Tension in Writing

I don't know if I've focused on tension before, but I feel as if the time is now. I don't know what it is about writers, but so many of us avoid adding tension to our work like the plague.

And perhaps that's because we don't want our characters to be in jeopardy.

But they NEED to be in jeopardy!

The reader NEEDS to wonder what is going to happen next!
They need to FEEL that something is not quite right!
The characters, at least the main character, has to be put into problem after problem until the problem is resolved!

All these add tension!

Do you have tension in your life, or is your life smooth sailing?



Tension in writing is sort of like sailing off in a grand boat, thinking that the time away from the shore will be the best thing you've ever done, only to have a storm brew and land you on an uncharted island. How will you get off that island? How will you survive? What will you eat? Where will you sleep?

Tension is needed in every story, whether your story is about a vampire, or a girl who believes she is a vampire but discovers she is really the tooth fairy. (Now, there's an idea for a story...)

What I'm trying to say is that even in a story, which at the forefront appears good and kind and easy going, you're going to have some tension; in other words, a problem that your main character is going to have to work through. And this causes tension.

Ready to take on some tension?

Get writing!