Creating tension.
We all want to write a story that keeps readers hooked right? Where your reader won’t be able to put your book down because they just have to read one more page before they go to bed. We’ve all read stories that are addictive where you are compelled to grab any spare minute you can to continue reading and just feel sad once it’s finished. I recently felt like this over Three Women by Lisa Taddeo based on real women and events but written in a way that made me wish with all the fibres of my being, that it was a work of fiction.
You will know the author has created the perfect level of tension when you can’t quite predict where the story is going to go, when something feels out of reach and you are emotionally invested in the story, characters and scenes which are all carefully curated to maximise this tension.
So how can you go about creating tension in your story;
External conflict
This is the most common storytelling device in creating tension. There will almost always be an external conflict in your story and it’s this that will drive the plot forward. Think about the conflict happening in the protagonist’s world, that is outside of them, an obstacle they must overcome.
Is it with something or someone? It can be anything from a person, to technology, a corporation, society even the supernatural. It’s the ‘them against us’ scenario which keeps the tension alive.
Internal conflict
What is going on inside the protagonist’s mind? What internal battles are they fighting that can’t be seen? What is the thing they most desire in life but are most afraid of? Same for the antagonist.
How can you develop the character’s internal worlds in a way that surprises the reader? For example if the antagonist is bad for want of a better word, giving insights to their interior emotional life in the past or present will help the reader understand them better, maybe this will allow the reader to empathise, if not like the antagonist better.
Pitting the internal conflicts against the external conflicts allows the reader to understand what might drive a person unconsciously to react or act the way they do and that’s exciting because it makes your characters three dimensional, not cardboard cut-outs.
Create Surprise
These are the moments which will leave your reader shocked, thrilled, letdown, happy or any other multitude of emotions but it will never leave your reader apathetic or neutral, if done the right way.
It could be an event which shakes the ground underneath the main character and shocks the reader. It can be a flashback which changes a reader’s perspective on who your character is, what their motives are. Whatever it is, it needs to be unexpected.
Create Suspense
Suspense isn’t just for thrillers and murder-mysteries and is different to a surprise which is a one-off event or interaction that disrupts the story and makes the reader sit up.
Instead suspense is a slow burn of a feeling or sense of foreboding by the reader. As if they know something the main characters are oblivious too. Taking Three Women as an example and Lina one of the three main characters. In a loveless marriage, she runs head first into a relationship with a man who is obviously going to hurt her from the beginning. Yet she is so infatuated with him that I mostly read her story through my fingers, with my heart sinking with each deluded interaction on her part. The suspense was in how her story unfolded. Would she finally comes to her senses or not? I was hooked.
You can also create suspense for a reader by controlling the information released and when. You don’t need to give the reader everything at once, let them wait, it will make your story better.
I hope these tips have been helpful, I’d love to know how you get on.
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