What drives story? Tension. Tension is what keeps the reader reading. What breaks tension? Relief.
Still having trouble “just going” on the prose and dramatization side… even after doing thumbnail sketches and outlines. Went down this rabbit hole this past week after attempting to attack the first scene of prj: MINOS even tho I had it outlined. Was stuck and realized I was still worldbuilding and not creating actual story action. Realized I didn’t give the character a clear goal and stakes…but more importantly, realized I wasn’t adding tension to the scene. So I asked myself, what drives a story forward? What causes story action?
Existential Life-or-Death
These are what may traditionally be called “conflicts”. The fight. The chase. The delivery, the escape, the retrieval. But none of these have heart-pounding, adrenaline-driven tension until one, the reader CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS THE STAKES and two, you add one of the mechanisms below… something to “countdown” to increase stress and pressure.
| Emotion | Mechanism |
|---|
Stress & Pressure which may include:- Anger
- Aggression
- Challenge
- Desire
- Fear
- Frustration
- Overwhelm
- Passion
| Any milieu plot with get, ask, rescue, deliver, hunt, flee from Questy Middles or even inquiry plots like find X, or figure out traitor but with a…- Countdown Clock
- Ticking Timebomb
- Picked off allies one-by-one
- Running low on resources
- Race to the airport
- Cat and mouse chase
- Waiting for Gandalf to show up
|
Anxiety-Inducing Tension
This level of tension induces anxiety based on secrets, sneaking around, suspense, and suspicion. It’s stuff characters need to do in order to get to the actual conflicts above.
| Emotion | Mechanism |
|---|
| Anticipation | - Suspense: reader knows something is about to happen that characters on page don’t.
- Hitchcock’s bomb under the table
- Friends set up surprise party or intervention
- Enemies set up ambush
- Characters walking into a trap
- Character attempting secret plan
|
| Anxiety | - Secrets, Sneaking, & Suspicion
- being somewhere you’re not supposed to be and risk getting caught
- doing something you’re not supposed to be doing and getting away with it (stealing, gambling, affair, break rules)
- Catching someone “in the act” of the two above
- Spying on someone “in the act” (or being spied on)
- Knowing you’re being hunted, chased, spied on
- Finding out you’re caught up in something much bigger and over your head
- lying to someone you don’t want to
- Keeping a secret from someone you don’t want to
- Unaddressed Elephant-in-the-Room
- POV character is hiding pain to get through something
|
| Uncertainty | - Mystery Box: Both reader and characters on page don’t know what’s going on
- Dread of knowing something’s been done to you and you don’t know what exactly (spell, drug, surgery, altered)
- Not really knowing who’s on your side (who’s the cylon)
- Will-they-won’t-they relationships
- Unknown, unexplained object/person/event in the room
- Cliffhangers
- Open Loops
- Most inquiry plots from Questy Middles
- Phone call, message, or interruption non-POV character receives but doesn’t divulge/share with POV
- Doing something that’s challenging and has a high failure rate (but not as high stakes as a life-or-death conflict)
|
Microtension
These are from Donald J. Maass’s The Fire in Fiction (2009). More notes on microtension here.
| Emotion | Mechanism |
|---|
| Doubt | - Allies question method
- Prot indecisive about actions
- Unsure of what info to reveal
- Insecure, feels inadequate
|
| Guilt/Shame | - Has secret to reveal
- Putting off awkward convo
- Refusing to admit/accept something
- Unsure about success, if worthy
|
| Heavy Past | - About to meet someone or go somewhere with loaded past
- Dredge up past ego, fears, insecurities, anxieties, worries, judgment
- Opinions, memories, observations about past
|
| Turmoil | - Struggling b/w anger & forgiveness
- Choosing feelings vs. “doing the right thing”
- Holding on vs. Letting Go
|
Relief Mechanisms
| Emotion | Mechanism |
|---|
| Amusement | - Wry observation
- Accidental slip ups
- Unexpected boons
- Lucky coincidences
|
| Awe | - Reaching a destination, seeing the beauty of it
- Seeing something amazing
- Getting a new toy, tool, power
|
| Humor | - Joking in the face of Overwhelming Odds
|
Destination Emotions
| Emotion | Mechanism |
|---|
- Confidence
- Triumph
- Happiness/Joy
| - Stand up and Cheer Moments
- Earned victories
|
- Defeat/Fatigue
- Grief/Loss
- Sadness
- Shame/Regret
- Shock/Surprise
| - Sober Understanding of Cost
- Shocking Epiphanies
- Cathartic Realizations
|