How to Keep Readers Engaged: Best Practices for Building Tension in Stories
Tension in storytelling is more than just a narrative device – it’s the invisible thread that weaves through every great story, pulling readers deeper into its tapestry of emotions and possibilities. Like a master puppeteer, skilled writers use tension to orchestrate a delicate dance of anticipation and uncertainty, creating an irresistible magnetic force that compels readers to keep turning pages long into the night.
In this guide, we’re going to look at the art and science of building narrative tension – from subtle psychological undercurrents to heart-pounding climactic moments. And we’ll explore the various techniques you can use to keep your readers invested from “once upon a time” right up to “the end.”
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Understanding tension in storytelling
Tension in storytelling is simply the emotional strain that keeps readers invested in a narrative. It manifests through various different narrative elements, and, when it works, it creates the kind of reading experience that compels your audience to keep turning pages.
There are a couple of different types of tension:
- Long-term Suspense: This revolves around overarching story questions that unfold over time. It creates a broader sense of uncertainty, encouraging readers to wonder what the narrative outcome will be.
- Short-term Suspense: On the other hand, this is focused on the immediate conflicts and dilemmas your characters face. Short-term suspense generates urgency above all else, and keeps readers engaged and invested in rapid resolutions.
Both long-term and short-term suspense play vital roles in maintaining reader interest. You’ll want to use both to create layers of complexity that keeps your audience guessing.
Suspense in fiction relies heavily on the interplay between these two types. Uncertainty and anticipation drive engagement, prompting readers to invest emotionally in characters’ journeys.
By effectively integrating long-term and short-term suspenses into your storytelling, you cultivate a rich tapestry of tension that resonates with your audience, ensuring they remain captivated from start to finish.
Techniques for building tension in your writing
1. Craft relatable characters with clear motivations
Well-drawn, relatable characters are the essential tool for crafting engaging narratives. Readers need to be able to empathise with your characters — to become emotionally invested in their journeys. Build that connection, and you’ve almost certainly primed your reader to stay tuned to the bitter end.
Clear motivations flow from your character development work. These are critical for driving characters’ actions and decisions — and for ensuring your reader understands why a character acts in a particular way, especially when the plot requires your character to make an objectively bad decision. Bad decisions are great for upping the conflict, and conflict is great for upping the tension.
A character whose goal is revenge may take risks that jeopardise their safety. A character with a dark secret to protect may panic and dig themselves deeper into trouble. A character with great intentions but lacking an important piece of information may accuse the wrong person. Characters have an almost endless capacity to accidentally act against their best interests and inadvertently pour fuel on the narrative fire — but it all boils down to making sure you, as the author, are clear about what makes your characters tick.
2. Manage narrative pacing
Pacing is the speed at which a story progresses, and it’s a critical element of storytelling that influences how tension unfolds. Well-paced pacing creates peaks and troughs that guide your reader through moments of heightened tension, and necessary moments of relative calm.
Fast-paced scenes create urgency. Action sequences, high-stakes confrontations, or climactic events benefit from brisk narrative flow.
Slow moments create narrative balance and provide space for character development and deeper emotional connection. These sequences allow readers to reflect on internal conflicts, motivations, and the implications of the external challenges faced by characters.
Effective pacing involves integrating both styles strategically. A few techniques for managing your narrative pacing include:
- Varied sentence length: Short sentences during intense scenes can enhance urgency, while longer sentences can evoke introspection.
- Judicious chapter breaks: Use chapter endings to create cliffhangers or pause points that maintain reader interest.
- Internal and external conflicts: Ensure that both types of conflict are woven throughout the narrative to keep tension alive.
3. Make the most of foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a powerful storytelling device that hints at future narrative events as a mechanism for creating suspense. Its purpose lies in building tension by planting seeds of what may come without revealing too much too soon. Effective foreshadowing keeps readers piecing together clues and invested in discovering whether or not their conclusions are correct.
Techniques for Effective Foreshadowing:
- Subtle hints: Incorporate small details early in the story that may seem insignificant at first glance but gain importance later on. For instance, a character’s offhand remark about a past event can echo later when that event resurfaces.
- Symbolism: Objects and/or motifs are fantastic vehicles for symbolising future outcomes. For example, you might choose to use a wilting plant to foreshadow decay or loss. This sets a subtle narrative tone that hangs over the text and creates an expectation in the reader.
- Character behaviour: Characters may exhibit traits or take actions that hint at their motivations and future decisions. For example, an anxious character may display nervous habits that foreshadow their confrontation with internal conflict.
4. Keep your readers guessing with micro-questions
Micro-questions are a powerful tool for creating suspense in your story. These are the little questions that come up naturally in the narrative — often without the reader being consciously aware of them — and add layers of tension to your plot. Here are some strategies to incorporate micro-questions as you develop your plot:
- Present situations where characters face dilemmas, prompting readers to wonder what will happen next.
- Use internal conflict (emotional struggles) and external conflict (tensions between characters or their environment) as vehicles for micro-questions. For example, “Will the protagonist confront their fear?” or “What will happen when they discover the truth?”
- Keep those character motivations at the forefront of your mind while writing. When readers empathise with a character’s internal and external conflicts, they become invested in resolving the associated micro-questions.
5. Cliffhangers, escalation strategies, and high emotional stakes
Ending a chapter with a cliffhanger is a time-honoured technique, and so ubiquitous now to tension-driven storytelling that it’s basically a given. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself incorporating cliffhanger endings without even realising. But if you want to get strategic about upping the tension you could try:
- Layering internal and external conflicts: I talk about this a lot in my novel-writing course, The Writer’s Launchpad, because it’s an absolutely killer way to keep your narrative escalation strategy on track. Combining personal dilemmas (internal conflict) with external challenges (external conflict) deepens character development subtly ramping up conflict, stakes, and drama.
- Strategic placement of emotional stakes: Placing characters in morally complex situations or life-altering decisions creates an emotional connection that heightens reader investment. This is where your character development work comes into its own, too: taking the time to create relatable characters allows your reader to empathise more strongly, and their emotional involvement intensifies.
“Like a master puppeteer, skilled writers use tension to orchestrate a delicate dance of anticipation and uncertainty, creating an irresistible magnetic force that compels readers to keep turning pages long into the night.”
Examples of effective pacing techniques in literature
As always, the best way to gain a comprehensive understanding of any literary concept is to see how it plays out in practice. Let’s have a look at how three notable novels make the most of these tension-building strategies:
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This dystopian novel excels in maintaining reader engagement through its fast-paced action sequences and strategic cliffhangers. Chapter endings often leave readers on the edge of their seats, compelling them to turn the page. The relentless tension created by Katniss Everdeen’s fight for survival keeps readers invested in her journey. Action-packed scenes are interspersed with moments of introspection, allowing for both urgency and character development.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Austen’s classic novel demonstrates how character-driven conflict can propel the plot while balancing humor and tension. The will-they-won’t-they misunderstandings between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy create an ongoing sense of anticipation. The pacing fluctuates between witty banter and emotional confrontations, which serves to heighten the suspense around their evolving relationship.
3. Basically anything by Agatha Christie
Pick an Agatha Christie novel at random: you’ve got a masterclass in narrative tension right there. Christie’s mastery lies in her ability to weave intricate plots filled with red herrings, twists, and carefully timed reveals. Novels like Murder on the Orient Express (my personal favourite) build tension by controlling information flow: clues are introduced at a measured pace, allowing readers to become active participants in solving the mystery alongside the protagonist.
Best practices for maintaining narrative pacing throughout your story
Even if you haven’t read any of the examples above, you’ve engaged with literature at some point in your writing journey, so you do have an intrinsic feel for how narrative pacing works. As you begin to strategically ramp up tension in your story, though, these best practices will help keep you on track.
1. Understand your story's natural rhythm
Each story has its own unique tempo. Recognising this rhythm helps you determine when to accelerate or slow down the narrative. Pay attention to character arcs and plot developments; these elements dictate the appropriate pacing.
2. Vary sentence length and structure
Sentence length affects how readers digest information. Short, punchy sentences can create urgency, while longer, more complex sentences allow for deeper reflection. Mix both styles to maintain an engaging flow.
3. Use chapter breaks strategically
Chapters serve as natural pauses in your narrative. Ending chapters on cliffhangers or pivotal moments means readers are really motivated to turn the page. Consider where each chapter ends to maximise suspense, and make sure the next section picks up with heightened tension.
4. Trust your readers' intelligence
I can’t emphasise this enough. Emerging authors are often concerned that they’re not being clear enough in their prose and seek to avoid any ambiguity by over-explaining plot points or character motivations, but this is the quickest way to derail both reader experience and the build-up of tension. Allow readers to make connections on their own. This not only respects their intelligence but also fosters engagement — and an engaged reader is much more likely to keep reading.
5. Edit, edit, edit
Editing is crucial for pacing. In fact, while it’s never too early to consider your narrative’s overall pace and begin incorporating a ramping-up strategy, I’d argue that you can’t finesse this strategy until you have a complete MS in front of you. Reread your draft with a focus on flow and tension. Look for sections that drag or feel rushed, adjusting as needed to ensure a balanced narrative pace.
Creating stories that hook — and hold — attention
The art of storytelling isn’t just about reaching the finish line—it’s about creating an experience that echoes in readers’ minds long after they’ve closed the book. The techniques we’ve explored for building and maintaining tension are more than just tools in a writer’s toolkit. They’re the building blocks of stories that matter, stories that stay with readers and become part of their own narrative landscape. When we master these elements, we create something greater than the sum of its parts.
As you develop your own writing practice, remember that each story we write is an opportunity to grow and experiment. So take these tools, make them your own… and dare to tell the stories that only you can tell.
What novel has kept you glued to the page from the first word? Let me know in the comments!
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