I work with lots of writers and often find they practice the delicate art of False Tension.
They do it wonderfully, and I wish they’d stop because it makes their writing suck.
Ever read a story or novel, finished some section or chapter or scene, and thought Meh?
This post deals with one of two reasons readers Meh. Meh deals with False Tension, Part 1, and happens when the writer wanted the passage to be exciting but didn’t know how to excite. It could be they didn’t know how to show excitement, were afraid of the material, were themselves uninterested in the material, were unfamiliar with their subject matter, take your pick, I’ll make it simple, they screwed up.
Solutions are simple enough:
- Don’t know how to show excitement – write about what excites you and write it immediately, no hesitation, no self-editing, vomit on the page or screen, get it out. You’ll never excite someone with material you don’t find exciting, and your excitement will be contagious. It’ll infect others.
- Afraid of the material – determine what about the material frightens you and write about that. Being afraid of something causes tension. Write about what you’re afraid of and again, write it immediately, no hesitation, no self-editing, vomit, blah. Fear is exciting.
- Uninterested in the material – find something else to write about, or find something interesting in what’s going on around the material. This is why TV shows and series introduce sexual subplots, betrayals, et cetera when they’ve exhausted their story lines. The story itself isn’t interesting, but all the crap around it is. Yep, the doctors will still doct, but they’ll sleep around before and after doing it.
- Unfamiliar with their subject matter – take time to learn more about your subject. There will always be some bit of minutiae about some subject which will fascinate you. Make that the centerpoint of your story.
Thus the solution to Meh, Part 1 is to
- write about what excites you
- write your fears
- write about what interests you
- write about what you’re learning
And enjoy!
Toing and Froing
Labyrinth
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me, schedule a critique of your work, or buy me a coffee.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.
Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money. My latest is my fiction anthology Tales Told ‘Round Celestial Campfires Volume 2
FWIW, I hold a Creators RoundTable the last Thursday of every month from 7:30-8:30pmET. Watch past RoundTables. Register to participate.
Wilderness House Literary Review EIC Steve Glines and I (Senior Fiction Editor) hold monthly open chats with authors interested in a) writing for us, b) improving their craft in general, and/or c) increasing their chances of being accepted by other markets.
Meetings are held via Zoom on the last Friday of each month from 9-10amET.
So, want to know how to write for us? Want to know what gets our attention? Want to know how to write better for whatever market you’re interested in? Join us for our next “Meet the Editors” Zoom session. Seats limited! Sign up and talk with us. We’re relatively easy going and fun to be with.
Last item, finding these experiments useful? Strengthen my ego and link/friend/follow me.
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