Conflicting emotions

Hi everyone,

Today I’m adding micro-tension onto my page 58. On this page my main character is searching for clues, then has a brief conversation. The part where she is searching for clues has no micro-tension but its not far off. The second has some. Not a lot. But enough.

My main character feels bad searching—violating a friend’s personal space but she’s lacking another emotion to war with it, like the thrill of the search. I added that in. It only took three lines. 36 words.

This was easier than yesterday’s dialogue and shorter too. So I’m happy and relieved. Yesterday’s addition ended up being wordy. Not today’s, though. Yay.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Micro-tension, page 58:

This page comes at the end of a high micro-tension couple of pages and a turning point on page 56 on the previous page. They are on the train where Haymitch leaves them with a bottle of wine.

The micro-tension is in the exposition. A supposed breathing point after the action of the previous pages. Breathing moments can be boring, as not much happens, and stop the reader from turning the page.

But Suzanne Collins didn’t bore the reader.

She used micro-tension to keep them reading by using the tunnel the train enters to remind her of her father and his death in the mines.

This makes the reader feel uncomfortable as the train enters it—leaving the safety of the districts—and momentarily trapped in darkness and silence before the onslaught of sudden bright lights.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Micro-tension, page 58.

There is micro-tension on this page.

It comes from Bree attempting to pretend she is something she is not (one of them). The tension comes from her skirting the thin line between finding out as much information as she can and not giving herself away as clueless.

So the tension comes from the warring desire of the need for information v’s the need for safety.

That’s it from me tonight.

I’ll tackle another page tomorrow.

Happy writing,

Joanne.

* If you want to learn more about micro-tension see Donald Maas’s, The Breakout Novelist: How to Craft Novels That Stand Out and Sell. Chapter 17.

He’s also given webinars on it which can be bought from the Free Expressions website I linked on my courses recommendations page. Here’s the link directly to the webinar recordings. https://www.free-expressions.com/webinar-recordings