Have Tension, Will Travel
Apr. 4th, 2011 07:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scribblemyname"Remember how I mentioned that every story must have tension and then release it?" — Story Notes for the Unexpergated Baby Shoes Story, Camille Leguire
This is a quote from an article detailing a phenomena that has bugged me for years. I refuse to accept or believe that the sole possible driver and factor in any piece of prose that transforms it into a story is conflict. Vignettes can feel like stories. Many drabbles don't have conflict. Some of my favorite characters in my favorite stories aren't necessarily in conflict. And have you read any of those heartwarming Christmas story collections? It's not about the conflict, baby.
Ursula LeGuin noted this in her wonderful book on writing craft (and my favorite), Steering the Craft. Characters grow and change, etc. They're not always in conflict with themselves or anything else. Then other writers say, "Every scene has to have conflict." Pardon me while I retch.
(I don't usually talk about this. They kick you out of the hallowed writing circle if you do.)
But this is the first time somebody has really quantified it in a way that made sense to me. There has to be tension.
That makes sense to me.
Wikipedia defines this as "the feeling of uncertainty and interest about the outcome of certain actions an audience perceives." In short, the reader wants to know more or what happens next.
And that's the reason why, perhaps, this drabble, "City of Glass," feels complete to me even though there isn't any conflict:
So much for not bothering you all with my analyses!
This is a quote from an article detailing a phenomena that has bugged me for years. I refuse to accept or believe that the sole possible driver and factor in any piece of prose that transforms it into a story is conflict. Vignettes can feel like stories. Many drabbles don't have conflict. Some of my favorite characters in my favorite stories aren't necessarily in conflict. And have you read any of those heartwarming Christmas story collections? It's not about the conflict, baby.
Ursula LeGuin noted this in her wonderful book on writing craft (and my favorite), Steering the Craft. Characters grow and change, etc. They're not always in conflict with themselves or anything else. Then other writers say, "Every scene has to have conflict." Pardon me while I retch.
(I don't usually talk about this. They kick you out of the hallowed writing circle if you do.)
But this is the first time somebody has really quantified it in a way that made sense to me. There has to be tension.
That makes sense to me.
Wikipedia defines this as "the feeling of uncertainty and interest about the outcome of certain actions an audience perceives." In short, the reader wants to know more or what happens next.
And that's the reason why, perhaps, this drabble, "City of Glass," feels complete to me even though there isn't any conflict:
Seara leans both arms on the starship railing and stares into the magnificent starscape and swirling nebula. She is dressed in her militancy garb, as the man behind her.
"What happens," she asks, "when the glass cracks?"
A pause. "It doesn't."
In her mind she knows this. The thick glass hull was designed to withstand the speed, pressure, and debris of space, to give the controller the most forewarning. Still she studies a tiny bubble in the thick glass hull.
She should call the nanobots to fix it.
She waits a while, staring at the cobwebby dust between the stars.
So much for not bothering you all with my analyses!
