I saw the final Harry Potter movie last week. I think I’m in mourning. I’m also still pondering the tension piece of writing, and how important it is. Put those two pieces together, and you (or at least I) get an interesting question: How did Rowling manage to keep us turning those gajillions of pages through a 7-book series? I know there were long narrative stretches, backstory, and other potentially skippable parts. How did she do it? So I re-read book 5 and I noticed some really great tension-building techniques that we all should be applying.
- Add excitement/conflict to potentially boring scenes. Take the scene at the dinner table when Sirius tells Harry all that’s been going on in the wizarding world while Harry was stuck at the Dursleys. Dinner table + backstory should = boring. But it doesn’t, because a couple of tension-building subplots are threaded through it: a) Harry and Sirius are both angry at Dumbledore and the reader doesn’t know why, and b) information is deliberately being kept from Harry–information that directly effects him and he should have access to. Tension comes in the form of information that the reader and character don’t have and strong character emotion because of it.
- Make the setting interesting. Even though this scene happens at a dinner table, the kitchen in question is located in a grimy, grungy, nasty dark wizard’s house that’s occupied by evil creatures and a hostile house elf. Knowing that anything crazy could happen makes the scene more appealing. Granted, every scene can’t occur in a Grimmauld Place, but for situations like these, see what you can do to add interest, humor, fear, or uniqueness to the setting.
- Make sure that other things are going on. While they’re sitting around talking, Tonks is transforming her nose into various shapes for entertainment purposes. Peripheral humor is still funny and always welcome to the reader. Also, Ginny is rolling butterbeer corks on the floor for Crookshanks. This bit isn’t critical to the overall plot, but it adds some action to a scene where there’s not a whole lot happening.
- Delay exciting/important events. In my copy of book 5, Harry learns about his disciplinary hearing on page 33. The actual hearing doesn’t happen for one hundred pages. By delaying that important event, the tension stretches out, and the reader continues reading because they can’t put the book down until they find out whether or not he’s going to be expelled.
- Never give the hero a break. In the first quarter of the book, very few good things happen to Harry. During this time, he:
- is stuck at the Dursleys
- has little or no word from his friends
- is threatened with expulsion for using underage magic
- is being blown off by Dumbledore
- isn’t made a prefect
- sees thestrals along with Hogwart’s resident nutter
- discovers that Hagrid is missing
- has an embarrassing encounter with Cho
- is considered a freak, liar, and attention-seeker by his peers
- endures two week-long, literally torturous detentions with Umbridge
- misses keeper tryouts, and
- pisses off Sirius
During all this time, only two really positive things happen (leaving the Dursleys/reuniting with friends and being acquitted at his hearing). Otherwise, it is literally obstacle after obstacle for poor Harry. Sucks for him, but all that negativity serves to make the reader more sympathetic. We want him to succeed. And when he does, we’re completely impressed because he overcame such opposition. If the path to success were easy, he wouldn’t be a hero.
So keep these tips in mind when writing. By studying a master, maybe we, too, can keep readers hooked for hundreds of pages.
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
Sounds good, thanks!
You know, i’ve only just started thinking about tension and conflict, so I haven’t been reading with that in mind. I will think on this and get back to you, probably with a post containing high-tension books, lol.
These articles on conflict and tension are incredibly helpful. Thank you. Can anyone think of other authors who use conflict and tension effectively, who we can learn from?
Fabulous Becca, I’m bookmarking this — really great tension tips.
Great advice. While I always appreciate reading helpful writing strategies, it’s a great bonus to see what books on the shelves used a technique effectively.
Great post Becca – however much experience we have it is so easy to forget some of these things in story telling and they make all the difference
EXCELLENT post! I so needed this right now too. Thank you for taking the time to analyze Harry and sharing it with us:)
Bravo! Excellent points. And woot for using HP to do it!
Excellent pointers! I love it when an author hints at something to come and then you find out about it later. Very clever storycrafting!
Excellent lessons!! Filling out a scene during backstory didn’t occur to me, I will be sure to keep it in mind in the future.
Great post… also she kept me turning pages because her characters felt like long lost friends, and I had to find out what happens to them!
Author was having a perfectly ordinary morning browsing blog posts (snoring dog in background, fire burning her leg just below the point of actual pain)…and read bad news. Eek. Tense scene. I must get back to my other (clearly lame) scene and add more stuff. Great post!
Great tips here, thanks!
These reminders come exactly at a time when I need them! Thanks for your analysis.
These reminders come exactly at a time when I need them! Thanks for your analysis.
These are so helpful! Tension is something I struggle with a lot in my work so this is a great guide.
Great work, Becca! Honestly, I’d love to see more analytical posts like this one. As you said, it really helps to study the masters. 🙂
Excellent breakdown. One of the best posts I’ve read on tension. Gave me several “oh yeah” moments.
I love it when people analyze and deconstruct successful writing.
Even though I’ve heard “tension, tension, tension” many times before, this post provided a real life example of how it works.
Thanks a ton.
Writing good books is hard. Great post–always so much to keep learning.
Excellent tips with a perfect example! Rowling is so good at this, there’s a lot we can learn from her, and you of course! 🙂
This is a really great post. Bookmarking it.
Tension really is the most important part of storytelling. That and running the protagonist through the ringer 🙂
Great, great comments! I’m writing a series, and I’m definitely going back to my HP collection to get pointers. Thanks for the break down!
Thank you, ma’am. While pointing out the techniques used in that dinner scene, you provided us with some great (ahem) food for thought.
Good stuff. 🙂
You put this all together very neatly, Becca. Laid out so clearly makes what JK Rowling did seem simple. But it’s not, we have to work hard to make it so.
That’s a great example, Becca. JK Rowling is definitely a master at creating page turners.
Ah, this post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’m in a “dinner table” scene right now, and have been struggling not to make it a snore-fest. Thanks for the analysis of Rowling’s work and suggestions for how to keep the tension up!
I know ever scene is supposed to have some tension, this is a great reminder and the idea to delay the payoff is also great to keep in mind! Awesome post!
Learning from the greats is one of the best ways to improve your writing. I love this post–you really pinpointed what J.K. Rowling did to keep the tension going.
I’m bookmarking this post. Thanks for the great analysis!
Finding creative ways to add tension while sharing backstory is hard! Excellent post Becca! And studying how other authors do it is the best way to learn!
This is one of my favorite posts ever, Becca! I love how you use the ‘dinner table info exchange’ scenario as an example, because this is the KISS OF DEATH in many books. Rowling is a master, and we can learn a ton from her.
Angela
I find tension so difficult. Overdo it and the reader can’t breathe but not enough and we’ll lose them.
I’m working on it 🙂
Very nicely put. Without tension, it’s just words and not a story. I try to look at it as how the tension in a romantic situation before the first kiss is so palpable… if it weren’t for that tension, no one would ever wanna kiss. If we can somehow relay that in every scene in our story for different situations, we have a story readers can’t put down.
I just saw HP yesterday and sniff sniff blubbered like I didn’t know what was gonna happen. hee hee 🙂