So, the last few weeks we’ve been talking about Character change – bringing him through the various steps, until he’s finally on his knees, (black moment) realizes what he needs to sacrifice to change, (epiphany) accepts the truth, and then emerges a new man to test his resolve and fight his final battle. Awesome. Lot’s of great theory and structure there. Now, let’s get specific with scene building for a bit here. We’ve already covered Scenes and Sequels (go to the articles section to read more) as well as action objectives. We’ve also talked about sizzling dialogue, paring your backstory to a minimum, and using strong sensory words to create mood. So let’s talk about how you put those elements together. It’s about beat, and drawing the reader […]
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Tension Toolbox
I meant to post yesterday, Friday, but the day got away from me. Sorry, team. This is our final post on tension for now. No promises about the future. What mechanical ways can we show tension in our writing? Word choice. Short sentences. Entering the scene late, exiting early. Let’s try a scene: The wind blowing over the prairie was hot and dry as Mikaila urge her horse forward, scraping her fingers through her long blonde hair. Her cornflower blue eyes caught sight of a billowing cloud of dust rising from the horizon line, a mushroom from the earth, she thought. Wonder who it might be? She let her mind drift toward Cole who waited for her back at the ranch. They’d fought, about nothing. But she speed away on […]
Read the RestWhere’s my knife? I want to cut the tension.
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 RestThe 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 […]
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