Monday, July 14, 2014

Introducing Microtension

In the September 2014 issue of Writer's Digest, Donald Maass has a short but interesting article on Building Microtension Into Every Scene. The article was a fast read, and full of useful information, but I'm not going to share all of it. I want to pick out a bit at the end and discuss what he says. He offers three ways to deliver microtension to scenes.

1. "Pick a passage of dialogue and increase hostility between the speakers. It can be friendly ribbing, worried questioning, polite disagreement, snide derision, veiled threats, open hostility or any other degree of friction." 

Of the three ideas, I think this one is the easiest. When you have two characters who spend any amount of time together, tensions will automatically mount. Little things like misunderstandings, misaligned goals, or hurt feelings can easily produce juicy dialogue. Instead of internalizing the pain, have one character lash out with words. It doesn't have to be negative, either. Good-natured teasing (or an ill-timed tickle-fest) can escalate into tension, especially if there are unspoken resentments or unknown variables (that lovely sense of mystery must be made clear to the reader for this to work, though). 

2. "Pick a passage of exposition. List all of your POV character's emotions and find emotions that conflict. Grab what creates unease, uncertainty, fresh worry, new questions, a deeper puzzle or an agonizing dilemma. Rewrite the passage."

This one takes more work, as you've got to establish the conflicting emotions first. For example: in one scene, your female character thinks her husband is planning a surprise party for her. She's feeling a bit excited, but let's be truthful, it's too boring to devote an entire scene to it. Now add an emotion that conflicts. Simple: she hates surprises. Now she wants to find out if he's really planning it, who's involved, where it'll be, how they'll surprise her--and the whole time, she doesn't want her husband to know she's found out. (It's still pretty boring, but if you weave all this conflicting emotion into the main thread of the story, the potential for interest will raise.)

3. "Pick a moment when your protagonist is still, simply waiting or doing nothing. List three setting details that only this character would notice. Detail her emotions. Find those that conflict or surprise her. What's this moment's personal meaning?"

This is the hardest one, especially for me, as I'm not that great at detailing setting. However, it can be done. I'm thinking of J.D. Robb's In Death series. The protagonist, Eve Dallas, is a homicide detective. When she walks into a crime scene, she immediately notes the things that others wouldn't necessarily notice: hiding places, forensic evidence, misplaced items (like moved furniture or pictures askew). Her emotions are almost always under control. But once in awhile, the scene is personal to her--she knew the victim, or feels extra compassion for a survivor, or something about the crime reminds her of an emotionally trying time from her past. That's when the viewing of the scene takes on more meaning. The emotional connection to the setting produces tension.

If you've got a boring passage in your WIP and don't know how to fix it, try using one of these three ideas to increase the tension. 

Questions? Comments? Do you have better examples than what I came up with?

-Sonja

Thursday, July 10, 2014

True for me

When in doubt, post something humorous. True for you, too?

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Plotting a Mystery

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I'm plotting a new mystery. I'm taking a quick break today to share something I found on Pinterest (yes, I wasted some of my plotting time with a visit to Pinterest--since I only spent five minutes there, I'm not feeling guilty at all). The pic said this:

"To uncover the plot of your story, don't ask what should happen, but what should go wrong. To uncover the meaning of your story, don't ask what the theme is, but rather, what is discovered. Characters making choices to resolve tension--that's your plot. If your protagonist has no goal, makes no choices, has no struggle to overcome, you have no plot." -Steven James, from Story Trumps Structure

What I love most about this quote is the part "What should go wrong." I don't know about the rest of you mystery writers, but I plot my story by figuring out the murder first. Who did it? Why did he do it? How did he do it? How does he think he'll get away with it? How much planning did he put into it? Most importantly, how will he be caught and brought to justice?

At some point in here, I'll also figure out everything about the victim: who he is, why he deserved to die (in the mind of the murderer), how to make him sympathetic (so the reader cares about solving his murder), and all the other little things that go into crafting a great victim.

Once I have all that nailed down, I create my protagonist (she's been in the back of my mind all the while, anyway) and figure out: How does she stumble across this murder? Why is it important for her to solve it? How will she solve it? What are the stakes if she doesn't solve it? What's her inner flaw that she must conquer before she can be in a position mentally, physically, or spiritually to solve the crime?

That's where the "what can go wrong" comes into play. If it's too easy for my protagonist to solve the murder, it's a boring story. If it's too hard, the reader will be frustrated. There's a fine line between Believable and Throwable (as in "throw the book across the room and never read another book by this author ever again so-help-me-God"). Granted, my murderer wants to get away with his crime, so he'll probably try to make things go wrong for the protagonist. But she also faces other problems. People lie. Evidence gets misinterpreted or languishes in a crime lab somewhere for horrific amounts of time. Budget cuts limit personnel availability. Family members want some quality time with the protagonist, so she can't devote her entire day to crime solving. Attitudes and expectations get in the way. Feelings get hurt. Drama distracts.

The "what can go wrong" part can be fun to plan, but if I go overboard, the story isn't believable or fun to read. Balance is the key.

Any comments? Questions? Observations? Share your wisdom with the rest of us, please, and use the comments section to do it.

-Sonja