Knowing how to build tension in writing is an important aspect of executing any novel. I think of tension as a product of a character’s inner state conflicting with reality or some sort of external obstacle. But of course, there are lots of other ways in which tension can be created, sustained, or destroyed. Learning how to manipulate this feeling will help you create a more entertaining and gripping story for your readers. This blog will provide you with some tips for learning to be in control of this all-important element.
Why Should I Learn How to Build Tension in Writing?
Tension is important because it makes it more likely that readers will emotionally invest in your story. When there’s nothing on the line, then why should your readers care about what happens to the characters? You want people to sympathize with at least one of your protagonists. The tension that you communicate through the character’s words and actions should elicit the same sort of feeling in your readers, and it will keep them wanting to read more until that tension is relieved. Being in control of how much tension is in one scene to the next will allow you to manipulate emotion expertly.
Tips for Creating Tension
1. Create conflict that makes sense for your characters
Conflict should arise in a variety of ways. You will need inner conflict, such as a character’s inner battle with their faith, and you need external conflict, such as the church’s rejection of the character. Conflict does not necessarily mean that there will be tension, but it is one of the main ingredients. Without it, it’s hard to imagine a world in which the tension we create will be palpable. Things have to mean things for the characters for readers to care. There has to be something on the line.
2. Manipulate pace
Pacing is a difficult thing to grasp. A lot of times, pace isn’t something we have to deliberate, it arises naturally as a result of our story’s direction and premise. But one thing you can be sure you have control over is the sentence length. Varying sentence length is a great way to communicate tension or suspense. For example:
The man approached the young woman with his hand behind his back. She could see him through the corner of her eye, but she didn’t move. She stood completely still behind the dresser, trying to control her breathing so he wouldn’t hear her.
Versus
The man approached the young woman with his hand behind his back. He was holding something. A knife? A gun? She couldn’t tell. Her heartbeat thumped in her ears. She held her breath. Her weight shifted forward slightly. The floorboards creaked. He rounded the corner. She closed her eyes…
3. Create characters with conflicting motives and goals
Characters who have goals that are at odds with each other are the breeding grounds for tension. If character X wants to marry Character Y’s sister, and character Y doesn’t want them to, then well, when each of the characters tries to get their way, the tension will inevitably ramp up. When that tension is relieved, we will have a resolution that may not satisfy both parties; or perhaps it will in different ways. But then when you sprinkle in other characters and their motives as well, then you have a very complicated weave of desires that you can leverage to create suspense.
4. Add new obstacles
Let’s take the example of a character having an immediate health crisis. They need life-saving treatment right away. Well, maybe they get stuck in traffic. Then, once they manage to figure out an alternate route, they find out that the hospital they were going to was bulldozed. They get on track to another hospital nearby, but they are told that the wait times are hours on end.
You could go on like this forever. In moments that are as urgent as the example above, you can make things interesting by adding new obstacles. You can relieve the tension very briefly, a false resolution, only to make things far more tense than they were before. This is how you raise the stakes. You make the character jump through hoops to get something they desperately need, otherwise, they face a very grim and unsatisfying consequence.
5. Create background noise
Background noise refers to the things that are going on in a character’s life that aren’t directly related to the scene that you’re currently reading. So the reader might know that the character’s business is failing and they are on the verge of bankruptcy, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that the character is running late for a date with the woman of his dreams. However, because we know that this is the reality of the character’s life, it adds an element of necessity; we as readers want to see something right for them, and having these background elements established can allow you to create more tension naturally.
Conclusion
Almost any story will have tension, even more relaxed and slice-of-life ones. The tension that your readers experience depends on the nature of your story, but also on how well you understand when it should happen and how you can maximize it. The tips above should help you detect these situations better so you can make the most of your rising tension and falling action.
Comments