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 Action/Adventure: September 06, 2017 Issue [#8483] |
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  Action/Adventure This week: The Tension of a Rubberband Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading   More Newsletters By This Editor   1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions 
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Tension raises the stakes for your character and adds excitement. Tension and conflict raise the emotional level of the text and forces the reader to become involved in the story. 
Tension hooks the reader and keeps him/her turning the pages. So, how do we keep that rubber band taught, the action immanent. Consider the following twists and turns to keep the rubber band tight, without snapping it. 
The clock is ticking. A time limit presents automatic pressure. If your character has to reach her goal by a certain time, or fail, the stakes are raised from the beginning of the story. If you then place unforeseen obstacles in your character's way, all the better. The clock can provide mental tension with a personal goal to accomplish, emotional tension where the character will be embarassed or shamed if the goal is not timely met, or impending danger, where harm will come to either the character or someone he/she cares for - once the time is up.
Conversations between characters can increase tension in both subtle and overt ways. If your protagonist wants something from the other character but doesn't want that character to know, tension underlies the seemingly innocent conversation. Another character may want information from your protagonist, who sidesteps the issue. Or, the dialogue can be openly confrontational. In any case, the exchange pushes the story to the next part of the adventure.
Pacing the adventure, making it stretch and release. Each time there's a crisis, the pace speeds up. Once the crisis is solved there is a momentary respite before the next challenge is encountered and the tension increases once again until all challenges have been met and the tension rises to the climax of the story or verse.. 
Keep it tight. Stretch the rubber band with tight, short sentences with active verbs that speak tension, i.e., "Run!" as opposed to "Let's get out of here." Hear the difference. The urgency in the first as opposed to the relaxed pace of the second example (which does work in the release after the crisis is resolved). 
