Working through the second draft of my novel, one of the biggest areas I found needed more work was in finding ways to add more tension to the story. Specifically, tension for my main character that prompts him into his choices.
Depending on the genre, fiction relies largely on two key elements. Obviously, you need a strong story. But in order to pull readers into that story, you need well-developed characters who make decisions and take action based on what happens around them.
WHAT IS TENSION?
As a general rule, tension in a fictional story is anything that puts a character into a situation that forces action or thought. This can be something as simple as a friend asking him to go play video games after school instead of doing homework, all the way to an arsonist setting a blaze and forcing the character to find a way out.
There are several types of tension when it comes to fiction writing.
Physical tension is just what is says. This is when a character faces some sort of physical challenge. Physical tension includes anything relating to the body (health concern, wounds of some kind, a physical fight with someone, etc). This can also be a character relying on physical skills, either positively or negatively. Examples might be a baseball player trying to muster up one last hit to lead his team to a championship, or a soldier relying on his physical skills to escape capture.
Psychological and emotional tension involve stressing a character’s thoughts and emotions. This can be the result of physical tension (recovering after an accident), or purely from emotional trauma (the death of a loved one). This type of conflict adds not only tension, but also depth to the character as a whole. Readers see how the character responds to a stressful situation making him more likable, or more hated depending on the character.
Spiritual tension utilizes a character’s belief system. This can be anything from someone questioning whether they believe in God, or an antagonist justifying criminal activity through their religious beliefs. For many, spiritual beliefs drive their actions. By forcing characters into tense situation that make them question, or even go against, their beliefs, readers make connections to times in their own lives where they have relied on, or struggled with, belief systems.
HOW TO STRESS YOUR CHARACTERS
Adding more tension to a fictional work is part of the “show, don’t tell” adage. This is where writers need to create believable scenes and show readers how characters react. Readers want to visualize the action, not simply be told how the character acted. There’s a big difference between being able to visualize a character escaping from a burning building versus the author simply saying, “He crawled out a window and was safe.”
In my book, the antagonist isn’t a human; it’s an illness. For my characters, the narrative tension comes from how they interact with each other and the physical and psychological impacts of the illness. While I won’t have action scenes with fights or chases, I have to put my characters into situations that will stress them mentally and emotionally.
When it comes to adding tension to your fiction, there are some common methods that add more depth and variety to your scenes.
1. Put your character in unfamiliar settings
When you’re in your comfort zone, you feel safe. Whether you’re at home, with friends, or in a place you enjoy traveling, certain locations provide energy and security. But, when you leave that comfort zone, your anxiety rises. You feel stressed.
For your characters, this is the same thing. When they’re at home or doing familiar things, their motivation to act is minimal. They don’t want to leave their comfort zone. But, if you put them in different places by leading the narrative towards new challenges, your characters experience tension. They must learn to navigate their new surroundings, and then make decisions about how to return to safety.
2. Surround your characters with different people
Another way we get out of a comfort zone is when we interact with new people. For extroverts, this might not be quite as big of a jump, but still takes time to feel comfortable around new people. And if you’re an introvert, forget about it. Having to make small talk in a room full of strangers causes hives.
In your story, adding new people to your characters’ lives adds another layer of tension. They will have to learn to talk to each other. But more importantly, characters must to make emotional (and sometimes physical) connections with each other. This type of tension gives readers a deeper attachment to characters.
3. Add plot twists
In our own lives, things don’t always go as expected. There are times when, no matter how much we plan, something goes wrong. There are also surprises that catch us off guard, and tragedies that completely shut us down.
While you’ll have a basic narrative arc in your story, adding an occasional twist provides readers with an unexpected moment of tension. These twists force your characters to make different types of decisions. Twists can be an unexpected event. Or, one of my favorites is having your character act in an unexpected way. When a normally good kid ends up in the back of a police car, tension increases not only for the character, but for the kid’s parents and friends wondering what happened.
4. Make the stakes higher
In everyday life, many of the choices we make aren’t life and death decisions. What you eat for supper won’t kill you, unless you have severe allergies or choke on something. But if you choose to drive drunk after having dinner, the potential consequences are much higher. Some choices naturally have higher stakes.
For your characters, upping the consequences of their choices adds significant tension to the story. Choosing to go to a movie doesn’t have much impact. But choosing to skip school or work to go to that movie can have greater consequences for the character (like the boss finding out and the character gets fired). These high stakes moments help keep readers engaged and vary the narrative.
WHY FICTION NEEDS TENSION
While it might seem ideal to live in a world where everything always goes as expected, and you never have to make difficult choices, we know that’s just not the way the life works. Things happen. We have to react and make decisions. And, unfortunately, sometimes those choices go bad.
The same is true in fiction. No matter what world you set your characters, readers expect some level of tension. Reading a story where everything always goes right is flat out boring. We want books to mimic real life. By adding more tension, you add depth to your story. You force characters to grow and learn. And, ultimately, the choices and results of tension throughout the story lead to the final resolution.
**As a reader, what are your favorite ways authors add tension to a story? As a writer, how can you add more tension to your stories?**
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