15 Techniques to Increase Tension in Your Writing

Why is tension so important in your writing?

Because, as a storyteller, your task is to entertain the reader by holding his interest. You want the reader to ask questions so they keep turning pages.

But, you want to avoid confusing him with an overload of unnecessary information. Respect your audience’s intelligence by allowing them to figure things out for themselves.

A good rule of thumb: don’t reveal anything the reader doesn’t absolutely need to know.

Before I explain the ways in which to build tension, let’s take a quick look at the three tension killers.

Explanation: too much unnecessary explanation detracts any immediacy and danger the character feels. Only give your reader exactly what she needs to know when she needs to know it.

Shopping list descriptions: refrain from writing descriptions that list everything the character sees. The woman had blond, curly hair, with bright blue eyes and overly-plump lips. Instead mix the description in with the action. The woman’s blond hair caught the corner of Mary’s eye as the soft curls bounced in the slight breeze. Not great, but it’ll serve for this example. Also, be careful with the little details. If you introduce an unusual object, it must have a purpose—even if it’s benign.

Rule of Thumb: Don’t introduce a gun in the first act and not have fired it by the third.

Backstory: any story that takes place before the immediate scene’s time should not be dumped up front where you want to hook your reader into full investment of the story and its characters. And, never have your character pause for a memory during fast-paced scenes such as a confrontation, battle, action, or tragedy. Backstory has it’s uses, but make sure it’s meshed in at the proper place.

Now that I’ve discussed how to avoid taking your reader out of the tension, let’s look at ways to increase tension.

You’ve established your primary story question, but how do you maintain the reader’s interest—hold their attention—throughout the entire story to get to the end for the answer?

1) Add a Ticking Clock – use time as a deadline. If the character doesn’t achieve their goal before time runs out they fail, or worse, die.

2) Simple Irritations – make your protagonist’s reaction to ordinary situations intensely out of proportion. A man is going to be late for work again because his bus is never on time. He shoots the bus driver and races off with it.

3) Give your hero a special ability or gift then take it away at a crucial moment.

4) Your protagonist suddenly develops a physical weakness at a pivotal moment.

5) How about using a crucible? Stick your character in a situation they can’t escape or confines them.

6) Eliminate the protagonist’s best friend. Have the person she trusts most get kidnapped, struck down with illness, or killed. Perhaps they either accidentally betray the hero, or their betrayal was with good intentions.

7) Introduce a mysterious stranger. An unknown person comes to town, but is his he friend or foe?

8) A key piece of equipment/technology fails. Use Murphy’s Law to up the tension.

9) Sexual attraction. Need I say more?

10) Clash with social forces. War, rebellion, etc…

11) Have the character ask the question. That man’s briefcase has a wire hanging from it. Is he carrying a bomb?

12) Keep the action moving forward by raising questions and withholding the answers.

13) Man against man. War or criminal activity, or who is top dog.

14) Man against nature. Battling the elements or an illness.

15) Man against himself. Your protagonist deals with self-doubt or inner demons.

What if you’re writing narrative simply to move your character from one place to another? How on earth do you imbue the scene with tension? Good question. Let’s break it down by the types of scenes.

Exposition – this is where “telling” comes into play. By using either the character’s voice or the narrator’s voice you tell a little backstory that raises questions for the current time. For example, two factions argue over the best use of an old building, each for their own purposes. But, one night someone from one of the factions destroys the building. Now the questions are raised. Who destroyed it? Why did they destroy it? What will the two groups do now?

Dialog – Instead of obvious tension in the actual dialog—an argument—have the tension exist between the individuals arguing.

Two sisters argue over a sweater, not because either of them wants the sweater or even likes it, but because they hate each other and whoever gets the garment is one up on the other.

Action – It’s obvious with a fight scene, someone is going to win and someone is going to crawl off in defeat. But, is the reader sure it is the protagonist that will win? You need to create doubt in the reader’s mind by creating doubt in the protagonist. Is he deathly ill? Is he emotionally upset? Has he lost his super powers?

Come up with unique situations where your protagonist doubts himself so your reader will doubt him as well.

Description -To avoid dragging your story to a halt with description, infuse it with conflicted emotions or thoughts of the character. Leave the reader more interested in the character by the way the setting affects her.

Remember, create tension by leaving the reader waiting for an answer. Be sure to raise a new question before answering a previous one to keep your audience interested and turning pages.