Close-Read Tension

A bad haircut. A cricket pushes a button. A bake sale gone bad. An enterprise consisting of boing. A farmer has a lizard problem. We recycled our housekeys on accident. Research indicates gibberish raises blood pressure. The mayor claims to have made water flow uphill. A flea infestation leads to hangings. A bad instinct. None of the dolls wear pants. The dolls wear shirts and boots but not pants. Her pirate rides a pteradactyl to the fire station. Her pirate. The pirate wench conceals a flintlock pistol behind her back.

Something for later. An unknown at death. A will. A snack to preempt hunger. An extra $20 from the ATM. Something for later.

Tension. We understand 1st drafts (garbage). We understand revision. The question now becomes How do we create and effect tension among characters and reader? The nuances have yet been lost on me. Certainly tension works differently in every story. What is the tension-organ? Nerves?

[Not that one, this one.] With tension the comfortable are disturbed. (With truth the disturbed are comforted.) I have never murdered a characer. I have never characterized a murder. I don’t think especially about killing. To kill would change a story, its dynamics. Imagine the effect of killing a character, of murdering a character mid-story. That would create tension. [Tension with a subtle-B.]

If I know where I’m going when I set out, then I’m not lost; I’m on vacation.

A tunnel in the sand. An overwhelming selection of pens. Discarded helmets. Why are there golf clubs in the storage freezer? Night of the toads. A police cruiser, an ambulance, and a fire truck at a suburban house at the climax of rush-hour, a case of domestic violence, spousal abuse, jealousy, all of it seen through the front window and reported by many dozens of motorists.