary.

Sometimes you don't know. Sometimes a moment of inspiration will hit you where it is like an aha moment. Many thousands of words later you may think Oh! That would really heighten the moment! That would really highlight what I'm trying to show here!

I'm not sure you can look at plot and make it worse. I think you can look at themes, and find ways to showcase those themes. To really showcase relationships and character change in different ways. To offer opportunities for inner conflict and growth that don't always have to be negative experiences.

I don't think one can look at plot alone and say where things should be "made worse". I just read a lovely James Herriot story to my son about a stray dog. James Harriot is a small village vet and he sees this dog at the market, begging. He wants to help it, but the little thing is skittish and keeps running away from him. One day the Police officer brings the dog to Mr. Harriet. It has been hit by a car and needs surgery. Now, of course Mr. Harriet is going to do the surgery... but he takes this opportunity to flesh out his wife as a character. Before the police officer comes with the dog he shows that he and his wife were getting ready to go to the horse races. They are getting all dressed up. It is their first afternoon out together in many months. They are usually so busy. Helen has packed a picnic and even bought a new hat... then... oh no! The police officer shows up with this dog. The dog needs surgery. The angelic Helen takes off her hat and gets into her scrubs. She doesn't say a word.

So in this scenario, Mr. Harriot uses a "make it worse" strategy in order to characterize his wife as this angelic being, who never complains, and always does her work dutifully. The scene does a lot of extra things, but he didn't have to add it in. It would have been a perfectly fine story without it. The officer could have just shown up, Harriet done the surgery. There is already enough tension in "Will the dog be okay?" But with it in, it just gives it that little bit extra to the character, and makes you love them both all the more.