Creating Narrative Tension in a Novel
Narrative tension is the tension characters in a novel feel
about unresolved and unfulfilled events and needs. That's why
it's so important to suggest a story's promise in a dramatic
context, so that a storyteller creates characters who have a
need to act, and to act in spite of obstacles. When characters
in a story are blocked from gaining what they want, they
experience narrative tension. When acting to gain something
increases a character's pain (because the story/storyteller
increases the obstacles) a character in a story experiences
increasing narrative tension. In a nutshell, a storyteller
creates a character who can't refuse to act because of the cost
of inaction, but there's also a price to pay for acting. Romeo,
in Romeo and Juliet, is a great example of narrative tension. To
act on his love for Juliet is to turn against his clan and
family; to not act on his feelings for Juliet is to violate his
sense of what's important to him. But any action he takes
increases his pain. Romeo is a great character because he won't
allow even death to block him from being with Juliet. A novel
(or memoir) that lacks narrative tension fails to be compelling.
It can appear to be episodic; events happen, but there's no
tension around an outcome to these events. Characters act, but
there's no tension generated around their actions. Suggesting
tension for characters is only the first step in generating
narrative tension. The second step is to write about this
tension in a way that it is transferred from a story's
characters to a story's audience. That's why the introduction of
a story's promise around an issue of human need is so important.
When a story's audience identifies with a story's characters and
goals, that audience can also be led to internalize tension over
whether a character achieves his or her goals. While a great
plot can help hook an audience around finding out what will
happen next, when an audience has internalized a story's
narrative tension, that audience needs to experience a story's
resolution and fulfillment for the relief of the tension created
by the storyteller. The greater the tension, the more compelling
the novel. This is why keeping a story's promise off stage can
be so lethal. That lack can lead to weak or absent narrative
tension. Generating narrative tension, then, begins with the
opening sentences of a novel or story. Narrative tension can be
compared to an electrical current that runs through a story. The
weaker the current, the less a story transmits to an audience.
The greater the current, the greater the involvement of an
audience. When I've worked with or talked with agents, a lack of
narrative tension is their number one reason for rejecting
novels. Another path into this issue of narrative tension...
What does your main character want as your story opens... and...
...what blocks him or her from getting what they want?
Externally and internally? If nothing blocks a character,
there's no drama around the advance of the story. There's no
reason for a character to feel any tension, or a story's
audience to feel tension over a character getting what they
want. Another way to generate tension is to begin a story with a
character wrestling with a dilemma (which can be mainly internal
or external). If a plot event forces that character to act to
resolve their dilemma, the story begins with a question -- what
will the character do -- and moves toward an answer to that
question. If that step resolves the original dilemma, but
creates a new, larger problem that requires another step
forward, the story continues to advance. Because of the
resolution achieved, the story's character should go through a
shift in feeling. If a character doesn't go through a shift in
feeling (or understanding), nothing has impacted them. If
nothing in a scene impacts a character, it can be hard for
what's happening to impact an audience. The exception, of
course, is that the storyteller wants a character to be
oblivious while doing something that acts on the audience. When
a character faces a larger, more challenging problem, they
should have a new, different state of feeling. That feeling
might be embodied in an action (a character cries, or lashes
out, or stammers, etc.) or it might be expressed via dialogue.
This simple process is obvious in the Harry Potter books. When
it's done well (Harry's world is full of on-going dilemmas), the
effect is to pull the audience forward. The dilemmas in Harry's
world have many faces -- Harry wanting to go somewhere with his
friends but he can't because he's in danger -- Harry having many
powers but if he uses them to defend himself at the Dursley's,
he'll risk his powers being taken away. Many stories I read have
action, things happen and things are resolved, but the deeper
issue is how to make action compelling. Just to make this clear,
a character can be in conflict with themselves and with
something external to them. In The Hunt for Red October, Ramius
has seethed his whole life at how the communists have treated
his homeland. It's only with the death of his wife that he can
act to resolve that feeling by punishing the communist party
(while his wife was alive, he couldn't act without putting her
at risk). To push Ramius even farther over the edge, he blames
the communists for the death of his wife due to a botched
surgery.
Once that internal tension is established (and occassionally
referred to), the story advances mostly as Ramius must outwit
the forces arrayed against him. But, the transfer of this
internal tension to the audience has already taken place.
An understanding of how popular stories and storytellers create
narrative tension can be a great teaching tool.