Tension

[Amoronaut]

All good stories have sexual tension. I've read stories where just the sexual tension itself can get me more aroused than the sex.

What sorts of literary devices do you use to build tension between characters?

I like to write strong female characters who aren't afraid to show off their sexuality, and resist the approaches of men. The male craves the female, and she dangles her sexuality in front of them as a tool for control.

I also like to use action to create tension. Two characters are strongly attracted to each other, but they can't satisfy their desires because they are in a life threatening situation, or have to wait until a conflict is resolved.

And of course teasing.

Any other ideas?

 

[Stella_Omega]

I like novels where the characters have one explosive scene at the beginning, and then spend the rest of the novel trying to get back together to do it again. Not that I can write that, but I do admire it!

 

[NekoParks]

I enjoy stories with sexy and witty dialogue...you can tell from the way the two lovers spark off of each other that the sex--when it happens-- will be inventive and erotic...

 

[slyc_willie]

I like novels where the characters have one explosive scene at the beginning, and then spend the rest of the novel trying to get back together to do it again. Not that I can write that, but I do admire it!

One of my contest stories was like that. A sort of abbreviated sex scene at the beginning, and then you have to wait until nearly the end before there's another. But all the while, the hero is teased by a naked woman chained to a tree . . .

 

[JackLuis]

Tension comes at many levels, I think the tension of just over coming societal norms can be interesting, and it isn't necessary that it be a ticking bomb, or rising storm waters.

The romance I'm currently writing is based on two fairly normal people interacting within the bounds of propriety, at least until the climatic finish which will be climatic on several levels. (I hope!)

While there are markets/readers for the ticking bomb/Heroic stories there are markets/readers for less frantic fare too.

The trick is to involve the reader in the tension.

 

[KlaytonFrost]

Am I right in remembering that someone said something about tension being when the reader knows there's a bomb under the table but the characters in the scene don't?

I think letting the reader know that *something* is going to happen early on, and then drawing it out and and out, waiting and waiting and teasing... hinting that it might not happen... hinting that it will, but not yet, not yet, not yet...

I think that's going to create some tension, surely?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Tension is simply the energy level of something. Extinct volcanoes have low tension. A new battery has high tension. Ice has low tension. Steam has high tension. Erections have high tension.

Don't confuse energy state with force, the application of energy.

 

[sunandshadow]

I like the kind where the main/viewpoint character has a secret that they are concealing from the love interest because of fear that the love interest will reject them when they find out. Since the secret has to come out eventually, and the more the character invests in the developing relationship the higher the stakes are, that raises the suspense. This goes well with the plot structure like Stella mentions: where they have sex at the beginning, and unexpected intense fires of passion spring into existence, so they're kind of scrambling to figure out if they actually trust and like each other; whether they should be hurrying to build a firepit around this flame to protect it from guttering out, while adding more fuel to it, or whether they should run the other direction before it burns them.

 

[sunandshadow]

Am I right in remembering that someone said something about tension being when the reader knows there's a bomb under the table but the characters in the scene don't?

That is one kind of dramatic tension - the dramatic irony kind. Dramatic irony is the term for any situation where the reader knows something the character's don't.

 

[sweetfanny]

Tension between characters comes through conflict. (Not necessarily fighting, but opposing goals, hang ups, etc.) Eg. She wants him, but to trust him she needs to dominate him. He wants her, but his pride won't let him submit to her. They want the same thing (each other) but they each want it on their own terms, ergo: conflict.

Tension for the reader builds on identification with and investment in the characters. When the reader desires a certain outcome (the hook up), the tension builds as that desire is frustrated and thwarted before finally being satisfied.