Raising the Tension in Fiction Writing

Of all fields, magazine writing to journalism, fiction allows the writer to test out different strategies more often when telling stories. Often the writer will find the absolutes of non-fiction to be the opposite of the absolutes in fiction. Where a magazine article needs to be an economy of words, if a writer wrote fantasy he or she would need to expand on just about everything (meaning less of an economy). Non-fiction magazines will publish experimental pieces, but nowhere is it better to experiment than in fiction. The fiction writer can have troublesome narrators, kill of the subject of the novel on the first page, add things like ghosts and goblins to their stories, and the writer can use tools like symbolism and present tense in a short story or novel.

The narrators of a story are supposed to be reliable-that is the rule many follow. Why should the writer do this? Because an unreliable narrator allows for jumps in the story. This means the writer can do things differently. The insane narrator could provide the impetus for a story on insanity or depression. He or she could become more crazy as the story moves, and come to be like a character out of a Hunter Thompson novel. Entertainment is key here; often an unreliable narrator will be more of a joy to read than the one who walks a straight line in life.

The writer can kill of the subject of the entire story on the first page of a novel, and then use the rest of the story to explain why this happened. Perhaps the death scene was a jump in time, and the audience reads the rest of the novel in anticipation of this death. The character could rise up to a different place like heaven. He or she could even come back to life, like something out of a Stephen King novel.

Writers add goblins and ghosts to a story because it allows them to focus on a character who is either dead or not human. A world of possibilities open up. Can the ghost speak? Does the goblin kill? Is the ghost or goblin evil? Once the writer decides to use a ghost or goblin the story may be labeled as genre. But, even Henry James wrote about ghosts on occasion. And a man named J.R.R. Tolkien added goblin to one of the best fantasy stories of all time.

Lastly, present tense and symbolism can be used. Present tense merely takes practice. But symbolism takes a lot of thinking. Steinbeck used symbolism in "The Grapes of Wrath," which was one of the most important American novels ever. He would apply the real world to a turtle slowing inching its way across a road. Symbolism can grow old on a reader, so it should be used with care. Present tense is similar because, though many writers use present tense, many readers loathe it.

The writer should experiment with fiction. The doors will open if he or she focuses on each way to experiment. Consider these tools to just be the beginning as there are countless ways to experiment with characters and story. h