ALL TENSION IS NOT MURDER

by Kathy Cretsinger

Have you ever read a book that had no tension? There was no conflict between characters. It was blah! Tension/conflict is what makes a book interesting to the reader. Readers want something that makes them want to read the next page.

Why did you watch The Wizard of Oz? It was because of the tension/conflict of wanting to know what would happen next? Would Dorothy ever get home? Would the Wicked Witch of the West get Toto? Would they ever find Oz? Those were things that kept me watching the film. The tension!

Think about the book you are writing or have written. Is there tension between the main character/protagonist, and the villain/antagonist? There should be to make the reader want to read more. There should be some kind of tension in each chapter. Each chapter should end with some kind of tension to make the reader turn the page.

Each day of our life, we have tension/conflict. My conflict is usually getting breakfast to come together at the same time. It\’s like a choreography. Each thing has to go together at a certain time. You don\’t want eggs done before the bacon, or the toast done to perfection first. Do you feel the tension?

It\’s the same with a book. Tension helps us to know more about the characters. It tells us how they react when something happens. Just like breakfast is not good if the toast is done first, we have tension with a spouse who wants the toast hot when they eat breakfast. The way to put that tension there is with an antagonist. We learn how the protagonist will react under pressure. How do you react under pressure preparing breakfast? You can throw the plate on the table and say, \”Here it is, eat it! I don\’t have time to do any better. The kids are screaming, and if you\’d help me a little, breakfast would be better.\” Or you could say, \”Honey, I\’m sorry about breakfast, but I had to get Susie before she fell out of bed, and the toast burned.\” You have a choice how you are going to handle tension. Personally, I like the tension in the first one, although the lady does not have a good attitude, but it makes tension.

Sometimes it\’s hard to make the protagonist loveable when there is tension. I\’ve been working on an idea for a new book, and the first line should be a dinger. What I am thinking about now is, \”You want me to move where and be a what?\” Do you want to know the rest of it? You\’ll have to wait a few months, but I will keep you informed.

You should have internal vs external tension in all of your books. If you can do that, most of the other tensions will fall in place. Your character may not be happy with herself, her partner, her home, her town, any number of other things. Think about ways to write tension. It doesn\’t have to be a murder.