Tension is a key element in storytelling. It’s that strain and uncertainty that hooks the reader. What’s making that creaking sound? Will the hero save the world? Can the kidnapped boy escape before the villain returns? Will the heroine ever recover from the spell the witch cast or is she doomed forever?
Putting your characters in peril pulls your reader into the story and makes it interesting. When there’s no tension, stories can feel flat or boring. But how do you add tension to a story?
Tension is the result of complications. How that tension manifests is through stakes (which we will cover in the next blog). Each story will have its own set of complications to test the characters and they can run the gamut from tiny (will he ask me to the dance?) to enormous (can we save the planet from the inevitable robot invasion?).
It seems counter-intuitive, but readers care more about characters who are pushed and made to struggle than those who are not. Happy characters don’t engage readers unless there is an underlying conflict to hold their attention. This tension can arise from a few sources. For example, a conflict could happen if a character’s code of honor is in opposition to an act he is being pushed into or forced to do. An example of this would be Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. He is told by nearly everyone he must kill the Fire Lord, but killing goes against his strict moral code. His conflict comes from the tension between his beliefs and the expectations being forced upon him.
Another example could be a character who is pitted against another person or a group. Or a character facing an external force, like a natural disaster.
Tension happens whenever the protagonist is forced to choose between two conflicting sides. It also happens when a character is forced to face what is as opposed to what she wants.
It may be opposing viewpoints (think political drama here) or wrestling with inner demons to do the right thing. Any situation that causes conflict between what the character wants or believes and what is happening will work.
The definition of tension is to be stretched tight (like a cable under tension) or to be under mental or emotional strain. Both work for fiction. The first type of tension plays well in physical situations where a cable might break and send your character plunging to his death and the second should refer to your character’s state of mind throughout much of your novel (everything after the inciting incident, at least).
There are many ways to insert tension into your story on both the micro and macro level. Here are a few:
Add Foreboding
Foreboding alerts your character that bad things are on the way. It’s not specific, like foreshadowing, but it does set the mood for danger. This primes your readers for all things scary and can turn the everyday into something sinister. Foreboding sets the stage for heightened tension.
Sudden Change
People don’t like change, particularly when that change happens unexpectedly. One way to raise tension in the reader is to spring changes on the character without explanation. Have your character muddle through and try to make sense of it as she goes. This allows your readers to feel the pressure too. Only use this device if it makes sense in your story and for your character. It must be organic to your story to work.
Block Progress
Your character should want something in every scene. Blocking her progress will increase the tension in the story. This is a way of raising the stakes, which we’ll discuss in detail in the next blog. The more emotionally tied your character is to the goal, the higher the tension will be when she fails to achieve it.
Show Inner Struggle
Add conflict within the character herself. She should be struggling with her actions, her past, her future wants. Have her question her path forward or her ability to survive. The stress from all the conflict and rising stakes should manifest emotionally and physically for your character.
Root Tension in Your Character
All the tension should come from internal struggle, no matter how big the stakes. Even if you are telling a woman-against-nature survival story, you need to show the internal struggle of what is happening as well as the physical strain. Show your character’s fears, flaws, weaknesses, issues and beliefs.
Play Up Consequences
Don’t just put your character in danger. Add consequences for failing to reach a goal. Use failure to raise the stakes and pressure.
Use Your Words
Tension shows in the words used to describe these types of situations. Vocabulary changes under stress. Speech becomes clipped and people hold themselves differently. Change the words you use to describe these scenes to show the struggle and torment.
Delay Things
It could be information or acts. Forcing your character to wait for things adds pressure to the timeline and allows readers to feel that tension too. Make them all wait for a resolution, if it suits your story. Just be careful to not kill your pacing with this tip. Waiting can turn dull without much effort.
Fall Back on Causality
The key to tension is to have a bad thing happen, have your character react, and then act. Then repeat the process. It’s cause and effect on a grand scale. One thing leads to another and another and another until the climax.
Add in Uncertainty
Have your readers questioning the outcome. Don’t let it be like some television shows when you know the hero will be fine because they have to come back next week. Follow the Game of Thrones model and test that complacency. Or go smaller and add uncertainty to smaller conflicts.
Vary Degree
Not everything has to be done at maximum level. Sometimes adding in tiny pockets of tension can help keep the pressure on without burning out your reader. Add in various degrees of tension throughout your story.
The next blog will discuss raising stakes in your story for even greater tension.