Tension

Introduction

As I said in my last post, I am not a writing expert but I am a book reviewer with 200 science fiction and fantasy book reviews under my belt. All that reading and reviewing has taught me a few things about what makes a great book. 

Tension in a Story

Today, I want to focus on the use of tension in a novel. As writers, we aim to evoke an emotional response from our readers. We have many tools in our writer’s toolbox, but none so powerful as tension. A simple way to define tension is the anticipation of what will happen next or later in the story. Tension should cause the reader to ask questions like, will the characters survive? Will he get hurt? What is around the corner or in the next room? Will she get what she wants? Will he fail or succeed? What will happen between those two characters? Will they resolve their differences? Will she resolve her inner tension? These are the kinds of questions that a good book will naturally cause readers to ask because of the tension in the story. 

Tension can be the threat of murder or injury. On the other extreme, it can be the threat of a broken heart. There can also be positive tension such as will the two main characters fall in love? There can even be financial or political tension. 

No Tension

I have reviewed books that have very little tension and boy is it difficult to keep reading. Without tension, books can be just plain boring. One mistake authors often make is to give away everything that is going to happen before it happens. Another mistake I’ve seen far too often is when the author makes the protagonist so strong and smart that he or she wins every battle and is always coming out on top. Authors need to allow their hero to have a weakness and get in trouble from time to time. If a hero wins every time we’ll grow tired of watching him or her. But, if the hero meets her match and is suddenly in trouble, we’ll be glued to the book because we want to see how the tension will be resolved.

First Chapter

I will also add, authors should try to introduce an element of tension in the first chapter, if not the first page. I love it when a book grabs me right away with a strong dose of tension. Many books start off slow and slowly build to the tension. Some authors can pull this off quite well. I am not one of them. And from what I’ve seen, there aren’t many authors who can slowly build up the tension without the beginning of their book seeming to move at a snail’s pace.

Another mistake I see too often is books that start with pages and pages of world-building. By that I mean all the backstory the author thinks you need to know to set the stage for the story. World-building in some form or another is a necessary element for most books, but the beginning of the book is not the place for it. At least not a large amount of it. It seems to work best if you put the bulk of the world-building in chapters 2 or 3 after you’ve established some serious tension in chapter one.

Great Opening Scenes

Here are some examples of books and movies that have fantastic opening scenes with great tension. The opening chapters or scenes for each of these examples make it almost impossible to stop watching or reading. These scenes hook the reader or viewer and make you want to stick around to see what will happen next.

1. Hunger Games (the book)  – We meet Katniss, Gale, and Peeta, learn about the lottery and how horrible the games are, and see Katniss volunteer to be a contestant to protect her sister. All of this happens in chapter one.
2. The Martian (the book) – Mark Watney gets stranded on Mars in chapter one.
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark – One of the most famous opening scenes of all time where Indiana Jones finds and retrieves a priceless artifact and ends up running for his life.
4. Saving Private Ryan – The opening scene of the men fighting on Omaha beach is filled with so much tension you can barely breathe by the time it transitions into the next scene.
5. Up – The opening scene establishes how happy Carl is with his wife Ellie. The scene ends with Carl all alone after Ellie has passed away. Carl’s grief and lack of meaning in life become the tension that must be resolved.
6. Grease (the movie) – It opens with a montage of Danny and Sandy on the beach falling in love over the summer. In the very next scene the song Summer Nights begins and we see that Danny’s personality has flipped. He’s no longer the sweet boy next door that Sandy met at the beach. He is now the cool playboy who cares only about hanging with the boys. There is instant tension when they meet at school. Sandy wants nothing to do with this new Danny but isn’t able to give him up completely. Meanwhile, Danny still loves Sandy but he can’t ruin his reputation. Yes, this is two scenes but it all happens right up front and sets the stage for the rest of the movie or live musical. Ellie and Carl from the movie “Up.”

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The above article first appeared in my weekly newsletter, “Fantastical Worlds.” To receive the newsletter and hear updates on my newest works of fiction as well as articles such as the one above, please follow me at scottcahan.substack.com. All you’ll need to do is type in your email.