Stretching the Tension in Writing

To all of my fellow writers out there, how many times have you heard from writing instructors and the like, that you should stretch out the tension point in your writing. How many of you have heard that you can’t give the reader what they want right away. For example, a novice might write a sentence like so:


    The cow jumped over the moon and as it streaked back to earth, landed in the shoot of a meat processing plant.


Whereas an expert would stretch this sentence out more and make the reader wait for the “punch-line” at the end when the cow meets its fate. For example:


    The cow streaked into the air, looking left and right while wearing goggles for eye protection. The cow marveled at its surrounding while the earth grew smaller below its hooves. Birds casually flew through the air and doing a double take at the sight of a cow in their territory. It was such an odd sight that the flying creatures began to circle the cow as it flew through the air. The birds flew until they could fly no longer. The cow ascended further and further, up in and through the earth’s atmosphere until the bovine creature found itself looking down on the moon which was far underneath its rudders and nipples. Terror did not reach the cows eyes until it found itself falling like a rock back down to earth. As the cow neared the earth and what was directly underneath it, the cow began flapping its four legs frantically in an attempt to avoid its eventual fate. Alas, the cow’s desperate act at salvation were unrewarded. The cow plopped down into the shoot of a meat processing plant. Before the grinding blades took the creatures life, the cow had smiled at the thought that it had seem something no other cows could ever imagine.


As you can see, my example runs a little long but I think you get the idea: to build up the tension as much as possible before you give the reader their payoff for continuing to read. The age old adage that I have heard from many a published writer is that, if you show a gun on the dresser in act one, the gun should be fired by act three.
While I do like this rule and understand the meaning behind it, I also try not to overuse it. I guess its like they say: everything in moderation, including moderation. At the same time, while I do utilize this rule, I also feel as though this technique can be utterly frustrating, especially as the reader. Sometimes, with certain writers, it can get to the point where the writer describes every little detail from how the wind feels blowing against the grass to every piece of food on a table, its origins and down to how it was cooked, by who and even what that person was wearing with in depth detail down to the underwear. Okay, I admit that I am exaggerating a bit but you get the idea. The practice of delaying the gratitude in order to squeeze more tension out of a scene and keep a reader on the edge of their seat until they fall off can be overdone. It is possible to fill a scene with so much detail that it bogs down the paragraph or chapter. I feel as though this technique, if overused, can put off a reader and force them to put down your book which is the last thing any writer wants.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X review

After reading the ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’ many of you may think that I have converted to the nation of Islam, or become a ‘Black Muslim’ or have simply just become a black man that hates white people. Let me say now that that is far from the truth. I am a Christian, who still believes in Jesus Christ (who of course was a black man) and I am devout in my faith…, no book could change that except for the Bible.

Although, I must say that the autobiography of brother Malcolm has forever changed my point of view on not only America but on the world.

I will be the first afro-american to say that I honestly do love America. This is the land where I was born, where I grew up, this is all I know…, but at the same time I am fully well aware of the struggle that every child with dark complexioned skin is born with. It does not matter if you are black, brown, red, or yellow; if you are not white then the deck is stacked against you, especially if you reside within the United States of America; the land where the native american’s were destroyed, the land where Asian immigrants where exploited, the land where people with white skin were welcomed openly ‘Give us your sick, your tired, your poor…, blah, blah, blah…, this is the land where dreams come true.

But do not get me wrong; although I respect the brother Malcolm and wish I could have gotten a chance to sit down and meet this strong black man, I am not against white people or for black separatism. I am for the unity of the human race. The bible teaches that we are all brothers and sisters, regardless of race, creed, color or religious belief. So even though a person may be a different religion from myself, that does not mean that people who worship different religions do not have something that they can learn from one another. Just because a person is different from you on the outside, does not mean that you do not share common traits on the inside.

One of my major take-aways from this book was the sad fact that the brother Malcolm was so fully entrenched within the Nation of Islam to the point of being a puppet; after reading about this mans journey through life, from a small town in Michigan to the Big Apple then to prison and lastly rising to the heights of international sensation. There are major forces in this world that are both good and evil. We as human beings need to open our eyes and think critically before it is too late. 

By Andre Alan