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Creating Tension in Scenes: the Horror Music of Fiction
Don’t enter the goddamn door! That’s where the killer is you silly, silly ridiculous fool! Everyone knows the scene in movies where the spooky music starts wailing with screechy violins or Gregorian chanting or children rhymes.
That’s the scene that has viewers on the edge of their seat, yelling at the screen, losing their minds, completely invested. It’s the part that keeps people coming back for more.
However, with writing building tension is a whole other ballgame since we don’t have the heart pounding music or dark lighting to add. And, like your mom told you when you were five, you have to use your words.
So, what is tension in a scene? On a basic level it’s the knowledge something is about to happen but the reader doesn’t know exactly what. It’s anticipation. It’s the feeling your dog has when you’re winding up to throw her tennis ball. Will you throw it? Will you only pretend to throw it and psych her out? Either way, she’s enjoying herself.
In order to build this anticipation, that flirtation, you need to do a couple things within a scene.
- Zooming In: Use the Five Senses
