theroughcopy:

Tension. It’s important to a story, right? How’s it done? Anna Jacobs of AutoCrit.com wrote an article about it for you, and here’s what you need to know:

1. Don’t shove information in the reader’s face; in fact, it’s best to not tell them anything they don’t need to for their comprehension right at that moment. Hey, I do believe we already had a post on this …

2. Surprise me: Characters shouldn’t be predictable, if you remember, that’s what makes them 3-dimensional (click the title for your link). If what your characters are doing always feels obvious, your readers might get bored. Life in general is full of twists and turns, things we’d never expect. If your world is realistic, shouldn’t it be a little unpredictable, too?

3. Let the readers know things the characters don’t. Not too much, or else your readers will feel like they’re always waiting for the characters to catch-up. But if you give them a taste of what’s to come, say, a trap set in place by your antagonist, they’ll be dying to know what happens … then you can surprise them.

4. Cliff-hangers. ‘Nuff said (which, come to think of it, probably hasn’t been said since the 90s)

5. Short, quick sentences. It keeps them reading. If there’s a scene that needs it, ramp up the tension by keeping it short. This works well for more action-oriented scenes.

Here’s the real article for your leisure.