Janet here. I’m always happy tohost my good friend and critique partner, Shirley Jump, in Seekerville. For more of Shirley's tips on conflict, go here to the Seekerville archives. Todayshe’s defining conflict and tension, the stuff that keeps readers turningpages. So without further ado, here’s Shirley!
Rememberscience class, where you learned about the Symbiotic relationships betweendifferent species? How there are parasitic relationships (where one creaturestakes from another, and doesn’t give anything back (those images of the lampreystill give me nightmares), commensalism (where neither species is hurt orhelped) and mutualism (where both species are helped). I’m not going to go allScience Professor on you here, because believe me, I am no scientist. Instead,I just bring this up as a way to help you see the relationship between Tensionand Conflict.First,let’s talk about the differences between Tension and Conflict.
Conflict is the ROADBLOCKS,whether physical or emotional, which get in your character’s way as he istrying to achieve his goal. It’s the villain chasing him with a gun, the carthat won’t start, the bank that won’t give him the loan, his mistrust ofpeople, his inability to get close to another person, etc.
Tensionis the pit-of-your-gut feeling as you’re reading a book that makes you keepturning the pages. It’s the worry for the characters. You worry whether theywill be okay. Whether the hero and heroine will find love. Whether the herowill rescue his child. Whether the heroine will find out the truth about herfather, and if she does, what will happen then.
Conflict is theroadblocks. Tension is the QUESTIONS.
Tension has twolevels, something that Maass talks about in Firein Fiction. There is macro-tension—the big question, in other words, willthe hero achieve his goal? It’s the question that runs from the beginning ofthe book to the end. Once that question is answered, the book is essentiallydone.
Micro-tensionis the second level. This is the scene by scene, paragraph by paragraph,sentence by sentence, word by word tension. You use ALL the senses as often aspossible to work this in. You use the dialogue, you use the descriptions, youuse the pacing of the sentences. Study books that keep you feeling thattension, that force you to turn the pages simply by the sheer NEED TO KNOW.
That’smicro-tension. It’s created using a lot of different techniques. Think about ahorror movie—think about the scene where the hapless heroine is ascending adark staircase, approaching a slightly open door that creaks in the slightbreeze coming in from the open window. Or is it creaking from something (orsomeone) else? That tense, tight, nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach asyou watch the heroine climb those stairs, KNOWING SOMETHING BAD IS WAITING FORHER, is micro-tension.
The directorcreates that by making the space dark, confined, putting the heroine at aphysical disadvantage (no weapon, perhaps), and showing the emotions oftrepidation on her face. He adds in the sounds coming from behind the door, theslight creak of someone walking across the floor, the feel of the cold doorhandle surprising the girl…in other words, he uses all the senses to createthat tension in the pit of the viewer’s stomach.
Here’san excerpt from Dennis Lehane’s GONE, BABY, GONE. Look at how he uses thedescriptions to create that micro-tension from the very first pages:
AmandaMcCready had been on this earth four years and seven months when she vanished.Her mother had put her to bed on Sunday night, checked in on her once aroundeight-thirty, and the next morning, shortly after nine, had looked in atAmanda's bed and seen nothing but sheets dented with the wrinkled impression ofher daughter's body.
Theclothes Helene McCready had laid out for her daughter—a pink T-shirt, denimshorts, pink socks, and white sneakers—were gone, as was Amanda's favoritedoll, a blond-haired replica of a three-year-old that bore an eerie resemblanceto its owner, and whom Amanda had named Pea. The room showed no sign ofstruggle
Thebedding, the pajamas, the missing doll…all that pulls at our heartstrings andincreases the tension about the missing girl. You feel the vulnerability ofher, you worry for her, you wonder if she’ll be found—and if she’ll be alivewhen she is found. It creates tension for the characters, and also for thereader.
In an interviewwith Donald Maass on ScribblersGazette.com, he explained tension thus:
When you suggest that writers consider over-lapping tension, doesthat refer to the scene as a little story, or tension on every page, or both?
Donald Maass: Well, both. A scene enacts a change – that’s a mini-story. Butto get through even an eight page scene, to make every word essential reading,you need line-by-line tension. So, I guess in a way you’re thinking/writing onthree levels at once: macro plot, scene mini-story, and micro-tension.
Is micro-tension the same as ‘tension on every page’?
Donald Maass: Yes. Last night I went to a tribute service for John Updike,great event, his widow and family were there. They played an interview… Updikesaid that what he writes about is the tension between what one wants, and whatis. It’s the modern dilemma. It preoccupied him.
Whata character wants and what is—that’s a great way to look at tension.
Here’s an excerpt from my latestRiverbend book, Family Christmas inRiverbend, that shows tension at play. See how what the heroine wantscontrasts with what is:
He was holding their daughter. Actuallyholding her.
Livia’s heartflipped over in her chest, and she blinked, sure she was seeing things. But no,it was real. It was Edward.
Andtheir daughter.
Heturned when Livia entered. “Sshhh. She’s almost asleep,” he whispered.
“You’re…you’re holding her. More orless.” She stepped closer, forcing herself not to step in there and hold Piperherself because even she knew him just touching the baby was a huge stepforward, “But you might want to hold her tighter, though.”
“Sorry.” He shifted his position butdidn’t bring the baby any closer. It was like she was a time bomb and he washoping like hell she wouldn’t go off. “I got kind of desperate when shewouldn’t stop crying.” He gave Livia a grin, the lopsided smile that he used tohave, the one that had made her fall in love with him. And a part of her, sheknew, had started falling for him again.
Dared to hope that this one momentcould turn into two, then three, then four, then forever. It was only onesliver of time, she reminded herself. It didn’t mean anything.
But her heart refused to acceptthat. Refused to accept the lessons she had already learned. Edward Graham hadno intentions of building a relationship of any depth.
Yet she saw how he had looked atPiper in that unguarded moment before he knew Livia was in the room. She hadseen the tenderness on his face, and dared to dream of more. Of having itall—Edward a part of the circle of her and Piper. Hope was a stubborn thing.
Youwant to look at your plot like a roller coaster. There is tension in the chugup the hill, when you know that terrifying drop is about to come. Your stomachis tight, you’re nervous, you’re holding on tight. Click, click, click, thewheels go up, your stomach gets into more knots. Then you hit the top, whiz downthe terrifying hill, and then, for a few brief seconds, it’s all flat coasting,before you start up the next hill. That’s how tension should work—rise andfall, rise and fall. If it’s all tense, then that gets boring. You want to keepthat roller coaster pace throughout.Youdo that by using your conflict tools. Throw roadblocks at your characters. Letthem conquer some of them, fail at others. Those moments of success create theflat parts of the roller coaster, and just when they think they’re on a nice,even, quiet path, WHAM, you hit them with another roadblock/obstacle, i.e.,conflict. That creates even more questions—will the heroine be able to overcomethis new problem and reach her goal? Will she reach the top of the stairsbefore the killer catches her?
Conflicthelps create tension, and tension helps add to conflict. The more roadblocksand obstacles your character has to overcome, the more the reader wonders if hecan succeed at his goal. And tension adds to the conflict, because if thecharacter is fearful or doubting or anxious, it can make overcoming an obstaclethat much harder. These two story essentials have a strong symbioticrelationship that benefits both of them, because strong conflict and strongtension work well together. Create that roller coaster by using conflict andtension, and you’ll be creating a book that the reader is dying to finish!
Janet again. Shirley is givingaway a five-pack of her Harlequin romances. If you’d like to win, leave acomment. Ask a question. Her eBook The Bride Wore Chocolate goes liveon Nook on B&N on May 23 and in Amazon in June.
To celebrate Shirley’s visit, I’veset up a buffet, a duplicate of the fabulous food on the Mother’s Day brunch our familyenjoyed. Omelets, Belgium waffles, beef, salmon, chicken, salads,vegetable dishes, desserts galore, whatever you have a yen for you’ll find onthis spread.
Oh, no, we have no plates. Talk about a roadblock! A quick trip tothe store for paper plates will fix that. But oh, what if I gobble all that foodand disgust the man of my dreams, watching from across the crowded room? Dare I indulge?
Sorry. That was a silly attemptat conflict and tension. LOL My dreamboat never finds me disgusting. I asked. The plates aren’t plastic, they're Haviland. ;-) Grab one and let’s talkconflict and tension.
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