Tension In Your Novel: Engaging Your Reader

We become better writers when we understand the distinction between writing a dramatic situation and instilling actual tension.

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A dramatic situation is just that - a problem or set of circumstances that the character encounters.

However, tension is more about how the world within our novel reacts to the dramatic situation - or what happens in relation to it.

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Example: In my upcoming novel, Cinnamon Moon, there is a six year old girl who disappears.  That is the dramatic situation. It's good to have, but it doesn't compel the reader forward because there is no real emotional problem or relational strain, other than people being worried. I mean, if she goes missing on page 68, I can't really whine about it for the next 150 pages without annoying my reader. It's important to introduce the dramatic situation - but it's not enough.

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What makes for actual tension? When the girl, Nettie, is found and chooses not to leave the very dangerous circumstance she is in. That creates tension. Our reader knows she is in real trouble, and that she is too young to protect herself - but that she is unwilling or unable to get away. Hopefully, knowing that is enough to keep the reader engaged. How can you save someone who needs help but doesn't realize it? Will she ever realize it? What will happen to her in the meantime -she's just a little girl, after all.

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Another example: Let's say you're writing about a murder. We will put our character in a rose garden - dead sometime before 10:00 am.  That's the dramatic situation. There's a dead body for heaven's sake! It doesn't get more dramatic than that. Still, it's not enough. You can write all the details of the situation and it would take you a whopping two pages - at best. You need to introduce some sort of tension to compel your reader forward.

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In this case, let's say the neighbor saw the gardener show up at 1:00pm.  And then we notice how the grass is perfectly mowed, except where her legs were sprawled out from the rose bed...that area was just "mowed around".  Cue tension.  It is an unexpected response that the reader feels an emotional need to resolve.  

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And another example: Maybe we're writing an angsty YA novel where - at one point - our main character finds himself standing on a bridge at midnight, contemplating suicide.  That's our dramatic situation.  It's important, but it's finite. He jumps or he doesn't - either way, the situation will be essentially over in a couple of pages. So, we build tension into the story by having our character standing on the edge of the bridge, toes inching off, when he suddenly hears a soft voice singing his favorite gospel song out of the darkness. He can't see the person singing - doesn't recognize the voice -and no one answers when he calls out. Still, it saves his life that night.  See how that unexpected turn creates tension? The reader must know who the singer was...how she knew his favorite gospel song...how she knew he was on the bridge at that moment...why she didn't respond or show her face. Who is it!? And how will she play into our story?

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For many years I thought having a dramatic situation was enough. When I teach writing, I see students make the same mistake. We insert a tragic situation and assume it is enough to keep our reader turning pages. Sadly, we are mistaken.  We must ask ourselves: what now? What can we interject that feels unnerving to the reader and keeps them up long past bedtime, seeking a resolution?

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I guess it can be summed up like this: A dramatic situation may make our reader worried or sad - but instilling tension makes them feel an unsettling curiosity that is far more powerful. 

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What do you think? What ways have you found to create this type of emotional tension that compels your readers forward? What books do you know that use this technique well? Sharing helps us all learn :)
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