Whoa, That’s Tense. 3 Ways to Raise the Tension in Your Scenes

By Janice Hardy

Tension isn’t about what’s happening—it’s about what might happen next.

Great stories keep us on the edge of our seats, but they aren’t always packed with nonstop explosions or fight scenes. Sometimes, it’s a drip-drip-drip of water that plays on your nerves, a heavy silence before someone drops a secret that will change everything, or a glance that lingers too long and means so much. What makes us tense is the anticipation—that nagging sense that something bad could happen any second.

The movie Sanctum is a fantastic example of how to take advantage of tension. Set in a labyrinth of underwater caves where one wrong move means death, it layers danger, dread, and impossible choices until viewers are holding their breath right alongside the characters. Even though I’ve never been cave diving, I have dived wrecks with tight, confined spaces, and I know how quickly “this is fine” can shift into “this can kill me.” One wrong turn, one bad decision, and you’re in real trouble.

A 5-Minute Fix for a Blah Scene

By Janice Hardy

Sometimes the best fix isn’t changing what characters say—it’s changing where they say it.

Before I dive in, I did a guest post on Monday at Writers in the Storm, on "5 Paths to Plotting Your Novel".  Now, back to our regularly scheduled post…

This might be sacrilegious as a science fiction and fantasy writer, but I dislike writing description—especially settings. I’m more of a dialogue and action gal, and my first drafts (okay, sometimes second drafts as well), have a lot of “white room” scenes, where nothing about the setting is mentioned. This was a big problem in my early writing days, since SFF readers enjoy the world building and setting and all the things I had to slog through to write.

I got feedback such as:

• I can’t picture the setting
• Where is this happening? Could they interact more with the room?
• I feel unanchored, and there’s no sense of place

All of it was justified, and after a lot of reading, learning, and forcing myself to just do it, I found a way to enjoy writing setting descriptors.

How to Describe Your Setting Without Infodumping

By Janice Hardy

Bring your world to life without burying readers in the details.

Crafting a setting is about more than telling readers where your story takes place—it’s about inviting them to step inside your story world and making them feel like they belong. When your setting feels real, your characters also feel real, and readers are more likely to care about what happens to them. A well-drawn world can ground your narrative and create an immediate emotional connection.

It’s tempting to describe every brick, breeze, and blade of grass in a setting you love, but too much description all at once can drown your story (and reader) in information. Instead of pulling readers in, you risk making them feel like they’re slogging through a travel brochure.

The strongest settings come alive organically. They’re woven into the action, filtered through the character’s perspective, and delivered in easy-to-digest spoonfuls that keep the story moving while showing readers all they need to know about the world.

6 Ways Your Setting Can Create Conflict

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Setting can play a much bigger role in your story’s conflict that you might realize.

No matter what form it takes, conflict is at the core of every story. It’s part of what drives the plot, and it’s what makes readers eager to read on to see if the protagonist succeeds. Characters face problem after problem, and with each trouble found, they’re forced to make tough decisions about what to do next. It’s this constant flow of dealing with problems that keeps the story moving.

But conflict also exists in the world around the characters which has nothing to do with them personally—it’s just the inherent conflict of the world. The setting can be rife with problems that prevent your protagonist from solving their problems and even add to their internal conflicts.

Did You Choose the Best Words to Describe Your Setting?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Your reader doesn’t know what you’re picturing when you write a scene. Make sure they see what you see.

Setting is a vital component of a novel, but it's one of the more awkward things to write naturally. People don't stop and describe the landscape, so having characters who do can feel forced and knock a reader right out of the story.

It gets even more complicated when you think about how pretty much every scene needs its setting described so readers know where they are. But if you over describe, or use the wrong details, readers can get bored and start skimming, or get confused and stop reading.

In a critique, such descriptions often get feedback such as: "The setting didn't feel real to me" or "I never felt grounded in this world" or even "I just never connected to the character."

The Difference Between Setting and World Building

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Your novel’s world will change the look and feel of every setting in that world.

Where is your novel set? It’s a basic question every writer can answer, either with a simple location or a description. For example, it’s set in New York vs. it’s set in an alternative Atlanta where magic and technology battle in waves over which one has control.

But look closer at those answers. One is a location, the other is a world.

“New York” can exist in any novel set in a big city. It gives readers a general sense of where the story takes place and what it looks like, but there’s a huge difference between New York in 1763 and New York in 2023.

“Alternative Atlanta” gives you a world that suggests far more than a basic setting for a story. Magic and technology, battling for control, which naturally leads to imagining the kind of people who live here and the problems they might face. It even says what genre this is. (For the curious, this is the world of Kate Daniels in Ilona Andrews’ urban fantasy series) 

3 Ways to Connect Your World to Your Story

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Your story’s world can create unique problems for your protagonist.

Every story starts a different way—not in the “Once upon a time” aspect, but in how the idea first comes to you. Maybe it’s a line of dialogue, or a character, or a puzzle that needs to be solved. Something flashes through your brain and ignites a spark of imagination that you just have to explore further.

For my novel, The Shifter, the idea of a boy who could shift pain came first, and a world where that would be a problem. It quickly led to the creation of pain merchants who bought and sold pain, and how this boy thought going to them for help was a bad thing to do.

I had nothing beyond that. I had no plot, and no conflict. I didn’t even know this boy’s name.

But I did have a very cool world to play with, so I started brainstorming how a world that could buy and sell pain would operate. How did the mechanics of that work? Why did people even need to do it?

Eventually, I figured out the how and why, and then I found my story.

How the Setting Raises Tension in Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Your characters’ world provides opportunities to create mood and raise the tension in your scenes.

Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights is a perfect example of how a setting can influence the people in it.

The park is decorated with haunted houses and scary set pieces, and costumed staff (some with chainsaws) lurk in the shadows to jump out at guests. One group is startled and they scream, which makes everyone around them nervous, and just when people start to relax, another staff member leaps out. People who normally wouldn't be startled tend to shriek, because the setting already has them on edge.

This isn’t a happy coincidence. These staff members are trained to target guests who typically scare the easiest, so they look for younger people (particular teens and women) in groups, because they scream the loudest, and screams are contagious.

Keep Moving: Describe Your Setting on the Go

By Ann Harth, @Annharth 

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Finding the right balance between a fleshed-out setting and an under (or over) developed one can be tricky. Ann Harth shares a three-step plan for describing a setting that's just right.

Ann Harth writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. Strong, interesting female characters creep into many of her books, and many arrive with a sense of humor.

She taught writing for the Australian College of Journalism for eight years before taking the leap into freelance writing and structural editing work.

Ann is the Far North Queensland coordinator for The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She’s had a number of fiction and non-fiction children’s books published in Australia and the UK and over 130 short stories sold internationally.

When not tapping the keys, Ann stuffs a notebook into her pack and searches for remote places to camp, hike or explore.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | 

Take it away Ann...

Tips on Writing "The Boring Stuff" Readers Tend to Skip

By Jenna Harte

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: Readers skim when they read, especially if nothing is really going on in the story. Jenna Harte shares tips on keeping readers engaged in your novel.

Jenna Harte is a die-hard romantic writing about characters who are passionate about and committed to each other, and frequently getting into trouble. She is the author of the Valentine Mysteries, the first of which, Deadly Valentine, reached the quarter-finals in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award in 2013. She has a contemporary romance series, Southern Heat, and a cozy mystery series, Sophie Parker Coupon Mystery Series. 

Romance authors can join her free writing community for support, accountability and more at WritewithHarte. Jenna loves talking to anyone and everyone about romance fiction. You can join her free romance fiction reader community, SwoonworthyHEA to talk romance with other readers.

 

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | YouTube

Take it away Jenna...

3 Steps to Ground Readers in Your Story World

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Losing readers in the opening scene is a problem many novels face.

Opening scenes lead really stressful lives (metaphorically speaking). They have to hook readers, offer a compelling problem, introduce characters, show voice, and establish the world and setting by the end of the scene. No pressure, right?

I’ve been doing weekly critiques on this site since 2010, and the most common submission I get is the first page. So I’ve seen a lot of openings in a variety of genres and markets. And there’s one mistake I see writers make over and over.

Not grounding readers in the story world.

Grounded readers have the tools they need to embrace—and enjoy—the story.

Ungrounded readers feel lost and confused, and the longer that confusion lasts, the more likely it is they’ll stop reading the book. They’re too busy trying to make sense of what they’re reading to lose themselves in the story. Quite often, they can’t connect to the characters because they can’t get a bead on who they are and what they want.

How to Weave Setting Into a Deep Point-of-View

By Bonnie Randall

Part of The How They Do It Series 

JH: A sense of place can transport a reader to your story's world. Bonnie Randall shares tips on how deep point of view can enhance your novel's settings. 

The art of Deep Point-of-View projects everything within a scene through the unique lens of a character. Deep POV incorporates the goal / motivation / current conflict into this projection, but is also mindful of many other variables that make up the character, including:

• Gender
• Age
• Culture
• Ethnicity
• Geography
• Era/Generation
• Education / lack thereof
• Profession
• Beliefs
• World View
• Values
• History
• (And others).

3 Secrets to Writing Vivid Settings

By Laurence MacNaughton, @LMacNaughton

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Settings are an often overlooked aspect of a novel, yet they're opportunities to bring your story's world to life. Laurence MacNaughton returns to share three secrets for creating settings readers will get lost in. 

There are three elements that make up every story: people, problems, and places. To form a good story, those elements need to be in balance, because each one affects the others. That's why you need to put as much effort into the places in your story—your setting—as you do for your characters and your plot.

Here are the three best ways to make that effort pay off, so that your setting comes alive.

Leave a Message at the Tone: Setting the Right Tone for Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Tone is an important part of any story. The wrong tone can ruin the mood and steal the thunder away from the words.

There's a great moment in the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean where Captain Jack Sparrow is standing in the crow's nest as his ship pulls into port. It has a big adventure feel, the mighty pirate surveying his domain. Then, as the camera pulls away, you see his ship is sinking and it goes under just as he reaches the dock and steps off.

It's silly, it's comical, and it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the movie. We’re not taking ourselves too seriously, here.

Which is exactly right for a movie based on a ride at Disney World.

The scene is a bit over the top, but but it informs viewers right away to just go with it and enjoy the ride. It's all about fun, not a realistic look at pirates. You know what you're going to get after that, so anytime the movies gets a little silly you accept it.

Six Snarky Strategies to Turn Small Town BS Into Fiction Brilliance

By Bonnie Randall 

Part of the How They Do It Series 

JH: Write what you know is a staple of fiction. Bonnie Randall takes her monthly place at the podium today to share tips on what she knows about a small town--and how you can turn it into story gold.

*Caution: this article does not look fondly—ala’ John Cougar Mellencamp—at ‘small towns’*

Yesterday, a reader halfway through my debut novel, Divinity & The Python, messaged me to say she’d met someone from the small town where I used to live. “I know Bonnie Randall,” this person confided. “And what’s more, I know that book of hers is about real people.”

Now, if I force myself to be completely gracious (and that’s a stretch), then perhaps I can accept that non-writers sincerely cannot fathom an imagination that is capable of constructing entire worlds—including people—wholly drawn from the pixie dust we writers call Inspiration and Creativity.

Then again, being thoroughly ungracious, I took that comment and came up with these:

How Your Setting Can Affect Your Characters

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Your setting can help you craft better scenes. 

Setting is an often underused tool. We all create one, usually more than one, but we don't always take advantage of what the right setting can do for our novels--the setting is just "a place where the novel takes place," not something crafted to serve the story.

This is a missed opportunity, because setting can bring out subtleties in the story and deepen an entire scene. It can evoke both character and reader emotions.

Let's say you have scene where you want your protagonist to feel uncomfortable, because she's confronting a co-worker who just stabbed her in the back at work, and she dislikes both the co-worker and confrontation.

Where would you set it?

Getting ‘Lost’ In a Scene . . . The Right Way

By Victoria Landis, @victorialandis1

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Setting the scene is more than simply a line that says where a scene takes place. Today, Victoria Landis takes the podium to share some tips on how to give a sense of place to your scenes. 

Victoria Landis is a professional writer, editor, and artist. A 16-yr member, and former board member, of Mystery Writers of America, she Co-Chaired the SleuthFest Writers Conference from 2015-2018. She's taught at SleuthFest, the Authors Academy at Murder on the Beach, and the Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern. Her suspense novel, Blinke It Away, set on Oahu—where she lived for twelve years—was chosen as a Reviewer's Pick on BookRooster.com. Her newest novel, Jordan, is a thriller with a magical realism/paranormal element and a cautionary tale of human nature and how it hasn’t changed in thousands of years.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Take it away Victoria…

The Literary Tour Guide: How Much Do You Need to Describe Your Setting?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Description is a blessing and a curse. Setting the scene is vital to help readers immerse themselves in your story world, but too much of it can bore readers and encourage them to skim past it. But find the proper balance between words and word pictures, and readers feel as though they've stepped into the book and live in you world.

How much do you need to describe your setting?

The pat answer is, "enough to make it feel real without bogging the reader down in too many details," but that isn't very helpful. How do you know how much detail is too much? Where is that fine line between immersive and oppressive? And the really frustrating part, is that there is no clear cut right answer. What is "enough" for an epic fantasy is usually too much for women's fiction, and what a thriller needs is different from a middle grade contemporary.

Let's look at a few guidelines.

Settings: How Writers Can Leverage Traumatically Closed Systems

By Bonnie Randall 

Part of the How They Do It Series (Contributing Author)

Imperium Intra Imperio (Latin): A state within a state.

“Traumatically Closed”. When I teach Violent Threat Risk Assessment for the North American Centre For Threat Assessment & Trauma Response, participants and I spend a significant amount of time discussing and dissecting Traumatically Closed Systems[1].

What is a Traumatically Closed System?

Within a Traumatically Closed System, information is carefully guarded by all members—who will also display a high degree of suspicion of outsiders.

10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Setting

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Some writers craft meticulous settings and build an amazing worlds, while others use the minimal details to suggest a place. But no matter what kind of story you write, it takes place somewhere. Maybe it's a small room, a town, or even a galaxy. What's more, setting can be a backdrop or a character in the novel. It's versatile!

But what if you're not sure where to set your novel? Then here are a few questions you can ask to find the right setting for your story:

1. Where are your favorite places?

If you’ve always loved a particular location, that passion will spill over into your novel’s setting. A favorite city could be the perfect place for your characters to live. If there’s no specific place, something more general like the beach or the mountains could work as well.