Experimenting with Tension
How rising and falling tension helps make storytelling engaging.
Hey Story Crafters,
Whether you follow the three-act structure or experiment with others, part of what makes a story engaging is tension. And whether your preferred term is “conflict,” “decision-making,” or “drama,” the bottom line is that tension is what drives a story forward. It’s what pulls the reader into a story, and encourages them to read it from beginning to end.
Over the course of a story, there are high and low points of tension. Strategically managing the rise and fall of tension is what makes for engaging storytelling.
Let’s look at Shrek the movie as an example, which follows the three-act narrative structure. We’ll evaluate a few points in the movie for low and high points of tension.
Shrek probably isn’t the kind of character you’d expect for the main character or “hero” role in a fairy tale story. He’s got the grumpy, get-off-my-lawn type of personality, and at first blush, seems to be a loner by choice (later we learn that it was by circumstance, though Shrek seems to have convinced himself it was by choice). He lives alone in his swamp, just the way he likes it. Sometimes the townspeople come by with their torches and pitchforks and scheme about taking him out, but they’re easy enough to scare off. Shrek’s life has no fuss, no muss. No tension.
Then, a royal decree from Lord Farquaad changes everything. All fairy tale beings are rounded up and relocated away from society to a swamp. Shrek’s swamp. That decree throws a rock in the still waters that make up Shrek’s life, disrupting his peaceful, solitary existence. It’s a pain point that introduces tension—also known as the “inciting incident” in the three-act narrative structure. It proposes the question that viewers want to know the answer to: Will Shrek successfully get his swamp, and his solitary life, back?
From this point on, the tension rises and falls with each decision and action Shrek and other characters make. Let’s take a look at a few points in the movie for points of high and low tension.
In Duloc:
Interrupting the melee = high tension, because of how everyone reacts to Shrek. He’s immediately met with fear and disgust. He also gets a hit put out on him because of the challenge Farquaad makes—the knight who kills him gets to be Farquaad’s champion to rescue Fiona.
Fighting the Duloc knights in a melee = low tension. Entertaining, yes, but not necessarily rising tension with stakes attached. Shrek’s used to fighting and he clearly outclasses the knights, so this scene is well within his emotional comfort zone. On the other hand…
Post-melee, Farquaad’s deal = high tension, because there’s a moment where Shrek’s life is legitimately in danger by way of firing squad. Then Farquaad offers Shrek a deal he can’t refuse—retrieve Princess Fiona, and he gets his swamp and solitude back.
Retrieving Fiona:
Rescuing Fiona = full of rising and falling tension. The threat of Dragon appearing ratchets up the tension. We’re on the edge of our seats, wondering if Dragon will pop out and attack Shrek before he can reach Fiona, or if Donkey will get eaten. There are also quieter moments, like Shrek finding Fiona or Donkey sweet-talking Dragon, that lower tension. Of course, running from and escaping Dragon by successfully crossing a field of lava is definitely a moment of high tension!
Traveling with Fiona, Part 1 = high tension at first. Fiona isn’t happy about being rescued by someone who isn’t her “true love” (a.k.a., the person who can break her spell); she isn’t happy to be saved by an ogre. Shrek can tell she feels that way, and returns the hostility. When Fiona realizes it’ll take more than a day to return to Duloc—since she needs privacy to hide her secret—she makes an effort to be less hostile, like making Shrek and Donkey breakfast, lowering the tension.
Traveling with Fiona, Part 2 = low tension. It briefly ratchets up when Robin Hood and his Merry Men show up to “rescue” Fiona, but only because we don’t know that she can take care of herself. Like Shrek and Donkey, we’re concerned that Fiona will be taken away. But she quickly takes care of business. She and Shrek have a “moment,” the spark when they start falling in love. The tension lowers and levels out for the rest of the travel montage.
At the Windmill, Part 1 (nighttime) = rising and falling tension. Donkey discovers Fiona’s secret, that she transforms into an ogre at night (high tension). She explains the importance of the “true love’s first kiss,” and swears him to secrecy (low tension). Of course, the moment she calls herself a “hideous, monstrous beast” is when Shrek is right outside the door, working up the courage to confess to her (high tension).
At the Windmill, Part 2 (following morning) = high tension. Shrek brings Farquaad to pick up Fiona, ruining her chance to confess her feelings for him. He has reverted to his previous hostility because he feels betrayed by what he overheard Fiona say; he’s also hostile to Donkey, because he thinks Donkey sided with Fiona. The three go their separate ways, breaking the stretch of narrative high tension.
Separation montage = low tension. Shrek and Fiona have achieved their goals. Shrek has his swamp and solitude back, and Fiona is getting ready to marry Farquaad to receive her true love’s first kiss and break her spell. Even Donkey has achieved his goal, to not be locked up and relocated.
Donkey also sort of adopted Shrek’s goal as his own since he helped Shrek get to Duloc and retrieve Fiona, so he shows up at Shrek’s swamp for his share. This confrontation is a high tension moment that forces Shrek to confess to Donkey that he isn’t happy even though he achieved his goal, that he has feelings for Fiona…and to admit he considers Donkey a friend.
Climax = The climax is the ultimate moment of high tension. It’s the point of no return, where nothing will ever be the same again; the main character’s life is changed forever.
In Shrek, Shrek interrupts Fiona’s very public wedding to stop her from marrying Farquaad and confesses to her, despite knowing the disgust and ridicule he’ll get from the citizens of Duloc; despite not knowing for sure if she’ll return his feelings. But he takes that leap, and he gains the love of his life. He also ends up with a best friend.
In review:
Storytelling elements to increase tension:
Conflict (e.g., an argument, or a battle)
Drama (e.g., an emotional struggle the character is working through, either internally or by interacting with another character)
Decisions (e.g., weighing pros and cons of the options at hand) = actions that work towards character goals and motivation
Stakes
Storytelling elements to reduce tension:
Backstory
Setting
Character (e.g., reflection, establishing character through familiar or comfortable interactions with other characters)
Montages (e.g., training montage, traveling montage)
If you’re looking at the shift in tension between chapters, there might be a chapter that ends on an argument between two characters (like a cliffhanger). That argument can pick up again at the beginning of the next chapter (high tension), or the new chapter can open by setting the scene (low tension) where one of the characters reflects on the argument from the previous chapter (depending on the character’s personality, this could be a point of low or middle tension).
The same applies within chapters at the scene-level too. Depending on how you want the reader to feel at a specific point in the narrative, you can introduce moments of high and low tension at the scene-level or between chapters.
When you’re in the writing phase, follow your outline if you have one, your gut, or a bit of both, and experiment with tension. Don’t think too hard about whether the tension levels make sense just yet. That can wait until the revising stage, when you evaluate the kind of effect the story should have on the reader at specific points.
If you’re ready to start revising your story and you need another set of eyes to help you evaluate the tension levels throughout your story, consider hiring an editor like me!
I’m open to working with all fiction authors, though I specialize in fantasy, dark fantasy, science fiction, and horror. If the author-editor fit is good, we can book a block of time for your developmental edit in advance so we can get started as soon as you finish your manuscript. Please get in touch!
Until next time!
Best,
Leah
P.S. I decided to indulge my LEGO hobby recently and built this red fox! All it’s missing is a pair of glasses. And a cherry blossom background. 🌸
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