One of my favorite Aha moments as a writer came in the form of feedback from a critiquer. (Shout out to all the critique partners!) She kept writing notes in my manuscript, like Where’s the tension? and This would be a good spot to add some tension.
No tension? What’s she talking about? The main character was just abandoned by her father. Her best friend was attacked by racist pigs. The family business is about to go under. I mean, there is conflict ALL OVER the place, so how can she say there’s no tension??
After chewing on this for a while, I realized that I was confusing tension with conflict. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they aren’t necessarily the same.
Blake Snyder (Save The Cat) defines conflict like this: a character enters a scene with a goal, and standing in the way is an obstacle. That’s conflict. Maybe it’s a confrontation with an adversary, a downed tree that blocks the character’s path, the alarm not going off on the morning of an important meeting, or a temptation that triggers an internal struggle.
Conflict is whatever makes it harder for the character to achieve their goal. It’s a vital part of creating empathy in the reader as they wonder if the hero is up to the challenge.
Tension in literature is an emotional response from the reader, and conflict is one of the things that elicits it. Think of it in terms of real-life tension—that tight, stretched feeling in your belly that puts you on edge. Where conflict occurs, the character should be feeling some of that tension. If the reader feels it too, an emotional bond is forged that puts the reader more firmly in the character’s corner, rooting for them and turning pages to see if they succeed.
When conflict is done right, it should result in tension. But it doesn’t—not all the time, as my critique partner kindly pointed out. So how do we write stories that are chock full of tension? Here are four tips for making that happen.
Include Conflict in Every Scene
In each scene, your character should have a goal. If they get what they want without any opposition, where’s the fun (or tension) in that? Too many pages without conflict will result in a story that drags and readers who start wondering what’s in the fridge.
So for each scene, know what your character’s after, then add whatever will make it more difficult for them to achieve their goal. The conflict can be big and noisy (a fistfight) or quiet (the character wanting something that’s bad for them), but make sure it’s there. For ideas on possible conflict scenarios, take a look at this database at One Stop for Writers.
Employ a Variety of Conflict Scenarios
Think over the past day and take a quick inventory of all the difficulties you encountered. The list is going to be impressive (and maybe a little overwhelming). It’s going to include not only conflict of varying intensity, but scenarios that touch on different areas of life. The same should be true for our characters. Your spy protagonist is going to have lots of work-related conflict, but they’re also going to encounter relationship friction, moral temptations, power struggles, ticking clock situations, etc. Well-rounded characters should experience conflict in all areas of life. Maintain authenticity (and make things super difficult for them) by varying the conflict scenarios in your story.
Add Some Internal Conflict
While there always will be external forces working against your character, any protagonist traversing a change or failed character arc is going to struggle internally. As the story goes along, they’ll face difficulties that highlight a weakness, challenge a dysfunctional coping mechanism or flawed ideology, and push them to make the changes that will allow them to succeed. The only way they can reach that critical tipping point of meaningful change is if they struggle with their inner demons.
It’s Sarah Connor doubting her ability to become “the mother of the future.”
It’s Jason Bourne slowly realizing who he is, not knowing if he can live with the knowledge, and being unsure how to move forward.
It’s John Anderton—cop and neuroin addict—wrestling with the knowledge that the Pre-Crime program he’s devoted his career to may be flawed and even immoral.
Internal conflict is compelling to readers because they’ve been there—wrestling with questions about morality, right and wrong, identity, and a host of other things. They also know what’s at stake for the character should they fail to emerge from those internal struggles with a healthier approach to life.
Make Sure the Stakes are High Enough
We know that conflict doesn’t always result in tension, which means it won’t automatically engage readers. For readers to be unsettled and a little nervous about your character’s future, something significant needs to be at stake: a cost incurred if the protagonist fails to navigate the situation successfully.
So when you’re thinking of the consequences of failure, think in terms of stakes. Each conflict scenario needs a serious or else attached to it. To identify stakes that will greatly impact the character, consider the following:
- Far-Reaching Stakes: those that may result in loss for many people if the protagonist fails.
- Moral Stakes: those that threaten the character’s most foundational ideals and beliefs.
- Primal (Death) Stakes: those involving the loss of something major, such as innocence, a relationship, a career, dream, idea, belief, reputation, or a physical life.
Stakes—even the far-reaching ones—should touch your character on some level. This gives them skin in the game by making things personal and endangering something or someone important. When the reader sees just how high the stakes are, their empathy for the character will grow, and they’ll be more engaged in the story.
We try to avoid tension in real life, but in our books? It’s absolutely vital for holding the reader’s interest. Create and maintain tension by carefully considering the conflicts in your story. Include opposition in every scene, vary the kinds of conflict your character experiences, add some internal struggles, and ensure that the stakes are impactful and you’re sure to raise your character’s blood pressure while keeping readers engaged.
For more information on the role conflict plays in storytelling and how you can use it effectively, check out The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1).
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.
Becca, thanks for clarifying the differences between these two important elements in our writing. All along I’ve accepted that they were synonymous, but with your well written explanation I now see that there is a difference. Clipping this into Evernote under writing tips ASAP!
Fireworks moment here. THANK YOU!
This was definitely a lightbulb for me, Becca! Especially the bits about conflict in every scene, and establishing primal stakes! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
What a great post/article. You explain with such clarity what tension is vs what conflict is. I followed Bookshelf Muse for a couple years, and am in awe how you guys have bloomed into Writers Helping Writers, and your description books are priceless. Big grateful fan here.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Trula. I’m glad you got something from this post 🙂
Good points!
To me, conflict is about what is happening now, while tension relates to what *may* happen (in the future of the story). So conflict arouses interest and excitement in the reader, while tension (will it? won’t it? should it? but what if?) arouses hope or dread, and pulls the reader along to see how things pan out.
This is a great way to define conflict and tension. I agree completely!
This is a great explanation. I’m pasting this into my notes folder. Thanks for your books, Becca. I refer to them constantly.
Nicely defined. Thanks. In his book THE FIRE IN FICTION, Donald Maass devotes a whole chapter to tension, titled TENSION ALL THE TIME. And he’s not talking about car chases and bombs exploding.
Ugh. MUST get this book.
Conflict in every scene. It sounds counter-productive but it works!
Good stuff. Glad I found your site.
Daniel
Great reminder. I will be re-reading my manuscript to see how I’m doing.
Thanks for the reminder!
This was the ‘aha’ moment.
I’m writing my NaNo…and in my rereads, I have felt the ‘lack’ you cited. I have conflict…tons of it…but oops, lacking the tension.
Now I know what I have to do in the editing process.
I shared on Twitter/FB Thanks for sharing with me.
Yay! So glad something clicked. Good luck with NaNo!
This is a great post, so clear and important for a writer. I had a wonderful critique recently at a workshop and all over my manuscript the same five words popped up. “But how does he feel?” You are so right. If my character doesn’t feel the tension, I will lose the reader. Thanks for this post. Very timely for me.
This is a great reminder of the importance of getting rid of those scenes which just don’t move the story forward! Thanks for the post!
I am SO glad I started following your blog long ago. This has been the best bit of advice I have ever received. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
We’re so glad you found us, Marilyn. Glad you’re finding some useful nuggets here ;).
This was SO helpful for me as I went through edits tonight. Thank you!
I like this! I’m still struggling with this and your post helped clarify it in my brain. now if I can only keep it there! 🙂
This was a good reminder for me today. Tension. I need to make sure it’s there. All. The. Time.
I’ve thought about this before, but never to these lengths. I really enjoyed your assessment of both conflict and tension. I guess conflict is the logic behind the problem blocking the goal from the character. Tension is exactly what you said: an emotional trigger for the reader – seat gripping which increases as the pages turn. 🙂 Thanks for making me think!
Woot! So glad this hit a nerve (neuron?) for you today 🙂
This is great help!
I have to say, when I had a beta reader go over my last book, he found the conflict and tension but he was also wonderful in helping me find ways to amp up the tension, raise the “already there” stakes even higher. So I appreciate you mentioning this because it is by adding the tension that I found re-reading the story exciting for myself lol!
I was struggling with this too until someone hit me with a cattle prodder. Thanks to the neurons sending messages to my brain, I realized that conflict and tension were not the same. Thank you for your post to remind me again. Your wonderful books are very helpful to me in the assessment of my final draft. Well okay, I will probably critique it again and again…
Oh, i’m so glad you’re finding the books useful! And yes, it’s true; the revisions do tend to go on and on and on…