Which of the following sentences shows more
tension to you?
"The bomb will go off in a month, we have plenty
of time to disarm it. Hey, do you want to play a
round of golf?"
Or
"My god, look at the timer. Ten seconds and the
bomb goes off. We'll never get away. We're going
to die."
Which of the following sentences shows more
conflict to you?
"Full house? Wow, you win Jim. Want to play
another hand?
Or
"Jim, you cheatin' snake, these cards are marked,"
Sam growled as he pulled out a gun from his
waistband. "Give me back by twenty grand or I'll
blow your damn head off."
Virtually every story needs some kind of conflict
and tension. They spice things up and make the
story more interesting to readers.
You can find them
in the earliest children's books. The Little Engine
That Could, where a train engine struggles to climb
a steep hill. Jumanji, where the children struggle
to complete the game and avoid injury and death.
Cinderella, where the main character must
contend with her evil stepmother and stepsisters.
Conflict, and its resolution, is what makes people
want to turn the page to see what happens next. Conflict can occur between many aspects of a story.
It can happen between characters, the proverbial
"Good Guys" and "Bad Guys." Between characters
and nature, as in the The Perfect Storm and
Moby Dick.
Conflict can even occur between one
character. "I want to do it, but I know I shouldn't,
but I can't help myself."
Giving deadlines, like with the bomb timer above,
can create tension. A deadline for a project,
something that must be done before the eclipse is
over, the floodwaters are rising, a tsunami is
approaching and so on.
Tension can also be created
when nothing is happening. Remember how you felt
watching the news during a hostage situation, or
waiting to see if anyone survived the crash of an
airliner?
Tension can also be created with fast
action, when disaster can happen at any moment.
People love this.
Why do you think people are
riveted to their television when the news is showing
a live high-speed chase? Ask yourself, what is the
worst thing that can happen, and then write it. The
choices for creating tension are endless.
When used properly conflict and tension make a
story interesting, and move the story line along at a
fast pace, which keeps the reader mesmerized. So
hurry up, write something now, time is running out.
Jeff Colburn is a freelance writer who specializes in business writing, articles and genre fiction. His books, The Writer's Dictionary Of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Mythology and
The Youngest Ninja, can be purchased from his site, The Creative Cauldron.
The Creative Cauldron is a site filled with information for writers, photographers, artists and other creative people.
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