Raise Reader Tension: The Unknown

 Introduce the Unknown and you will have the reader on edge -- an immediate increase in
reader tension. You can do this at any point. I think Middles are particularly well-suited for doing this since Beginings are for set-up, Endings are for wrap-ups, but Middles are for complications. And what is more intriguing and unsettling  to the reader than an "I know something you don't know"? Especially right when the reader is getting complacent.

English: Hampoil cave entrance from inner angle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Foreshadowing in prose, allusions in dialogue, or unexplained events are just a few ways to raise reader tension. Some of this might be plotted into your first draft but if you have places that sag but are necesary to the story, you can add elements of the unknown to draw the reader back into the story.
        Look for ways you can rewrite the scene so the characters explore a new area (a cave, empty building, new sector of the city. A place neither the characteer nor the reader has ever been before.
        Look for places where you tell back-story or history directly and without conflict. Or brainstorm back-story or history that is not included in the story but you wish you could have included. Turn this into a secret to be kept from the reader (and maybe the character) that must be discovered through hints and clues given out by various characters and settings.
        Take a character who is important (but maybe not vital) to the story and rewrite your manuscript so the reader never actually meets this character.
        Take your time when introducing a new character or setting. The reader doesn't need to know everything at once. In fact, the reader doesn't need to know everything at all just so long as you know. Show the action and take your time with the explanations. (Some explanations can wait longer than others.)
Introduce uncertainty, mystery, indecision -- the unknown -- to increase reader tension. Raise reader tension to help tighten the sagging, dragging passages of your manuscript.

Raise Reader Tension: Main Characters

         How can you increase reader tension? I mentioned that it isn't the character that has to feel the tension but the reader. One way to achieve this is through tweaks to your main characters. Remember that surprise is key to reader tension.

English: A thermite reaction using Ferric Oxide. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        One reason readers become complacent is that over time, they learn to predict character reactions. This is especially true in the middle -- after character has been established. By the middle, readers think they know everything there is to know about the character. If you allow this, there is risk that the reader will get bored.
Use their assumptions against them while remaining true to the character you have created.
        Give your character an unexpected reaction. Unexpected to the reader, that is. You will have to justify the reaction and the readers will see that there is more to the characters than they thought, maybe an unmet need, controversial belief, previously unrevealed back-story.

NOTE: this works best if you set up reader expectations before challenging those beliefs. Find several similar situations in your manuscript that evoke the same reaction. Then insert or alter a situation that is almost identical except that it includes a personal trigger that will cause the character to react differently. The reader will be surprised, confused, intrigued. The different reaction will put the reader on edge until the change of behavior is explained (in a way that stays true to character). Done right, you can also deepen character with this technique.

        Another way to use your main character to raise reader tension is to exploit his/her character arc. A character becomes predictable when turning points are delayed for too long, lack surprise twists, or have steps that do not offer enough change in character outlook/motive/behavior.
        These techniques should help you to keep your reader guessing and engaged with your main characters. Keep the reader unsure, keep the surprises coming, and you will be well on your way to raising reader tension.

Raise Reader Tension: Surprise

Tightrope Walker (Photo credit: the other Martin Taylor)

        Does your story drag when you reread it, despite a well-conceived plot? You may be having trouble with dramatic tension. A feeling of tension in the reader is vital to building suspense because it keeps the reader from feeling complacent.
        Reader complacency is the enemy to tension. A reader can still feel complacent -- and bored --  even when faced with the fastest, most action-packed plot.
        How can this be?
         The complacent reader knows what is going to happen. So even when the character is surprised, the reader is not. Predictability is the enemy to dramatic tension.
It is not necessary for the character to feel the tension, so long as the reader feels it.
        After all, the character isn't the one reading the book, turning the pages, making the decision whether or not to put the book down or stay up through the night. Tension in the reader overlaps with -- but is not identical to -- tension in the viewpoint character.
You can fight complacency with uncertainty. Not uncertainty in the character (though that can help) but uncertainty in the reader.
        Surprise the reader.

Suspense in Dialogue

There are many ways to introduce suspense into dialogue. Suspense is the element of uncertainty. What is going on? What will happen next? Because dialogue is “people telling other people things”, you may wonder how the sharing of information can lead to uncertainty.

• Revelations: The realization that things are not as they seemed a minute ago. This can evoke feelings of wonder, surprise, or unease. Questions arise in the reader's mind about what the revelation means for the character's future.
• Threat: The belief that the character has somehow come under attack. The threat may be to physical well-being, but the threat could also be mental or emotional. The threat usually connects to the scene goal and complicates the goal somehow. The reader should be left uncertain how the character will respond to the threat.
• Thoughts: Often this happens when a viewpoint character thinks something that cannot be said aloud. Thoughts reveal information to the reader that non-viewpoint characters are (usually) not privy to. The reader should be led to wonder if/how/when the “secret” will come out. If the thought is one of inner conflict, the reader will be uncertain how the character will cope. Plans for future action can also be suspenseful, especially if the POV character is unsure whether the plan will succeed.
• Theme: Have a character state the theme and let other characters react. Because the theme is the central topic of your WIP, your characters will have strong – and different opinions about it (even something like “love conquers all” can be controversial for your characters). Voicing the theme can create momentary suspense because the reader knows there are characters who strongly disagree and the reader wonders how such a character will react.

Working with an Absent Antagonist

Day Thirty-eight: Skulking (Photo credit: mbshane)

The book opens when the protagonist finds recent signs of the monster she has been hunting. The creature is nearby but does not actually appear until the next scene. Who is her main opponent? The creature. Where is it? Not here.

Scenes of pursuit and flight are perhaps the most common examples of absent antagonists. And thrillers are not the only books where the antagonist is not present. Maybe the protagonist is his/her own antagonist. How does the writer keep the reader involved when a direct confrontation just is not possible? Here are some techniques:

• Develop the sense of danger. She knows it is out there but not exactly where so it could appear at any time. Show destruction previously caused by the antagonist and hint at what it could do to the protagonist.
• Develop the sense of uncertainty. Not only could it appear at any time and from any direction, she's never actually seen the creature. Let her imagination run wild.
• Make the mood forbidding. Plants rustle without a wind. Sour smell from the burned out den. Lack of magic where there should be lots. No wildlife moving. Add what could be a bad omen. Skin prickles. Imagine that ghosts or some part of the setting is trying to warn her of danger.
• State fears/ worries/ uncertainties from the protagonist's POV. If she is unsure of her success, the reader will worry too.
• Set a time limit. The protagonist has to find the creature now before there are more victims and before someone else gets involved.
• Have someone warn her of the danger. Have someone warn her of the worst case outcome – the one that happens or one that is similar to what happens.