Have you ever been reading a book and things get so tense you just have to set it down for a bit a come back to it? Elizabeth Moon can be a master of this sort of writing. More than once when reading her, the tension built and built until I had to put it down, but then when I picked it up I realized I was just at the point that she would break the tension, either with bad things befalling the protagonists or them just escaping bad things. I heard someone talk one time about the difference between suspense and surprise and the value of the former. A jump scare is all good and well, but the foreshadowing of what may come has a bigger (longer) payoff in engaging the reader — or viewer. I was thinking about this recently while watching Hijack with with Idris Elba. That show is the essence of tension. Fortunately I was watching it alone because I don’t think I got through a single episode without pausing it to breathe. I love that they left an opening for a second season -though I agree with the person who asked if there was anyone who worked for Cheapside Firm voluntarily/for the money or were they all just being blackmailed by threats to their families in an ever widening circle.
Ramblings 
2 thoughts on “Creating tension”