{"id":167,"date":"2015-04-01T15:31:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2015-04-01T15:31:15","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T20:31:15","slug":"tensionaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/04\/01\/tensionaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension=Action?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authors like food.<\/p>\n

To get food, authors must have money.<\/p>\n

To get money, authors have to sell books.<\/p>\n

To sell books, authors have to engage the reader, and an engaged reader is a reader who wishes to turn the page.<\/p>\n

So, if you want food, your readers need to turn the page. \u00a0Which raises the question: “how do you make readers turn the page?”<\/p>\n

Personally, I recommend looming over their shoulder and staring until they nervously read on. \u00a0But someone else (someone with less time on their hands to dedicate to daily looming) might say that tension helps turn pages. \u00a0Certainly not as exciting as good old fashioned exhortation, but somewhat effective nonetheless.<\/p>\n

There is a pitfall however, dear writer friends, in that tension can typically and most easily manifest as action. \u00a0There’s nothing that necessitates page-turnation–yep, that’s a thing–like an RPG (not the nerdy kind) racing toward the protagonist’s helicopter. \u00a0Cliffhanger ain’t called CLIFF-hanger for nothing. \u00a0It is worth noting that continual action isn’t always a bad thing, but it can get monotonous, even tedious, and\u00a0most importantly, it’s pretty shallow, because it deals with character’s physical abilities or their cunning rather than their emotional depth. \u00a0So, how can you improve your tension writing, then, without just writing action?<\/p>\n

My best advice: identify your “tension meter.”<\/p>\n

For me, it’s squirming. \u00a0Squirming is evidence of tension. \u00a0Some of the relationship scenes in\u00a0Friends<\/em> made me squirm so hard I had to leave the room. \u00a0The important part of this procedure is to be able to rewind and isolate the actual things that make you squirm from people who are masters at tension.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve found your tension meter and have identified instance of tension in someone else’s work, try to replicate it,\u00a0and<\/em> the squirmy feeling with your own work. \u00a0After all, if it doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable, then how can you expect your readers to feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Anyone who read\u00a0Harry Potter<\/em> can speak to this. \u00a0Harry makes some pretty dumb decisions, decisions that make us, the readers, squirm. \u00a0You can yell at Harry all you want, but ultimately he’s still going to charge fool-heartedly into the Ministry of Magic and get *spoiler* killed for no friggen reason, sheesh. \u00a0It is equally important to note that in this instance, the squirm did not happen once the trap had been sprung, but when Harry\u00a0decided<\/em>\u00a0upon his course. \u00a0The action is just action, but the lead-up–the conflicted emotional stuff–is where the tension (and page-turning impetus) lies.<\/p>\n

If your writing doesn’t make you squirm in the best of ways, then you’re doing something wrong.<\/p>\n

\"green<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2015\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If your writing doesn’t make you squirm in the best of ways, then you’re doing something wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2,21,27,29,45,52],"tags":[60,61,88,105,178,185,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1065,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/co-authorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":167,"position":0},"title":"Co-Authorship","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When someone asks for \"description,\" do you answer with \"leave nothing to the imagination?\" Well, as you may know, this isn't too classy, and although some folks may enjoy that, most probably don't.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/04\/04\/my-other-job\/","url_meta":{"origin":167,"position":1},"title":"My Other Job","date":"April 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In a society that so values monetary success, understand that the immediate lack thereof is not a sign of failure, nor is it a symptom of bad writing or flawed ideas, though that's an easy go-to excuse.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Avengarde\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/03\/14\/there-is-a-singularity-go-viral-or-go-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":167,"position":2},"title":"There is a Singularity: go Viral or go home","date":"March 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So, trying to will your book into viral popularity is like the guy I saw driving down the freeway with a mattress strapped to the top of his car and one hand out the window, as if he could stop a freakin' mattress (read: fluffy, spring-loaded SAIL) from flying off\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}