Does Your Scene Need More Tension? Add an Emotion Amplifier!

Emotion and tension often go hand in hand. If character emotion is low, story tension is also probably waning. On the flip side, tension is likely on the rise when emotion is high and it’s written effectively.

Dramatic tension is the feeling of anticipation surrounding what happens next. It’s the golden ticket for reader interest, because when a character is in trouble and the outlook is grim, readers worry. This worry translates into empathy and a need to read on to see if the character will be okay. For this reason, it’s important to keep the tension in each scene at an engaging level.

Consider the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Tension is high throughout the story because of the primal stakes: death is constantly on the line. But Collins ramps it up even more by adding stressors in the form of amplifiers. At the start of the games, she removes fresh water from the arena, threatening dehydration and adding another life-threatening factor to worry about. She introduces the tracker jackers and their psychosis-inducing stings, increasing reader suspense and fear for Katniss’s safety while she’s incapacitated. After Rue’s death, Katniss slips into a period of bereavement that’s almost as worrying to readers as her delusions, because anything could happen to her in such a vulnerable state.

Like a sadistic head gamemaker, Collins never lets the heroine off the hook. She continues to throw Katniss new and more alarming problems that make it more difficult to survive an already impossible situation. And the agony pays off. Each new amplifier accomplishes two important things for the character and the reader.

1) Katniss experiences elevated stress. We’ve already covered the impact of emotional stress on a character, and this example demonstrates how stress makes it difficult for Katniss to think clearly and make the best decisions. Poor choices lead to bigger problems, which causes more stress . . . It’s a continuing cycle that keeps readers riveted as the tension rises from page to page.

2) These amplifiers heighten Katniss’s emotions to the point that they can’t be ignored. With each new stressor, she grows more afraid, paranoid, angry, or depressed. As readers, we feel those emotions right along with her. We’re drawn into her story and root for her in a way that guarantees we’ll keep reading to the very end.

If you suspect the tension is flagging in your story or scene, it could be time to add an emotion amplifier. Pain, arousal, dehydration—conditions and states like these make it difficult for a character to self-regulate and think things through logically, increasing the chance they’ll make bad choices and mistakes. Here are a few examples of how amplifiers can be used to jack up the tension.

To Introduce Temptation

Mandy’s a smart kid, but in her financial situation, the only way she’s getting into college is with a sports scholarship. Rumors are swirling about scouts coming to the next game, so she needs to outdo herself on the field.

Unfortunately, daily practices, community service hours, and homework make it hard for her to prepare, and her stupid busy schedule has left her exhausted. She can’t possibly do her best in this game. But then she remembers that guy in AP Chemistry, the one who sells Adderall to kids looking for a pick-me-up. Mandy has never stooped to that level—she doesn’t use drugs—but she’s so tired and has worked so hard. Maybe a little boost would be okay, just this once . . .

Here, the temptation to use a stimulant to overcome exhaustion tips the balance of Mandy’s internal weighing-and-measuring process as her desire for short-term relief threatens to override her morals. Readers have much more to worry about now than whether Mandy will perform well at the game; we all know the danger of just this once. If she gives in, this moment could morph into a secret she’ll have to hide or an addiction that could put all her goals in jeopardy.

To Force Difficult Decisions

Since his wife’s death, Juan has raised their three young kids by himself in a rural, impoverished village. Relocating to a better area with more opportunities would require an arduous trek through the jungle, and for that, they’d need to be strong and healthy, a challenge considering the lack of resources and clean water.

Then one day, food supplies to the village are cut off. As hunger sets in, Juan is faced with an impossible decision: leave now, knowing not all his children will survive the trip, or stay and hope against hope that things turn around.

In this heartbreaking scenario, things start out bad enough as Juan struggles to manage his family’s unstable circumstances on his own. The addition of hunger not only exacerbates the situation, but it also creates a horrible Sophie’s choice dilemma. It’s a no-win scenario because whatever he chooses, pain and regret will follow.

To Increase Vulnerability

The number seven bus squeals to a stop and the doors wheeze open. Ed gingerly exits, favoring his bad hip. Eager to get home, he shuffles along a cracked sidewalk bordering a row of buildings with torn awnings and graffiti-scrawled walls. Wait. This isn’t right. Where’s the park entrance and tall pines lining his route home?

The bus pulls back into traffic, and Ed’s heartbeat stutters. He’d gotten off at the fourth stop. That was the way home. Or was that to get to the doctor’s office?

A group of young people slouch nearby, smoking something pungent and eyeing him. One peels away from the building he’s leaning against. “Hey, old man. You lost?”

“I . . . I don’t know.” Where was he? And where was he supposed to be going?

This senior is far from home in a not-so-safe area, and our uncertainty about the intentions of the local boys increases the dramatic tension. When it becomes clear that Ed is also dealing with cognitive decline, our worry escalates because his mental fog pushes the situation from unsettling to dangerous. Vulnerability always enhances an already tense situation, and it’s a natural offshoot of many amplifiers, so keep it in mind when you need to up the ante.

Exhaustion. Hunger. Cognitive Decline. See how well emotion amplifiers juice a scene with tension? And this is just one of their functions. So useful!

If you’d like to look into other ways emotion amplifiers can help you strengthen your story, check out our latest writing guide, The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility.