Stopping the Reader’s Heart: Creating Tension

Raising the stakes – and sustaining the conflict and tension that result – is crucial to storytelling. Reblogging this great post from Richie Billing which gives solid guidance and tips about leveraging tension!

Richie Billing | Fantasy Writer

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Can you think of a moment in a novel or story when you lost all awareness of your surroundings? The only thing that mattered was happening on the page, and then at the end you come up for air and utter a “fuck.”

In reality, we don’t like a life full of tension. In fiction, however, the opposite is true. As readers we love stress and tension; we seek it out. When we read pages laden with tension a hormone is released into our bloodstream which stimulates…

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