Uncertainty

Hi everyone,

Today, out of my ten manuscript pages, I found five that could do with extra micro-tension. Here’s a mini-breakdown.

1.     A peaceful description before violent action

2.     Warring emotions: selfishness v’s selflessness

3.     Warring ideas: knowledge v’s ignorance

4.     An internal war about being right v’s making mistakes

5.     Warring ideas about value and self-worth and hatred

6.     Warring impulses: recklessness v’s caution.

I’m still reading my five chosen novels to determine what kinds of micro-tension they have and if I like it.

I’ve got a little side-tracked by The Martian by Andy Weir. It’s a fun read but not quite the micro-tension that I’m after. The book’s page turning quality is because the stranded astronaut, Mark, is faced with a life and death problem which he solves, over and over again. Each problem is different and he has to be brilliant to solve it.

It doesn’t really apply to my novel or the type of things I write but I’m still reading it. For fun. It’s a very gripping novel.

What I did learn, other than Andy Weir is a master of the one line micro-tension zinger, is that the words ‘could, ‘might’, ‘hopefully’ cause micro-tension.

These words cause trepidation in the reader—it might not work—as well as anticipation—will it work? This causes the reader to keep reading because they want to and need to know.

So it’s important, in high-stakes situations to use words and phrases that give rise to this uneasiness on the readers part, forcing them to read on. And of course, like in The Martian, it can’t always work, otherwise the trepidation and anticipation will disappear. It’s the not working sometimes that gives the power to the words ‘could’ and ‘might’ and ‘let’s hope’.

Good to know.

Anyway, I’m going to read some more before bed.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Happy Writing,

Joanne.

Micro-tension pages: 87