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Saggy Scene Series: The ONE Easy Trick to creating Scene Tension

By on July 14, 2014 in 6. Search by Series:, b. Building a Scene, Extreme Book Makeover, How do I write Tension?, Saggy Scene Solutions, Susan May Warren, writing tension

Build in a Fear of Failure!

I am a closet SciFi junkie, and my current love affair is Falling Skies. I’ve been with them from the beginning and to be honest, I love the show not for the Sci-Fi, but for the characters. In short, I love the hero, and his three sons, and want them to survive.

I care about these Sympathetic Characters.

Which is why I found myself at the edge of my seat during last week’s episode. The hero, Tom Mason (played by Noah Wylie) and his oldest son, Ben, are trapped in a prison camp and need to escape. They’ve devised a wild plan to break through the electrical walls that holds everyone prisoner.

I realized the episode was fantastic when I found myself on my feet at the end of it.

Here’s the play of events – the hero has to distract the bad guys (skitters, or very large alien bugs) and get them to a building they’ve rigged to blow. In the meantime, Ben has to gather up all the prisoners and get them into the tunnels near their escape route. Finally, a third group, incidentally, a motley crew of soldiers who hate each other, has to climb over the wall with this homemade electric-repelling suit to get to the power supply and take down the electric wall.

If you are a fan and haven’t seen the episode, stop reading here.

The plan begins perfectly – Tom kills a guard, which brings out a horde of bugs, who chase him (he’s on a motorcycle) through the city, away from the escapees.

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Saggy Scene Solutions: Use Goals versus Obstacles to create tension!

By on July 1, 2014 in 7. Search by Author:, b. Building a Scene, How do I write Tension?, Susan May Warren, writing tension

I’ve been on the phone a lot this summer, helping my clients brainstorm scenes. One of the biggest issues I see in ACT 2 is the struggle to set up a scene correctly and create reasonable tension to drive a reader through the scene.

Last week we talked about how to set up a scene. Today, we’re going to talk about how to use the combination of Goals against External and Internal Obstacles to create tension.

In Act 2, it’s essential that each scene have tension. Many people confuse tension with obstacles. Obstacles do not cause tension unless they stand in the way of something someone WANTS for a Very Good Reason.

My son just got back from football camp, so we have football fever around here. Which means it’s time for a football metaphor. The push FORWARD of the offense is the WANT (motivation) and GOAL (a first down!) of the character.

The Defensive line is/are the obstacles that push BACK against the character. You must have both to create tension.

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Extreme Book Makeover: 7 Key Ingredients to Creating Powerful Scene Tension

By on May 12, 2014 in 6. Search by Series:, b. Building a Scene, Editing Basics, Extreme Book Makeover, How do I write Tension?, Susan May Warren, writing tension

I watched the season finale of Once Upon a Time last night (*warning! Spoilers!*) and it was one of the best episodes in the series. Why? The tension! The plot was simple – the heroine, who’d finally found her happy ending with her family, accidentally fell back into time, and thwarted the epic, historical meeting of her parents. She pulled a “Back to the Future” and erased her future.

What does she want? To return home and live happily with her family. Her goal – make sure her parents met, somehow. Why? Because after a horrible childhood, she’s finally found a home. What’s at stake? Her life – and her son’s life.

And…standing in her way is the Evil Queen (as well as the lack of magic needed to open the time portal.)

Great set up for the episode – and even better, it makes for exactly the right ingredients to talk about how to create powerful tension in a story – and especially how to keep your Act 2 tension from saggy by creating tension in every scene.

Let’s start a definition of tension. Obstacles and Activity are not Tension. Tension is derived from a sympathetic character, who wants something, for a good reason, and who has something to lose, who then creates a specific, identifiable goal, only to run up against compelling, powerful obstacles, which then creates the realistic fear of failure.

In other words, the MBT Scene Tension Equation.

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Conversations: Build the foundation of a great scene

By on October 15, 2012 in b. Building a Scene, Editing Basics, How do I start my Scene?, How do I write Tension?, Susan May Warren, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist, writing tension

Sally was waiting for me as I walked into the coffee shop.  The fallen leaves chased me inside and Kathy handed me a spicy pumpkin latte, with whip and a layer of caramel.  I sat down at the table and couldn’t help note the frown on Sally’s face. “What?” “It’s just boring.”  Her hand rested on a stack of printed manuscript papers. “I mean, the story is good…in my head. But it seems to lack…well, let’s put it this way; my husband fell asleep somewhere between page 87 and 103.” “Oh my,” I said, sipping the latte.  Just the right balance of whipped crème sweetness and pumpkin pie spice.  “So, what do you think is the problem?” “He says I have a great story, with great storyworld and fun dialogue and even […]

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