 Drama: March 09, 2011 Issue [#4263] |
  Drama
This week: Creating Tension in Fiction Edited by: Joy  
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If you don't generate tension in the film to begin with... you can't really make a purse out of a sow's ear, you know.
Dennis Weaver
There never was a night without a twilight; a morning without a dawn; a winter without an autumn; a summer without a spring first; they all foreshadow a coming event. The foreshadowing is not necessarily the same. In fact, there never were two springs or two twilights alike.
Lajos Egri
Tension in fiction has the effect of something that is being stretched taut until it must snap. It has the quality of force under pressure, as for instance when it is achieved through characterization in a "coiled motive"--tightly wound motivation in a character that we know must spring loose on the action. The most obvious way to create it , is by simply saying something is going to happen and then putting it off.
Rust Hills (The legendary Esquire Fiction Editor)
I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.
Norman Mailer
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. In this newsletter, tension in dramatic fiction is our subject.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
A work of fiction, for the general reader, is an emotional journey. The tension in a story provides the means of travel in that journey. Skillfully drawn characters and an interesting plot idea starts a story, but what keeps a reader reading is the wonder of its outcome.
Accordingly, when the outcome of an action, a happening, or a wish is in doubt, there is tension. In other words, tension erupts with crises that may be internal or external, as creating tension is closely related to the protagonist's welfare, what he wants, and who or what he confronts for achieving his end. Each story requires a different kind and amount of tension.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, prejudice and social class divisions add to the tension of proving Tom Robinson's innocence of a falsely accused crime. Readers do not know the result of the trial although they may anticipate it one way or another. Tom's lawyer Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck in the movie) causes conflict and tension, also, in his everyday life by acting on the belief that all people are created equal in a town filled with prejudice.
In line with the protagonist, tension is created through conflict and goes through the stages of escalation, de-escalation, and settlement. As soon as the old tension loses its power, it must be replaced with a new one even before the old one is settled.
In his coming-of-age story, Great Expectations, Charles Dickens makes his main character Pip struggle against several characters like Magwitch, Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham, Estella, Orlick, Bentley Drummle, and Compeyson. Like a string of beads, with each struggle, a new tension is formed and connected to others, through an incredible sense of pacing by the author, until the maturation and growth of the main character is achieved.
Tension is usually provided by foreshadowing an event to make the reader anticipate its eventuality and then delaying it, as tension is intimately connected to pace. Proper pacing controls the story's flow and its tension together. In a long story or a novel, postponing the result, ending each chapter with a narrative or a question that escalates the doubt and wonder, and making each scene serve a purpose along the lines of the conflict provide the tension.
In addition, when the underlying facts (or what has been presented as facts earlier) become uncertainties, tension heightens. For example, a witness may have falsely testified, or a false memory may have offset the accuracy of perception, or a child may have misinterpreted what he had seen, or a house, first described as a happy place, turns out to be haunted.
In the middle of a long work, tension may be used as a lengthening device. After an important scene ends on a tense note, the writer may go on with other subplots and scenes of lesser tension, and then, he may open that scene again for the central tension to continue. A technical advice to show and heighten tension in a scene is to use short, choppy sentences. We must remember, however, that an overabundance of such sentences may mar the writing style, so it is a good idea to follow this advice with caution.
Flashbacks and dialogue also add to the tension, especially when they refer to the immediate situation or crisis at hand. In Beloved by Toni Morrison, flashbacks lead the reader through the tragic series of events in Seth's life. As to the dialogue, remember the movie Psycho? "Mother, my mother, uh, what is the phrase? - She isn't quite herself today." Or "We all go a little mad sometimes... Haven't you?"
Gestures and actions may provide or add to the tension since they can be as important as a suggestion, a threat, or an insult in dialogue, as in the movie Pretty Woman when Richard Gere climbs the fire escape to Julia Roberts despite his fear of heights.
A writer should not fill the story with tense moments without giving the reader a breather. As necessary as it is to the story, tension needs to move slowly at times, instead of running the marathon. It is also important to make the ending harmonize with the degree and capacity of the tension introduced in the beginning.
Larry McMurtry, the Pulitzer winning author, talking about the movie Hud in his 2010 book of memoirs titled Hollywood says: "The ending, weak in the book, was just as weak in the film. This tough old rancher Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas), who has weathered many tragedies and survived them, basically falls off his horse and dies. That was my fault ---I yielded to my then editor, John Leggett, who felt there needed to be more suspense in the story. The screenwriters had a fine chance to correct this obvious mistake, but they declined the challenge."
Even though Hud achieved success with an Oscar and audience applause, this paragraph teaches us that the ending should fit the suspense and the tension of the previous scenes. In other words, if we conjure up some riveting tension during the story, we'd better write the ending to feel just as strong and exciting.
May we all conquer tension in our stories. Until next time... 
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: Adriana Noir  Fyn  Joy
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Best titles contain a concrete noun. Too long titles are more easily forgotten.
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If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
by ♥noVember tHiNg♥ 
Shannon 
Another awesome NL, Joy, and thank you so much for featuring "The Game." I am honored.
Thanks, Shannon. Your story rocks, as always.
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Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥ 
Wonderful Drama Newsletter, Joy! I loved your advice about setting up the plot for kidnapping stories and mentioning some of my favorite authors. Wow, it got me thinking about the Agatha Christie novels, I've read so long ago. Nostalgia!
Spinning a tale around kidnapping--Priceless information! Thanks,  WW
Thanks, WW. I was surprised to find so many stories based on the idea of kidnapping, much more than I knew about. It must be a popular subject.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Life can be crazy.
You said it!
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