Where Are the Fireworks?
I’m not a drama queen. I’m one of those people who like for their life to be nice and calm and relaxed. I don’t always have a life like that. I would just prefer that it were. I think most people feel this way. It can work in real life but a nice, calm life makes for really poor reading.
Ever read a book where nothing happens? What’s the point? This is one of my challenges. I can write a story but I’m never sure if I have enough drama. Sometimes it falls just a little flat.
I’ve read that, if you have this issue, when you are writing a story you should try to make feelings, personalities, and tension feel over the top. You should try to take it to the nth degree. You want to try to create fireworks on the page.
Donald Maass says, in the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, “Tension on every page is the secret of great storytelling.” One of the exercises in the workbook suggests going through all of the pages of you novel at random and raising the tension on each page.
I write a lot of short stories but I think the same exercise can be applied to a short story. Ratcheting up the tension until it explodes into an extraordinary shower of fireworks sounds appealing and it’s exactly what I need to find a way to do.
How do you create tension and fireworks in your writing?
If you are not a writer what books to you think have great literary fireworks?
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Thank for reading!
Kristine Duffey
Thanks for posting this. I am not naturally comfortable with drama. You have me thinking (and wondering if I have been too flat at times). I will be reflecting on your words as I write.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great point, too often overlooked or otherwise misunderstood. Sometimes, and this comes up more often in TV and movie scripts than anywhere else in my opinion, the writer only uses one or two kinds of tension - for instance, "uh oh, it might turn violent" for one and "oh my god it's so violent" for the other. It gets stale pretty quickly, but they keep doing it anyway... I say, mix it up, keep it varied, that's what'll keep it interesting. Different characters will have different kinds of tension, and the same bit of tension might be seen different ways from different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteTension is vital; I'd say it's exactly what keeps me reading a book that doesn't have any other redeeming qualities (I could name some examples, but the shame is too powerful). That said, if I don't care about the characters I don't care about their tense situations; still, you always need some line of tension in there somehow.
I have this book but have put it on the back burner. Thank you for reminding me to pull it out again. You have highlighted a very important point in the book and it fits in with the prompt well.
ReplyDelete@May So glad I could help!
ReplyDelete@J.Ross Great observation! And very true.
@Kelly Glad you are pulling them back out. The book and the workbook are a great pair.
Thanks for reading!
KD
This is a good topic! I have learned to "write hot, edit cool." It means to make everything over the top in your first draft. By making the characters and situations over-dramatic, the tension and excitement of the story will naturally come out. Then in editing, you can tone it down if you want to. It's easier to tone things down later than to try and make them hot later.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think about trying it on every page though, that's a good idea that I will try.
Great post!
@Morgan Thank you! That’s a great way to describe it. I like calling it “Writing Hot”
ReplyDelete