A great story is more than a tight plot or a loveable character. If we want to keep our readers hooked and turning the page, it’s essential to know how to create tension in our writing. In this post, I will explain why tension is so important to creative writing as well as share a few simple (but punchy) tricks to enhance the tension in your own story and elevate its readability.
What is tension in writing and why does it matter?
Tension is, in a nutshell, the play of opposites: something pushes one way, while something else pushes another way. In our writing, tension generates interest in our readers because they want to see how things play out. Tension is what’s below the surface of a scene; it’s why our readers care about what happens.
Tension vs. plot: What’s the difference?
Plot is everything that happens on the surface; it’s what your characters say and do, how the story proceeds and how everything resolves. An example of a plot would be: Character A goes to the bank, withdraws some money, buys a lottery ticket, and doesn’t win.
Tension is what lurks below the surface of the plot; it’s what motivates our characters and drives our readers to connect emotionally with them. An example of tension added to the above plot (see parentheses) would be: Character A goes to the bank (they only have $10 remaining in their account and this is a secret they have been keeping from their husband/wife), withdraws some money (they are withdrawing everything they have), buys a lottery ticket (feeling lucky, they spend everything they have just withdrawn), and doesn’t win (they now need to find a way to get more money fast, and/or explain to their husband/wife what has happened).
Plot on its own is dimensionless. Plot + tension is a story.
How to create tension in your writing
If you want to craft a gripping story, you need to know how to generate, maintain, and (ultimately) relieve tension. Luckily, there are some very simple tricks you can learn to make sure your writing stays engaging and keeps your reader hooked.
Estabish tension from the get-go
If you want to make sure your story or novel grabs your reader’s attention from the very start, you must establish tension as quickly as possible. In order to do this, you must understand your main character’s inner world: what is their backstory, what do they want, and how do the actions of the plot make them feel?
In our example of Character A and the lottery ticket, the backstory is that Character A is almost broke (and you as the writer must also decide how that happened: did they gamble it all away? Have they needed to pay some expensive medical bills? Did they recently buy a house?). What Character A wants is more money (and you also need to know why they want more money: to feel secure? Because their husband/wife has been bothering them about it? Because they were poor growing up and they dread returning to that state?). When Character A does not win the lottery, this makes them feel devastated and possibly hopeless, and (most importantly) it drives the story forward because they now need to figure out what to do.
How to maintain tension throughout your story
It’s not enough to craft a brilliant tension-inducing opening chapter; to keep readers engrossed, you need to make sure there is always at least a little bit of tension below the surface. Remember that tension is the strain between opposites, and so to maintain tension in your writing you need to make sure that your main character is always clashing with their world at least a little bit.
One common mistake I see writers make here is that they set up other characters and situations in their story intended only to serve the advancement of the plot. Yes, this may keep things moving forward, but it doesn’t generate any tension and it doesn’t keep your readers gripped.
For example: in our Character A story, they need to buy their lottery ticket from another person in a shop. You could easily have this other person be a non-entity, simply selling them the lottery ticket without much comment at all. That serves the plot, but it doesn’t generate any tension, and the scene is so flat that it risks driving away your readers.
A way to fix this would be to make it so that the lottery ticket seller doesn’t want to sell them the ticket! Maybe they’ve seen Character A in their shop many times before and they are worried about their gambling addiction. Maybe they disagree with gambling on a moral or religious level. Or maybe they hate their job and/or their boss, and so everything they do at work is slow and grumpy. And remember, Character A really wants that ticket! Now, instead of this scene being a straightforward moment of buying the ticket and not winning, Character A needs to persuade the seller to let them buy the ticket… and then they have to deal with the humiliation of not winning after having made such a big deal out of it.
I’ll say it again: plot alone is flat. Plot + tension is a STORY.
Tricks for relieving and rebuilding tension in your story
It’s important to remember that tension can also become boring if it is never relieved. Just like we need to create a plot with twists and turns to keep our readers interested, we have to make sure there are emotional ups and downs to our story as well.
Coming back to Character A, let’s imagine what happens when they return home. They’re worried about explaining the situation to their partner. But their partner is confident in their financial standing (they earn a good salary in their own job) and they forgive Character A for what they have done. Character A is immensely relieved (and so are the readers of the story). But wait. Their partner suddenly finds out they’ve lost their job, and now the tension has returned. And maybe their partner doesn’t want to tell Character A about this new development, because they’ve just put so much energy into reassuring Character A and insisting that everything will be fine…
And so on. You see how, when you’re paying attention to tension, stories almost write themselves!
Key things to keep in mind when it comes to tension in your story
- Every scene should have at least two levels: what’s happening on the surface, and the emotional tension below the surface
- If a scene in your story lacks tension, consider how you can adjust circumstances so that they are more in opposition to your main character. Don’t make the way forward through the plot easy for them!
- Don’t forget to find little ways to relieve tension (and then quickly add it back in again!)
Maria Hummer 