Creating tension between characters can be hard if you're used to reading books and searching for that happy ending. Your mind may lead you to begin tying everything up with a neat little bow toward the middle to end or your manuscript. If your inclination is to avoid complicated situations between your main characters, you may be doing it wrong. Here are four steps to creating the tension your readers deserve.
1. The Necessity of Tension: Have you ever read a book in which there are several main characters and from the beginning they present a united front against the 'baddies?' How boring is that? Real people have problems with each other, whether it's differences in appearance, race, gender, personality, or any number of other reasons. If you want to make your characters three-dimensional so they are popping off the page, you need to create tension. It can be something small like an event in two characters' back story where they had an argument and those feelings are creeping up again. Whether they admit it or not, readers love gossip, love triangles or quadrangles, shouting matches, fist fights, and all the rest that comes along with tension. No scene is complete without some level of tension.
2. Finding Equilibrium: If all of your characters argue throughout every scene, not much is going to get done, unless your novel or story takes place solely in an anger management class. Someone or something needs to bring your characters back to reality or the natural progression of events might not lead where you expect. If three prisoners are fighting over how best to escape, the scene must end somewhere. Do they escape? Do they agree on a plan? Do two of them kill the third so they can have consensus? All are valid paths to take, but whatever path you choose must fit within the characters' personalities as well as the realm of possibility.
3. Every Character Interacts Differently With Every Other Character: Just as in real life, you might speak to your bank teller in one manner of speech and your lover in another. Realizing this change before you write a scene can go a long way toward setting the tone and securing the proper voice for the scene. In this same vein, every character will have different tensions with every other character. If one character was cuckolded by his wife, his best friend might empathize with the cuckold, but he won't be able to feel exactly what he's feeling. Knowing this difference can bring your writing to a new level. Remember that different personality types will respond differently to the same catalyst.
4. Creating Tension: So you've mastered the first three steps and now you're ready to dive into creating tension in your scene. To do so, I would recommend you first look not to the scene at hand, but to the larger picture. What is the point of creating this tension? Are two characters fighting because they are actually in love? If so, why don't they know how to express their feelings? Did something in their past put them off from the notion of love? How will this scene affect your character's behavior going forward? As an example, say your main character is a cop. You're about to write a scene in which his wife tells him she wants a divorce. A few scenes before, he was nearly killed in a shootout. Whatever happens with the cop and his wife should reflect the trials and tribulations he's just faced on duty. If he's just had a near-death experience, losing his wife might be far more painful. Now say that the wife is leaving him for his partner. The cop has just lost both of the foundational people in his life. How is he going to take it? Does he break down? Does he kill his wife? Context is everything. It would be perfectly plausible for this to lead to a crime of passion.
If you follow these four steps, there is no reason your scene shouldn't improve for the better. What are some ways you've created tension in a scene? Sound off in the comments below and I'll make sure to respond!
1. The Necessity of Tension: Have you ever read a book in which there are several main characters and from the beginning they present a united front against the 'baddies?' How boring is that? Real people have problems with each other, whether it's differences in appearance, race, gender, personality, or any number of other reasons. If you want to make your characters three-dimensional so they are popping off the page, you need to create tension. It can be something small like an event in two characters' back story where they had an argument and those feelings are creeping up again. Whether they admit it or not, readers love gossip, love triangles or quadrangles, shouting matches, fist fights, and all the rest that comes along with tension. No scene is complete without some level of tension.
2. Finding Equilibrium: If all of your characters argue throughout every scene, not much is going to get done, unless your novel or story takes place solely in an anger management class. Someone or something needs to bring your characters back to reality or the natural progression of events might not lead where you expect. If three prisoners are fighting over how best to escape, the scene must end somewhere. Do they escape? Do they agree on a plan? Do two of them kill the third so they can have consensus? All are valid paths to take, but whatever path you choose must fit within the characters' personalities as well as the realm of possibility.
3. Every Character Interacts Differently With Every Other Character: Just as in real life, you might speak to your bank teller in one manner of speech and your lover in another. Realizing this change before you write a scene can go a long way toward setting the tone and securing the proper voice for the scene. In this same vein, every character will have different tensions with every other character. If one character was cuckolded by his wife, his best friend might empathize with the cuckold, but he won't be able to feel exactly what he's feeling. Knowing this difference can bring your writing to a new level. Remember that different personality types will respond differently to the same catalyst.
4. Creating Tension: So you've mastered the first three steps and now you're ready to dive into creating tension in your scene. To do so, I would recommend you first look not to the scene at hand, but to the larger picture. What is the point of creating this tension? Are two characters fighting because they are actually in love? If so, why don't they know how to express their feelings? Did something in their past put them off from the notion of love? How will this scene affect your character's behavior going forward? As an example, say your main character is a cop. You're about to write a scene in which his wife tells him she wants a divorce. A few scenes before, he was nearly killed in a shootout. Whatever happens with the cop and his wife should reflect the trials and tribulations he's just faced on duty. If he's just had a near-death experience, losing his wife might be far more painful. Now say that the wife is leaving him for his partner. The cop has just lost both of the foundational people in his life. How is he going to take it? Does he break down? Does he kill his wife? Context is everything. It would be perfectly plausible for this to lead to a crime of passion.
If you follow these four steps, there is no reason your scene shouldn't improve for the better. What are some ways you've created tension in a scene? Sound off in the comments below and I'll make sure to respond!
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