In a post on Writer Unboxed, Tiffany Yates Martin offers advice on creating tension and micro-tension to keep readers turning the pages. “It sounds like a tall order—or a recipe for melodrama—but as the force that gives structure and form to the web you’re weaving, tension belongs in every single thread of your story,” she says.
The trick is having an expansive definition of tension. “Tension doesn’t always mean high drama, high conflict, or even high stakes,” Martin writes. “Perhaps a better way to think of it in weaving it throughout your story is that tension is anything contrary to a character’s (and reader’s) desires or expectations, however minor.”
Tension can be as simple as your MC not receiving a response to a question or getting an unexpected response. It can be an unwanted hug or a moment of forgetfulness. It’s whatever your character doesn’t want or doesn’t expect. But how can you make this happen?
“In improv the golden rule is to meet every suggestion with ‘yes, and,'” Martin writes. “But in scene writing, it’s often more narratively powerful for creating tension to think of it as ‘no, but.'” You can also try layering different types of tension in the same scene: ominous language, physical obstacles or discomfort, a character’s fears or worries. Even when nothing significant happens, the way a scene is presented and the details you choose can create tension.
