Well, the Nobel Prize committee has snubbed me once again, denying me my award for both the DNA of a beginning and of an ending. But I’m not bitter. Nope. Not-at-all. Obliviously, the discovery of quasicrystals was more important than my identification of what makes a good story tick. I mean, look how many people use quasicrystals as compared to how many read or write novels.

Anyhow, a good scientist does not dwell. No, he does not. Especially not about something as important as quasicrystals. A good scientist moves on and keeps sciencethising (yes, I just discovered that word – I’m that good of a scientist – eat your heart out, Dan Shechtman and your quasicrystals). And I’m here to report my latest findings.

I decided to look even smaller than the “-ines” (Care-ine,  Voice-ine, Theme-ine, and Hook-ine) which are all present in books. I wanted to examine what, if any, particles comprised these “-ines”, like certain atoms form the building blocks for organic DNA.

I poured over the best books, picking apart their narrative structures and super-colliding their “-ines” (a very expensive endeavor). Sure enough, I found one of these more basic building blocks: A tensiontron.

A tensiontron, in the most layman of terms, is the particle which makes a reader want to know what happens next. Add in enough of them and a reader will have to know. Pump it all the way and they’ll be dying to know. At the max, a reader cannot sleep, eat, or perform basic functions until they’ve finished reading.

As some of the other Muses and commenters pointed out this week (in not as scientific terms), tensiontrons exist in a wide variety of formats: Emotional, Physical, Sexual, etc. They seem to coexist – even thrive – when in combination with many variations.

Interestingly, tensiontrons dictate much more than just story content. They govern grammar and sentence structure. Many times, I found shorter, punchier sentences as the number of tensiontrons increased. At times, grammar was the first to decay with an abundance of them, allowing for fragments and run-ons alike.

Please, use caution when experimenting with tensiontrons yourself. In order for them to create a proper “-ine”, they must be added in manageable doses. Shooting too many into a story at once becomes jarring for the reader and they’ll toss the book out the window.

I apologize if you’re struggling with my scientific jargon. Let’s work through a simple example together.

Shelby Snarfenburger was in Savannah on a hot summer day.

This statement has no tensiontrons, so let’s add a few, but not too many at once.

Shelby would’ve killed for a soda. Any soda. Diet or full-carb.

Now, there’s a definite charge to the story, but why stop there?  

As it happened, Danny walked by with a whole ice chest full of refreshing sodas. Tons of diet and full-carb.

More. More.

“Hey,” said Shelby, wiping sweat out of her eyes. “Gimme one of them sodas.”

“Sure thing.” Danny grinned as he passed by. “For five bucks.”

              Don’t stop now, but also don’t forget that you can add more than one variety at a time. Let’s spice this sucker up with some Emotional tensiontrons too.

“Ya stinker. I just lost my job,” Shelby hobbled after Danny, the effort making her thirst that much worse. “I don’t got stinking five bucks.”

That’s the ticket.

“Ain’t my problem.” Danny shrugged and left Shelby in the dust.

Shelby didn’t watch him go. Instead, she rubbed her head and mumbled to herself.

“Can’t a gal just catch one little break? Just one – stupid – drink. I worked so fricken hard and I can’t get one fricken sip?!”

Now, let’s jack the tensiontrons all the way – light the sucker up like the 4^th of July.

Danny, whistling a little tune to himself, crossed the street, completely oblivious to Shelby who’d just reached into her purse.

“All I wanted was just – one – stupid – drink.”

The Compact semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .45 ACP Chief's Special glinted in the blistering Carolina sun.

Whooo-wee. Now, I know it’s not the best writing in the world, but enough to demonstrate the power of tensiontrons.

Take that, quasicrystals. If this discovery doesn’t win me next year’s prize, nothing will.

So far this week, we've been talking about tension on a macro-level: The Macguffin. Emotional and sexual tension. External tension, such as the ticking clock. 

I'd like to bring the discussion of tension down to the line by line level--defined by agent Donald Maass as micro-tension. Maass has a well-known exercise that he suggests to his students to learn about micro-tension. Here it is:

Print out your manuscript. (Yes, all of it.)

Stand in the middle of a room and throw it in the air. Woo hoo! (Duck and cover if you have to)

Then scoop the pages up and return them to a stack, keeping them in random order

Now, go through one page at a time, skimming to see if you feel tension

Do you? What do you see, now that you're reading your pages out of order? Are you succeeding, page by page in creating tension?

While the macro-level tension is an important part of the propulsion of a book, our reading experience actually happens line by line. A page-turner is a book that succeeds on both counts, macro and micro.

If you do the above exercise, here are some of the things you may notice that add tension:

• Disagreements (most dialogue, if done right, adds pace.)
• Unanswered questions/contradictions (Character thinks, I love him, and says, "I hate you.")
• Anticipation
• One a technical level, short, pacey sentences can feel tense
• Setting/Descriptions that are surprising, concise and emotional or that foreshadow can add tension

Here are the things you'll notice deplete tension:

• Big, solid blocks of description
• No dialogue
• Telling statements/summary
• Characters who are alone and/or lost in their thoughts
• Characters hanging out with friends, having a good old time yukking it up

These are generalities. Of course you can have a scene with no dialogue that still feels tense (although it would be harder to do.) There are plenty of exceptions to the above, but I think you'll see that the central difference is that tension arises from a state of imperfection. The reader reads because they want to answer the question of whether order will be restored or not.

Now to gather those manuscript pages up....

This week I am sharing my secret recipe for my favorite kind of tension- the romantic kind.  I use the term broadly, because while romantic tension may include sexual tension, the best kind of romantic tension is emotional- when we know that that there is no one in the world as right for this character as the other person, and we are emotionally invested in the outcome.

For starters, romantic tension is a combination of sexual tension, emotional tension and external conflicts.  Any one of these types of tension alone is not enough for a reader to care.  A combination of two of the three can work, but when all three are present?  Yowza! 

Start by liberally mixing the three main ingredients to smoking romantic tension:

Sexual Tension:  This is the purely physical.  Handle with extreme caution.  Without emotion or heart, sex can read like a letter to Penthouse, or worse, like a dry anatomy text.  Like the best sex, sexual tension is usually (but not always) better when there has been a slow build up.  A starting place is attraction, sometimes something as small as an awareness of the other person.  Attention to small details or a physical reaction when they walk into a room.  Tension is created by unfulfilled desire. It's the wanting but not being able to have that creates tension.  The act of not touching someone is often sexier than the physical act.

Physical awareness is often stoked by intense feelings or strong emotions, even if those emotions are not always positive.  (Yes, I know, emotional conflict is sneaking in already).  But aren't the sexiest relationships the ones that are layered with emotion?  A girl who is wildly attracted to a guy she's never seen before is far less interesting than the girl who is wildly attracted to the ex-boyfriend she swore she would never forgive, or the girl who is attracted to the guy who is running against her for class president.  (Wait, is that external conflict sneaking in?  Yes, yet it is).  Conflict is sexy.  Emotion is sexy.  Sex is sometimes, but not always, sexy.  Throw in some strong emotions (positive and negative) and external conflict, and chances are the physical attraction will ignite as well.

Emotional Tension:  Developing emotional conflicts among love interests is an excellent way to build romantic tension.  Emotional tension can take many forms, but the heart of emotional tension is a fight against the romance itself.  For example, emotional tension can come from a growing romantic attraction warring against the hero's distrust of relationships.  Or a character who finds herself falling in love with the one person who hurt her badly in the past.  How about a girl who finds herself in love with someone who is otherwise off limits- a teacher, a sister's boyfriend, or her best friend?  Emotional tension is the heart of most romantic stories, and there is something deeply satisfying about that moment when a hero not only stops fighting against the romantic feelings, but starts fighting for them.

External Conflicts:  Montagues and Capulets.  Wars.  Elections.  Contests.  Competing desires.  Macguffins.  You get the picture.  Think Tracy and Hepburn.  External conflict not only helps to drive the story forward and build tension, it gives our characters something to do, something to butt heads over and ultimately something to overcome.  No one wants to watch a movie where two characters sit around and talk about their feelings the whole time do they?  (Okay, sometimes I do want to watch this kind of movie, but most of the time I want some action).   The couple can fight each other, or they can band together, but there should be something for them to fight against.  Something for them to do besides stare at each other moonily (or cross-eyed).  This conflict can be used to put the couple in close proximity and fuel the emotional conflicts.

Mix well.

Now that you have a nice combination of physical attraction, strong emotion and conflicts that feed the other two, sprinkle in a few seasonings that will really make your romantic tension sing:

Great Characters:  Give us some characters we can root for.  They don't have to be particularly gorgeous, likeable or perfect.  They do have to be interesting, engaging and entertaining.  Give us a reason to fall in love with the ourselves, and we will eat up every last bit of the romantic tension.

Humor:  A liberal dose of humor goes a long way in my book.  It's easier to love someone who can make you laugh.  Let your characters banter and flirt.  Humor is a great way to build a rapport between your characters.

Chemistry:  As in life, a romance without chemistry is a friendship.  The physical attraction doesn't need to be a raging inferno, but there needs to be some attraction between the characters beyond a purely emotional one.

Let it Sit:  Remember the slow build?  Yeah, that.  Do not rush these things.  Part of the fun of a great romance is wondering if the couple will ever really be able to be together.  Tension is strongest when it builds on things that have come before.  Can you throw your characters in bed together in the first scene?  Of course you can.  But that should be the start of the conflict, not the end of it.  Readers need something to root for.

What are some things that you think work particularly well to build romantic tension?

Just a short post from me today because my latest revision is causing all kinds of tension in the Longshore household.  As each revision brings me closer to the publication of Book 2, I get more tense and nervous because it means I will eventually come to the day when I can't revise anymore.  It will be set in stone (or ink as the case may be).

I've learned a lot about tension from Book 2.  It's not an action-packed book.  There are no super-villains, no car chases, and only a faintly ticking clock.  For the first half.  I was neck-deep in my first revision when I realized this.  And I thought, "Oh, crap, nothing happens.  No one will read this, because nothing will drive the reader forward."  I had no MacGuffin (thanks, Kristen, for posting about this yesterday!), breathing fire and growling in the background.  I had nothing.

Or so I thought.

However, my editor hadn't told me to give up.  To trash it.  To put it in a drawer and write something with some kind of plot.  I figured there must be something there.  Something other than action.  So I took a closer look.  And I revised.  And revised again.

There are other kinds of tension.  Emotional tension.  Sexual tension.  The tension that comes with foresight - when you know of impending doom, but the characters don't. (which, in a sense, is kind of a MacGuffin).  The tension of internal conflict.  Microtension.

I tried to explore all of these with Book 2.  I still am now.  Tension doesn't have to come from a big bad wolf.  Or a briefcase.  It can come from wanting so badly for two people to kiss that you have to go out and do it yourself.  It can come from knowing if your character says something - the right thing, at just the right moment - that everything will be OK.  And from knowing that he won't say it.  It can come from an ending you can see approaching like a train wreck, and not being able to avert your eyes.

Go explore tension, dear friends.  Once more into the breach go we.  Find me one more kind of tension.  One more feeling.  One more situation that makes your eyes water and your fingers itch.  And tell me.  Because the thing about tension is - at least in reading - you always want more.

Yeah.  But I can give it up anytime....

Happy Monday! We've got a fantastic guest blogger to kick off our week on BUILDING TENSION (da da da DUM), Kristen Crowley Held. I first met Kristen in the SCBWI Nevada Mentorship program. She's an awesome upcoming author and a good friend to the Muses. Plus, she's hilarious. So without further ado, I hand the baton to you, Kristen.

Hello! First, I hope I’m dressed appropriately. There’s not a lot of fashion advice for dressing as a Guest Muse so I kind of had to wing it.

When Bret told me this week’s topic was going to be BUILDING TENSION, I was immediately filled with, you guessed it, TENSION. I’m not sure if it was the prospect of writing a blog post for the fabulous YA Muses, all of whom I greatly admire and don’t want to disappoint, or the fact that he put it ALL IN CAPS.

Either way, I was nervous and sweaty and totally stumped for what to write.

So, I did what I usually do when I’m stumped. I headed over to my local Novel Solutions store to see if they could help me out. I was relieved to see my buddy Carl behind the counter.

“Ms. Held, what can I help you with today?” Carl asked. "You look rather…tense." He’s very observant.

“Yeah," I said. "I need to write this blog post for the YA Muses and I’m kind of stumped. I’m supposed to be writing about BUILDING TENSION, but-

“I’ve got exactly what you need,” Carl said and he reached under the counter and pulled out a box.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a MacGuffin.”

“A MacWhat?” I reached for the lid.

“Don’t!” Carl batted my hand away.  “You must not open the box under any circumstances.”

            "Um, I don't want to doubt you, Carl, but how exactly is this supposed to help me with my blog post?” I asked.

“A MacGuffin is the perfect tool to create TENSION. Just ask Alfred Hitchcock.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”

“That's not important. What's important is what a MacGuffin does for your story.”

“Which is what?”

Carl sighed. “I just told you, Ms. Held. It creates TENSION.  It gives your characters something to focus on and raises questions in your readers’ minds. It’s the Maltese Falcon, the Lost Ark, the One Ring, the Sorcerer’s Stone and whatever’s in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction."

“What is in the briefcase?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that someone wants it very badly. So, in order for your MacGuffin to work, the first thing we need is a deadline. When is your post due?”

“It’s supposed to go up on Monday.”

Carl fiddled with something on the back of the box.

“What are you doing?”

“Setting the timer. If you don’t finish your post in time the box will open.”

“Wait a minute, you just said opening the box is a really bad idea!”

“Exactly.” Carl reached back under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper. “I’ll need you to sign this contract. I’m afraid the MacGuffin hasn’t eaten in awhile so I can’t be held responsible for what happens if it gets out. You don’t have any small dogs, do you?”

“Uh, no, but I do have small children.”

“Even better, raises the stakes. Now if you’ll just sign right here.”

I scanned the contract. “Structural damages? Loss of life and limb? Seriously?”

“I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about as long as you finish your post in time. Then you simply bring the MacGuffin back and I loan it to the next desperate writer.”

I stared at Carl. “There’s nothing in the box, is there? You’re just trying to scare me into getting my post done, right? The TENSION actually comes from the fact that I think there's something totally horrible in the box, but really all the MacGuffin does is provide motivation to reach a goal. Right?" I picked up the pen.  "There doesn't even have to be anything in the box.”

Carl smiled. I'm not gonna lie. It was kind of a creepy smile. He lifted the lid of the box ever so slightly. Nothing happened.

“I thought so," I said. And then I gagged. "Holy crap, what's that smell? It smells like egg farts."

The box rocked back and forth slightly as a sound like claws scraping against metal came from inside. Carl pushed the lid back down. Whatever was in the box began to growl.

            I dropped the pen. "You know what, Carl? I think I got this." I pushed the contract back across the counter. "You keep your MacGuffin. I'll be back the next time I need a good metaphor."

            "As you wish," Carl said, still smiling that creepy smile.

The good news, dear readers, is that if you're having trouble BUILDING TENSION in your stories, I'm pretty sure the MacGuffin is still available. Just head on down to Novel Solutions and tell Carl I sent you. Or if you'd rather not risk life and limb you can check out the online MacGuffin generator over at Warpcore SF.

Kristen Crowley Held is a member of the Turbo Monkey Crit Crew (coming soon to a blog near you: http://turbomonkeyswrite.blogspot.com) and she's currently working on BUILDING TENSION in her first YA Mystery.