4 Tips for Increasing Intensity in Your Plot
Ways Build Tension in Your Story
If you are looking for a quick fix to adding suspense in a book, it does not exist. As with anything else worth achieving, it requires effort. However, one easy way to overcome this hurdle, imagine the scenario in your own mind and write. Start by describing the circumstance and progress through the events. In my years as a ghostwriter, author, and publisher one key obstacle most novice writers face is just getting started. But, let me ease your mind…… the first draft is just that a beginning. The polishing fine points come at the end. Any writer must get the words on paper before any intensity can take place. So, in that case, Just Write…..?
Consider the reason people read, it's either to educate themselves or be entertained. They like to imagine themselves in worlds and situations that challenge them or offer an opportunity to do and be something other than what they do or are in their real lives.
A key to engaging the reader comes from suspense. However, writers must understand the techniques for developing intensity to be successful.?
The word intense has multiple meanings; the quality of an extreme degree of strength, force, energy, or feeling. Or, the magnitude of a quantity (such as force or energy) per unit (as of area, charge, mass, or time). Finally, a mental or emotional strain. As an example,?
While the examples are fresh, let’s examine the techniques to building tension in the storyline.?
One straightforward option is to keep raising the stakes; complicated situations for the protagonist. In a thriller or crime novel, particularly, the situation typically grows increasingly dire for the protagonist. The escalating tension is one of?the foremost essentials in writing an effective scene. The hero’s (or anti-heroes) efforts to fix problems should fail repeatedly.?
In classic crime novels, the tragedy unfolds when a penniless character murders an unexpected person. The murder scene occurs early in the novel, yet the protagonist is not aware the victim’s sister enters the scene while the murder is taking place. Suddenly the killer jumped up, seized the ax, and runs out of the bedroom. In the middle of the living room, her sister stands with her hands full of groceries. She was gazing stupefied at her murdered sister. The cliched metaphor ‘gazing stupefied’ aside, this complication effectively adds tension.?
Below are some points to keep in mind when using complicated scenes to build intensity.?
Anytime the writers create obstacles that build the intensity, it should balance with peaceful full moments. The varying timelines keep the reader engaged while keeping the storyline believable.?
You always want to maintain the mystery, as writer Lee Child says, ‘As novelists, we should ask or imply a question at the beginning of the story, and then delay the answer.’
Once the initial draft is completed, upon rereading, take notes to include situations that need to be expanded to enhance the storyline. Make sure the larger-stake issues are not all introduced and solved well before the climax. In fact, a climax can introduce one or more additional complications that keep suspense taut to the end of your story.
In addition to varying the?degree?of tension, you introduce conflict and suspenseful scenes, alternate tense scenes, or sequences with calmer moments.?Contrast is key to keeping your reader interested. A perpetual state of suspense is a difficult, stress-laden emotional state to maintain. And potentially detract from the main storyline. In novellas that have simple stories, it might be possible to keep the tension high throughout, but more often, the reader and protagonists may need time to catch their breath.
When considering tension in storytelling, think in terms of protagonists and antagonists; heroes and villains. But remember to create moments of tension between characters who otherwise get along, as well as internal tension.
For example, romance novels, that keep the protagonist apart from their love interest, might have additional conflicts with their sister or best friend. Perhaps your character is moody or glum about their lover’s distance or silence and snaps at others. Secondary, lesser, or passing tensions help to?keep subplots as interesting as the main story and character arcs.
Some incidents may include two or more instances at the same time. For example, the moment that Luke Skywalker learns the infamous, shocking truth about Darth Vader, the main villain in is both a twist and revelation. The reader never expects the twist, although it has been set up from the start in several ways.
A famous reversal from classic cinema comes near the end of?Casablanca?when Ilsa learns Rick is not coming. A well-timed plot twist may plunge your characters into uncertainties that we as readers (or viewers) experience as extreme intensity.
One important point to increasing intensity in the plot must include emotion. Well-developed characters are critical for readers to become emotionally invested. Passionate readers yearn for the feeling of finishing a good book. In that ending comes with mourning, as if you lost a friend. If you are wondering what intensity has to do with character-building; the truth is everything. The process of publishing a great book includes all aspects of writing, editing, cover design, formatting, and so forth. So, developing believable characters is essential to elevating the intensity.?
How else can you create intensity in your writing?
As in life, an active person motivated to achieve success makes being proactive a daily occurrence. Just as a passive person, let things happen to them without making a fuss. In most cases, passive is the sidekick or alternate characters to assist the protagonist. They rarely create tension through outward action. Internal conflicts are usually the primary source of tension where these fictional characters are concerned. It’s hard to have much sympathy for characters who simply sit and wait for fate to overtake them.
When active characters keep trying to solve their problems and making missteps, story intensity mounts. In a historical romance where two characters are separated by a work assignment, a war, or another force, they might write letters, or keep a diary of some type. They actively try to overcome the obstacle.
Scenarios like these introduce more opportunities for mishaps and tension. You could, for example, have an entire chapter telling the story of a love letter’s progress as it’s misplaced, wrongfully delivered, returned to sender, and finally reach its destination. The intensity is still between two characters, but has shifted into their communication itself and whether it reaches its target.
A few key mistakes to avoid or use sparingly to maintain intensity:?
Be cautious to not overdue backstory. Each character had lives before the story started, and sometimes it is necessary to explain their psychology and even build tension by informing your readers of some of that history. However, too much backstory can drag or halt the storyline.?
The next issue…. is trying to tell the reader everything. So tighten up the writing, such as saying goodbye on the phone. Most people just hang up, unless the characters are young kids in love. Of course, in a movie, it cuts any fat from the scene. Books are no different. The reader doesn’t need every line of dialogue between characters speak to understand the theme. In that line of thought, leave out unnecessary information unless it pertains to the storyline. Do not describe how blue the sky is for three paragraphs and jump to another topic without explaining the meaning behind your narrative.?
If a tense scene is coming up very quickly, you must walk the reader by hand into the firepit. Otherwise, the power of the scene will be lost. As an example, if the character is going to visit a dying parent. Start by describing their drive to the hospital, entering the building, moving through the emergency room. You can even add seeing an elderly couple leaving cheerfully. Then describe agony — knowing their parent will never leave except through of the morgue.?
The tension might be building quickly or very slowly, but the story should always be moving forward in some way, eliciting questions of ‘what next?’ Whenever you write a scene, ask yourself, ‘what key piece of the whole does this contribute?’
All novels need emotional ties, but different types of stories produce various forms of intensity??
The main tension in a romance novel will come from whether the protagonist and the love interest get together, struggles in their relationship, or external events. The main tension in a crime novel involves solving the mystery or catching a criminal. In a similar fashion to the tip about steadily raising the stakes, this may seem like a minor observation. Yet often a novel that falls flat has forgotten to focus on what should be the main source of tension, the most urgent unknown.
Once the main source of tension is chosen, you can focus on the genre elements to create secondary tension. Such as, a detective might also be struggling with a romantic relationship. Characters fighting to save their home in a family saga might deal with a murder. Just be sure that you don’t let secondary sources of tension seem like they usurp detracting from the main conflicts in the story.
The ability to structure the novel correctly is vital to successfully pull off the intensity of the scenes. Stay focused on key, tension-building events.