Building Tension

I'm at the point in Ripples right now where the tension is so great that I need to take a break. I know how it ends, and I control how it flows, but still I get involved in the story.

In order to build tension, there must first be foreshadowing. A hint of something. Whether it's horror, action, or romance, there must be that little clue. An astute reader will pick it up. Others will miss it entirely. And I imagine many readers, like me, later slap their foreheads and say, I should have seen it coming.

Sometimes the tension builds rapidly. Other times it's much slower. A single step. A noise. A doubt. Then it progresses. When writing, I like to remember Othello. Shakespeare's tragic play started out quite simply before becoming much darker.

Of course, once the tension reaches the boiling point you need a resolution. It can't be trite, either. Your resolution must reflect your characters and their motives. For me, the resolution is the hardest part. In writing Ripples I had to brainstorm all the possibilities, and write out two of them, before I could find an acceptable ending.

Building tension is fantastic for the reader. That's what makes a person stay up until 3 a.m. just to finish a book. But it's a problem for this author. When my characters get into trouble my teeth grind. I have to save my work and go on the internet until I'm ready to jump back into the fray.