It's Tension, Conflict, Suspense week. Let's see what kind of macrotension questions and conflicts we can come up with for the one-liners we've got going. 1. Our human-rights-attorney story: Set in the mid 1950's, against the backdrop of the first US Supreme Court case to affirm gay rights, a human rights lawyer joins a wealthy Los … Continue reading Tension, Conflict, Suspense: In our own stories
Tag: tension
Tension, Conflict, Suspense: How Harlan Coben does it
It's Tension, Conflict, Suspense week, and today we're looking at how Harlan Coben milks the tension, conflict, and suspense in No Second Chance. I guarantee that I did not pick up on all of his uses and manipulations, but here's what I did spot:d Levels of Tension Macrotension: No Second Chance is the story of Dr. … Continue reading Tension, Conflict, Suspense: How Harlan Coben does it
Suspense: What it is and Ways to Create It
We're looking at tension, conflict, and suspense this week. You can find tension and conflict here. Onward to suspense . . . What is Suspense? "Suspense is any unresolved tension in the story that makes the reader want to see what happens next," says James Scott Bell. Raymond Obstfeld agrees: "On a basic level, suspense … Continue reading Suspense: What it is and Ways to Create It
Core Conflict: What is it?
Conflict is the tool that fills up the vast majority of your story and provides the bumps that are the journey the reader takes from the opening character-with-a-goal to the closing character-who's-achieved-(or not)-her-goal. So . . . What is Conflict? Half a dozen masters put conflict this way: two dogs, one bone. "The idea of … Continue reading Core Conflict: What is it?
Writes With Tools 