I am teaching about creating tension on my latest
courses. Building apprehension in the minds of your readers is one of the most
effective keys to involve them in your story. If you don’t drive the story
forward by making readers worry about your main character, they won’t have a reason
to keep reading.
How do you do it then? Well, readers experience
apprehension when a character they care about is in danger. This doesn’t have
to be a major situation in which the character fights off dragons. It could be
a big family decision, a crisis at work, an emotional quandary.
We need to escalate the tension in our stories and we
do that by promising the reader that something is going to happen then building
up the story until it does. But make sure it does; a promise without fulfillment
is a big let-down for the reader.
Make every word count, put in only details that are
necessary, leave out anything that slows the narrative. Make sure you describe the setting of your story’s climax
before you reach that section of the story. Let the reader know where they are
early on then cut back on description later because it will slow the pace.
As you
build toward the climax, isolate your main character. Make the reader fear for
him/her and experiment with shorter sentences and avoid flowery language to
keep the pace moving.
John Dean
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