Yesterday we talked about the importance of tension in our stories. Here are a couple of definitions: a balance maintained in an artistic work between opposing forces or elements, or the act or action of stretching or the condition or degree of being stretched to stiffness. Tension holds the story taunt. It is the element that makes a story compelling. Once we introduce the story question and problem, it is the tension that keep the reader turning pages. Most of the time, writing books use suspense or thrillers to show wanna be authors how to create tension. I say, “Not fair.” Come on, “Silence of the Lambs,” are you kidding me? Of course there’s tension. But I write romance, or romantic suspense, or women’s fiction. Think about your own life. […]
Read the Rest
About Rachel Hauck
Author Archive | Rachel Hauck
The Tension Was So Thick, I Could Puff It Away
Ever read a book where the tension just did not deliver? Conflict was set up, devastation delivered then all resolved on the next page, or worse, the next paragraph? Yeah, me too. Tension is that part of the story telling that keeps the reader on edge. Conflict ebbs and flows, devastation is resolved, or handled, perhaps escalated, but tension is the one element we must maintain. In our physical world, we use tension to keep a cable or rope taunt. No trapeze artist wants to walk on a lose high wire, right? It’s the tauntness of our stories that hold it together. But most of us don’t like tension. We don’t want to walk into a room and get the cold shoulder or get ignored. The stiff remarks between family […]
Read the RestCrossing the first Threshold
Many times in life we are challenged – challenged with change, with stepping out, leaving our comfort zones. I believe to be effectual for the Kingdom of God, we have to step out of ourselves and trust Him. I mean, who wants to pray for the crippled man in the supermarket? How embarrassing. But if the Spirit whispers, “Pray for him,” then we must step out, over come our fear and do it. It’ll be worth it! It’s the same for our fictional characters. We drive them to a place of fear or doubt, then have the leap out in “faith” to overcome. Peter boldly beckoned Jesus to call him out of the boat to walk on the turbulent water. Jesus saw his faith and said, “Come.” Look at what […]
Read the RestThe Power of Point of View Part 2
Yesterday, we talked about Point of View, and started a discussion over on Voices. Be sure to let us know if you have any POV questions. To recap, point of view refers to the character “telling” the story. We can only know what he/she sees, hears and feels. If the story is being told in first person, then the protagonist does most of the talking. 🙂 A story can have more than one POV in first person, but the character voices must be unique. In third person, the author has more opportunity to open up the story and allow the reader to see the action from different “angles.” Talking to my Thomas Nelson editors once, I learned they like third person because of the versatility where sometimes first person can […]
Read the Rest
