Ratcheting the Tension

Let's talk tension. No, not the way your back and shoulders feel after watching the news, but the dramatic tension in your stories. 

We're all taught that the best (or at least easiest) way to build tension in your stories is with a ticking time bomb. Have you found this to be effective for you? Examples from your work?

Peter G: I avoid the ticking clock as much as possible. Or, at least, limit its presence. My Hannah Singer books, for example -- there is a sort of ticking clock when Hannah is arguing in court. Once a petitioner's fate is decided, there's no do-overs, so she only has one chance to get it right. But, to ratchet up the tension, that's where the trial arguments come in. I intentionally make the stories where she gets the toughest cases, so the tension comes from seeing if Hannah can figure out what is going on AND can circumvent it. Telling the stories in first person and walking the readers through her mental processes helps. As a result, the tension shifts from getting something done in a certain amount of time and over to how smart she is.

Bobby Nash: I have used figurative and literal ticking bombs in stories. Putting a clock on solving a problem is a great way to ratchet up tension for the characters and readers. Knowing something bad is coming and they are no closer to solving it can make characters snap, lash out, or go introspective. Those things radiate out to the reader.

In Snow Hunt, Snow and his former C.O., a bomb disposal expert, are trying to catch a bomber who has been hired to assassinate someone of importance. They know the general where, the how, and the who. The tension comes in finding the bomb, which could be hidden almost anywhere in the conference center. Then, there’s tension when it’s found. Can we diffuse it in time? Then, there’s tension in trying to catch the bad guy before he gets away. There are several opportunities for tension in those scenes.

Sean Taylor: For me, it has always been the simple question of "will they" or "won't they." That's my ticking clock, and I have till the end of the story to resolve it. This can be a life-or-death situation, such as will they catch the killer or will they escape the death trap, as in my pulp stories. It can also be a more subdued, normal situation, such as will they fall in love or will they be able to reconcile. But regardless of the question, if it has the power to drive the narrative, it will have the power to build tension regarding its answer. 

If the ticking time bomb is Tension 101 for you, what are the 200-level methods you use to increase and tighten the tension in your stories?

James Tuck: I made my sentences shorter and shorter and shorter and I put more standalone sentences in a row so that the reader's brain speeds up as they reap because you're moving quickly down the page.

Bobby Nash: Characters know or “feel” something is coming. We know there’s a killer out there. The tension comes in waiting to see where the killer strikes. Can we beat the storm? A loved one is in the hospital, but the story is keeping the character from being by their side. There can be tension in that frustration of not being there. Plus, reality has taught me to always expect the other shoe to drop. That gives me tension.

Sean Taylor: I love to use sounds to build tension. Perhaps it's the poet who still lives in my brain, but I love how soft sounds make everything okay and at peace and how hard, clicky, gutteral, stopping sounds force pauses in a reader's experience, even when read silently in their heads. Those stop signs interrupt the reader and can, when used well, increase the tension by keeping the reader from the resolution -- or at least slowing them down in reaching it.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: I tend to use pacing and the concept of thisness, which is described by one of the British writers. I also use upping the stakes and some descriptions to accomplish the tension.

Are there types (or genres) of stories you've found in your experience that rely on tension more than others? Or are there just differing kinds of tension based on the type of story you're writing?

Bobby Nash: Mysteries, thrillers, and horror thrive on tension. I use them often. I mean, every story is different. I up the tension as needed to fit the story. So far, that seems to be working for me.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: The tension happens as it is needed. It's going for the overall reader experience, rather than just based on the genre.

Sean Taylor: The easy answer is that action and mysteries require tension because it's crucial to the plot in a very straightforward, surface-level way. However, ALL stories require tension, I believe, because if a write doesn't make a reader seek an answer to a question, a pressing question, then why would a reader even want to waste his, her, or their time on the story in the first place?