What Writers Need to Make Danger Interesting

I'm a mom, so my spectrum of TV and movie pleasures range from Moana with my kiddo (and hey, even without my him) to The Handmaid's Tale (definitely without my kiddo). Both of these are full of danger appropriate for their target audience, but I noticed a big difference in my response to those dangers.

Let's talk about that Moana scene where Moanna and Maui fight the coconut pirates. (Don't worry, I won't spoil anything major in this post.) Moana is one of my favorite Disney movies, but I have to be honest with you...I barely know what happens in this scene. Every time this scene plays, my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders to anything else. That's because in my first time watching, I already knew they'd make it out of this jumble okay. Even though Moana and Maui were wildly outnumbered, the unfair fight didn't feel impossible. I didn't feel their fear, which is fair (tongue twister!) because this movie is for kids. But still, the writers could have upped Moana and Maui's disadvantage to increase the tension and conflict. Otherwise, an action scene can have as many explosions as it wants, but the danger still feels shallow.

Now let's shift gears and talk about The Handmaid's Tale. In the premier of season two, June faces a danger that had me completely enraptured. A fire in my own apartment couldn't have ripped me away from this scene. Like, I knew she would make it out okay because the rest of the show needs her, but I couldn't rationalize the fear and tension away because THERE WAS NO FREAKING WAY OUT. June didn't just have odds; she had impossible odds. I could feel that she knew there was no way out of this one, that this was the end for her because I was up close and could see the staunch fear in her eyes and the tremble in her lips.

Play appropriately to your audience, of course, but never give your characters a way out. Make us doubt our instinct that they'll make it. Get us up close and personal with the character's own fear. And then just when we think it's all over, throw a curve ball and wow us with a plot twist or a character that uses their mind, strength, and resourcefulness to overcome impossible odds.

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THE ART OF WAR

When people think of a battle, most envision soldiers and tanks, warships and weapons … possibly rifles and a cavalry. But there are many types of personal battles, as Fiona mentioned in her previous blog post. These include internal moral battles, relationship conflicts, and personal vendettas. How your character deals with these issues is very telling and gives the reader much insight into that individual’s personality. It’s also a chance for you as a writer to provide an opportunity for your character to grow and ratchet up the tension in your story.

So how do you write a compelling battle scene, whether it be an actual fight, where the loser may wind up injured or dead, or a clash between two high school rivals fighting to become class president? I’m not sure if this is true for every writer, but when I write tense scenes, there’s always an urge to resolve the conflict quickly and move on. This is how I operate in life, as confrontation makes me anxious. But the reader doesn’t want a fight that’s resolved quickly and easily—without conflict there is no story!

So, if you’re like me and want to smooth out your MC's hardships asap, how do you build suspense and write an exciting fight scene?

I believe it was The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises by James Scott Bell that gave me some of the best advice for writing tense scenes. (Even if I’m wrong, it’s a great book—it’s been quite a few years since I’ve read it, and definitely deserves a reread.) To summarize the advice: whenever you have the opportunity to resolve the battle, throw another problem into the mix.

So, let’s say your MC is in a dangerous situation that results in an actual fight scene. Most readers will root for the protagonist to win, but how much fun would it be to read about the character throwing one punch and knocking the antagonist out cold? It’s better to create a fierce battle where the MC is the underdog, makes a comeback, and then just before success, something happens—the character drops a weapon, another person blindsides the MC, etc. The more the odds are against your protagonist, the greater the victory will be. Because in the end, most readers want the good guys to prevail.  

Character Tension - Part 3 - Love and Romance

Welcome to the third and final part of the tension mini-series! If you haven't been here from the start, go back and check out the previous two parts in order to get up to speed. We're discussing tension in characters and how you can use them to build the tension in your book!

Okay, so this week we're looking at love and romance, and woah boy, there is a whole load of tension you can create there, so let's get started.

 
First - the first thing you want to do is create barriers and obstacles between your two lovers. This can be anything from other people standing in the way to physical obstacles. Are there other lovers in the way? Family standing against them? Are they in opposite locations? Give them a physical task to do that means they might never get there. Think about disaster movies where the two star crossed lovers have to battle their way across a devastated city in order to find each other. You might not have to go that far, but think about what you could do to make things harder for them.

Second - what are their biggest, darkest secrets that can push the other lover away? Have they done something almost unforgivable? Do they know something about the other person that could shatter both their worlds? Are they enemies who just happen to be in love? Give them an almost insurmountable task and it will make the HEA even sweeter when they finally get there.

Third - then you have the big stuff: abuse, neglect, competition, affairs, divorce, custody battles, substance abuse and persecution from others. All of these things give a great natural conflict, and thus, great natural tension. What happens if this hits the lovers (or family) and they are blindsided? What if they have lived with it for years? How would each of these elements impact them on their daily and long term life?


As you can see, there are a whole host of things you can do to up the ante against your lovers and raise the tension in your novel!

So, that's the end of the tension mini series that looks at character. There are lots more things you can do to up your character tension, as well as the tension in other elements in your book, but hopefully this series will get you started!

Good luck and keep writing! 

Character Tension - Part 2 - Family

Welcome back to this mini-series about how to build tension in your novel. Last month, we looked at conflicting characters. This week, we’re going to take it one step further and look at conflicting family members. Check out the top three suggestions I have for really amping up the tension between those who love (or hate!) each other the most:

First - family members are all raised in the same way...or are they? Take a look at how some family members might be favored over others? Who gets away with blue murder, and who doesn't? Why is someone their father's favorite and another not? Who is unfairly treated and who is the princess/prince of the house? Even as adults, characters will harbor resentments (or over the top loyalty) depending on how their parents raised them.

Second - how do partners raise their children? Do they agree on discipline? Disagree? Do they disagree on where they should live, work, let the children go to school? What if one person listens exclusively to their parents and never to their wife/husband? There are many instances in a family unit to rub up against one another. Everything from divorce, custody battles, substance abuse problems, neglect to success, religion, sex and more.

Third - power struggles within families also create a great way to build tension. What happens when one family member wants power over another? Maybe a son trying to prove himself over his father? A mother trying to show how much more beautiful she is than her teenage daughter? A father trying to rule his house with an iron fist?

As you can see, there are many ways the family unit can build tension throughout the landscape of your novel, and you should make sure these elements are fully developed as they'll give your character a new level of depth, too.

Check in next month for my final tension post - love and romance!  

Character Tension – Part 1 – Conflicting Characters

I decided to write a three part series on how to create tension in your novel. Before we dive in, let me just say that there are hundreds of ways you can add tension into your novel and this mini series just looks at the tiniest little level of tension in regards to character.

 
Often, people think tension in your novel comes only from high action and do or die situations. While this can often be true, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other kinds of tension that are just as important (and effective) as the do or die variety. So let’s take a look at different types of tension and how you can use them in your book. Here are my first three suggestions about creating conflicting characters:

One - The first thing (and perhaps the most obvious) is to create characters that have conflicting personality traits. This doesn’t just mean for your protagonist and antagonists. Your secondary characters can conflict against other secondary characters (or the main characters). How do these characters work together? Against each other? What happens in a disagreement? What could ever make them agree?

Two - Characters with different backgrounds can also conflict – are some poor and others rich? How does this affect them? What about those of other religions, castes, creeds? How about social standing? What about nationality? Education? Neighborhoods raised in?

Three - Then there are characters that are part of conflicting social groups. Are some anti-abortion and the others pro? How about those pro war and those against? Is there a member in a group who is a zealot and another who wants to leave?

Take a look at the characters you create and how they will all interact. Is there something more you can do to make them rub up against each other? Building characters who have opposing views and lifestyles can bring a lot of tension to your story, so make sure you use it to your advantage!!!

Check back next month to see Tension – Part Two – Family!