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: 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.

Biting the bullet

Culled paper (Photo credit: Dvortygirl)

After two days of hemming and hawing I decided to rewrite this chapter from scratch, too. Technically, it isn't from scratch. When I rewrite a chapter in this draft, I reuse the summary and incorporate new notes then fill in the gaps. But most the words I keep are new. (can't keep the summary) My writing friend who I met with today agrees that the two chapters I have rewritten this way read much better. I just might do all my chapters like this. It might be faster and produce a better product. Just wish I had thought of this strategy earlier. Guess I'm still learning. Someday this will be my first draft instead of my second.

Do you find your job is still a learning experience?

Revision Step 1: Delete for Conflict!

This blog post looks at what to delete from events in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

The blog does NOT delve into different types of conflict, a break-down of what a scene is and is not, or types of transitions. Again, each of those would need its own post. The post carries the subtitle “Delete for Conflict!” because most of an event is made of conflict (I know you know this). But remember to look at the entire event – both before the conflict starts and after it is resolved – because the entire event can benefit from these warning signs.

• Ignores main story goal. The characters are not trying to reach (or prevent) the main story goal. Every sub-goal needs to tie back to that main story goal.
• Lacks conflict, tension, or suspense. The three are not the same. Conflict is a struggle between two or more characters. Tension is the physical, mental, and emotional strain caused by the conflict. Suspense is the reader's uncertainty about how the conflict will end. If you are missing any of them, the reader will probably loose interest.
• Takes tangents. A tangent differs from a valid digression. Sometimes a character will get deflected from the initial scene goal – and that can be fine. BUT: Is the scene goal answered by the finishing event? Can you justify the diversion? Was it somehow caused by the last event or did the even “just happen”? (Hint: the second scenario is bad.) Does the tangent serve some purpose? Ex., foreshadowing, essential backstory. If not, it needs to go.
• Story still drags. When this happens, then the pace may be too slow. Use all the articles as a check-list to see what can be removed. But don't stop there. Also try shortening the length of sentences and paragraphs. This alone will make the story flow faster.
  
  

This is Part 2 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

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Three very different book on planning events…

Bell, James Scott. Conflict & Suspense. Cincinnati, Ohio: Wiriter's Digest Books, 2011.

Dibell, Ansen. Plot. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1988.

Franklin, Jon. Writing for Story. New York: Plume, 1994 (republished).

Revision Step 1: Delete for Style!

Symbol delete vote (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

           I'm doing some major revisions of a manuscript. I recommend beginning the revision process by looking for things to remove. Many times deleting content will improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. As an added bonus, by deleting content in your first step of revision you won't waste time polishing material you will only remove your labor of love later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Whether you have found your writing voice or are still flailing around, there are still ways to make your narrative more logical, precise, and clear to the reader. The blog does NOT intend to place greater value on any particular type of voice (wordy, terse, slang, etc.) or to influence you in a particular direction. If I did, then it wouldn't be your voice, would it?

• Definitely delete any cliché or colloquialism that don't fit with the setting, character background, time period, or genre. Otherwise you risk throwing the reader out of the story. Even if using these is part of your style or you are deliberately using them in dialogue for a particular character and it seems to work, consider deleting most of them. Use just a little bit and your favorites will shine.
• Be concrete. Convince the reader. Delete words like bright. A bright shirt is not a concrete description. A bright yellow blouse is still not concrete. You can get away with yellow (probably) but is the blouse “bright” because it is sequined, caught in a shaft of light, or is it neon? Convince the reader that it is a bright shirt or a bright day or a bright person.
• In line with this last point are adjectives. Search out endings: -ly, -ing, -er, -est, etc., and remove them without mercy. Be concrete, remove most and the few that are left that you absolutely love will have more impact. The On a related note, a and the are also adjectives. Your character leaving the room usually opens the door, not a door. The door is specific and concrete. A door is more abstract. Which door did he open?
• Then there are verbs. Look out for any form of “is” or “being”. These sentences can usually be shorted with those words eliminated. For passives and linking verbs, you can usually cut out half the sentence. Also keep a look out for generic verbs like walked, jumped. Improve clarity by telling the reader how the character does these things. A person can jiggle, skulk, shimmy, disappear into the crowd. Consider modifying generic verbs to show character or mood while staying true to POV and voice.
• Avoid redundancy. The reader is not stupid. A really important point that you want to be obvious about probably shouldn't be said more than three times in the entire book. And remember that what is important to the writer may not be important to the reader. And reader trumps writer. So consider being more subtle than the rule of three. An exception is the character's goal which should be explicitly stated as close to the start of the scene as possible and repeated as often as necessary – like when it changes or is thwarted along the way.

This is Part 1 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on voice...

Edgerton, Les. Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality In Your Writing. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 2003.

Hale, Constance. Sin and Syntax. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.

Payne, Jonny. Voice & Style. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1995.

Revision Step 1: Delete!

I'm doing some major revisions of a manuscript. I recommend beginning the revision process by looking for things to remove. Many times deleting content will improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. As an added bonus, by deleting content in your first step of revision you won't waste time polishing material you will only remove your labor of love later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

This is the start of a five-part series of articles that looks at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

• Style assumes that you know the basics of grammar – that you know a noun from a verb but may or may not remember an adverb from a adjective. Whether you have found your writing voice or are still flailing around, there are still ways to make your narrative more clear to the reader. The blog does NOT intend to place greater value on any particular type of voice (wordy, terse, slang, etc.) or to influence you in a particular direction. If I did, then it wouldn't be your voice, would it?
• Events assumes that you know the basic flow of a scene. If you struggle with this, you can still use these strategies and tips. This blog looks at relevance on the macro and micro levels, as well as the qualities mentioned earlier. The blog does NOT delve into different types of conflict, a break-down of what a scene is and is not, or types of transitions. Again, each of those would need its own post.
• Summary and Descriptions assumes that these will be where your voice shines through most clearly. If you aren't sure what your voice is, here is a great place to look. Regardless of genre, there are guidelines for good summary and description. I attempt to touch on these. This area is one that can help define the genre you are writing and every genre comes with its own expectations. The blog does NOT break down different genre expectations for summary and description. Instead, it tries to provide guidelines in terms that are relevant across genre.
• Characters assumes that you have developed the people in your story or have plans to do so. The blog looks at staying true to your characters and your reader. Always, in my book, the reader comes first, the main character(s) comes second, and so on. The blog does NOT deal directly with character development but the tips and strategies will probably help you in this area, too.
• Dialogue is an area I struggle with but many other people love. I assume the reader can keep straight who is talking to who. The blog looks at streamlining dialogue, tags, and non-conversational prose. The blog does NOT address increasing conflict, tension, foreshadowing, back-story, or world-building through dialogue. That would be adding and this blog is about subtracting.

“People often ask me why my style is so simple. It is, in fact, deceptively simple, for no two sentences are alike. It is clarity that I am striving to attain, not simplicity.
“Of course, some people want literature to be difficult and there are writers who like to make their readers toil and sweat. They hope to be taken more seriously that way. I have always tried to achieve a prose that is easy and conversational. And those who think this is simple should try it for themselves.”

― Ruskin Bond, The Best of Ruskin Bond
courtesy of Goodreads