Tension in Novels

Good writers know that tension keeps readers turning pages to find out what happens next. It's one of the components of an interesting story. There's many books and online articles on the skill of adding tension to your writing, so I won't go into detail here. However, as a reader, I've found there's a precarious balance to having the right amount of tension.

I've actually read books that had too much tension, and they're exhausting to read. I find myself having to take breaks to get away from the book for a while, so these books actually do the opposite of what a writer wants. They cause the reader to put down the book for a while. One such book I remember was interesting, but I felt like I'd engaged in a triathlon and needed a hospital when I'd finished. When writers use this much tension, they need to balance the high, dramatically tense scenes with calmer ones, and then it becomes a book the reader can't put down.

However, I've read many more novels with too little tension. These are the books that readers say are boring or that little happens. Some of them are not bad, but readers just feel that something is lacking. There can be many causes of this; here are a few:

• The story line is too simple, and nothing gets complicated for the protagonist.
• There's not enough conflict. It's good to have external conflict from outside sources and internal conflict within the protagonist.
• The book becomes too predictable. Include a few unexpected twists but make them believable.
• The book doesn't pull the reader into the story. Make the reader invested in the outcome and care what happens to the main characters.
• Over-describing and giving too many details bogs a story down.
• The book gives too much backstory in large chunks.
• It has too much happen that doesn't move the story forward and has little purpose.

Some readers love high-tension books where there's no breathers. Others don't mind low-tension books that might be sweet but little else. However, most readers fall somewhere between these two extremes. An author with a number of reviews knows that a book will please some and not others. However, we all want to appeal to as many readers as possible and keep them coming back. And readers want and deserve what they deem to be an enthralling book.

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