This Is How Suspense and Tension Work Together to Improve the Story’s Impact

Suspense and tension are two of the most powerful tools in storytelling and can be utilised to bring together a story that is very impactful and provides the readers with an unforgettable experience.
Hello writers, welcome to this interesting blog where we talk about how suspense and tension can work together to improve the story’s impact.
We are going to understand what suspense even means and if it is similar to tension.
We are going to find out how they can be utilised in storytelling and understand the mechanics behind these two important elements of storytelling.
The best thing about these literary devices is that both tension and suspense can be used for every kind of story whether it is in all screenplay or even short stories.
So, let us start at the very basics and understand what suspense means as well as what is the definition of tension so that we can build something from there.
What Is Suspense in Storytelling?
Suspense is a literary device that is used to provide a sense of uncertainty to the readers. Suspense in storytelling takes place when the author withholds information from the reader.
This is done to create an essence of anticipation so that the reader has to wait for things to unfold and this is one of the best techniques out there to get the readers interested and keep them engaged and interested because they want to know what will happen next.
This can be used to create different kinds of emotions whether it is fear, excitement, curiosity or anything else you want to create within the minds of the readers.
Having suspense in the storyline ensures the best kind of reader-character connection where the reader is constantly invested in what happens to the character.
When you have the reader interested in the character then that becomes the most powerful hook to generate a successful storyline.
This can be achieved with questions or this can be achieved with conflict and it will generate a level of interest that will make the reader motivated to wish well upon a character when they are in peril.
What Is Tension in Storytelling?
Tension in storytelling is also a literary tool that indicates some kind of strain, conflict or uneasiness that is just around the corner.
Tension is much more immediate and it is one of the best techniques to nurture an emotional response from the readers as they feel very much connected with the characters.
The key thing to understand about tension is that you need to layer it properly within the narrative arc of the story so that you can create a good and well-organised conflict between characters.
This can be in the form of a physical or psychological situation that has the potential to change the state of the character’s well-being.
In order to establish a good sense of tension, you need to also establish uncertain conditions with the essence of danger or emotional confrontation. This immediate threat should be of high stakes and can be revealed through high-paced action.
However, you can use a little bit of foreshadowing to create a good foundation for the tension to rest on but you must make sure you are not giving off too much.
There are generally two types of tensions used in storytelling:
Physical
The most common and sometimes the simplest form of inducing tension into the storyline is with the help of physical tension.
This can be any kind of physical danger that presents a risk to the physical well-being of the character.
This can be introduced during a fight or a chase or even some kind of natural disaster or plot that aims to bring physical harm to the character.
Mental/Emotional
The second technique of inducing tension can be a little bit tricky because we are not showing any kind of physical tension here and there is no physical danger.
This is completely emotional tension that comes from psychological conflict such as a difficult decision-making or something to do with the strain in relationships or even a situation that might lead to physical danger later on.
A tension in the storyline can be established by a combination of these two types of tensions and it can be a combination of physical and mental tension.
This Is How Both of Them Can Be Effective at Improving the Story
Suspense Starts and Tension Delivers
The important thing to understand about the relationship between suspense and tension when it comes to good storytelling is that suspense begins and tension delivers.
This means that you can have them work independently and that is very much possible but they will not be as powerful and potent of a hook.
If you want to have the best kind of effect when it comes to storytelling then you should use them together where suspense is going to build anticipation and create a situation so that the tension can deliver results.
Suspense is not immediate because it is going to create an environment that will support the feeling of uncertainty however that overpowering emotional engagement will not be there with suspense.
If you already have established a powerful suspense then you can move on to the tension which is going to bring on that powerful emotional engagement and it will only be possible after suspense builds up over time and reaches to a point where tension is the only solution that can take things to the new level.
Suspense Creates the Foundation for Tension
There are examples where tension is being used directly without the utilisation of suspense but that is difficult to do and not very effective.
What usually happens is that tension will only be triggered after suspense has worked its magic and kept the audience hooked as the situation intensifies and there is a deficiency of information.
They can act differently but when they act together the suspense break usually starts and continues and this leads to something even more intense in the form of tension.
This happens at a point when tension intensifies the situation and can lead to a physical confrontation or a deep level of psychological concentration and this is only built up on top of multiple layers of suspense.
For example, if we look at the situations in which Sherlock Holmes operates, he can very well operate on a sunny day and he can still encounter tension in that situation.
However, if that’s situation is a cloudy day or it rainy dark and cold there and the room is not very well lit then this situation is going to help in the creation of tension much more easily.
Stakes Start with Suspense and End in Tension
The true gravity of a situation can be measured by how much is on the line because if we take the example of what usually happens in tension then we can find that the life of the character is on the line.
The utilisation of tension in a story usually indicates that there is something seriously impactful that is going to happen to the character. This can be in the form of physical harm or mental harm.
This is a situation where a lot can depend on it and it can totally drive the story forward and even lead to the climax.
Tension builds layer by layer as things become even more difficult and this must not be confused with the climax because the climax is when everything comes to the forefront.
The suspense is an overall tensing up of a situation where we find little bits and pieces of concentrated suspense in the form of tension.
This means that for tension to work, you are going to need a very well-formulated suspense that is going to carry the weight of tension.
The thing with tension is that it is comparatively short term but it is also very high intensity.
Climax Begins with Suspense and Tension Leads to Build-Up
One of the comparisons experts like to make with suspense and tension is that suspense is like the climate and tension is the weather.
This makes sense in a way because suspense is the entire atmosphere that leads to the climax and suspense keeps on increasing in intensity and leads to a situation where the story is finally concluded and things are done.
This increase in the strength of suspense is simply due to the build-up of tension which means that tension actually accelerates the building up of suspense.
Suspense and tension should not be compared to each other just because they are never going to work against each other but assist each other in ultimately moving towards a situation of climax.
That is why both of them complement each other and have different functions to play where you can think of the suspense as the general mode of the entire story.
In a situation like that the tension is the catalyst that keeps the suspense rising and helps it reach a certain level where things need to be done and resolutions need to be found.
Suspense Delays Resolution, Tension Delivers Payoffs
Suspense does not happen fast and you cannot expect suspense to act like tension because suspense is all about anticipation and prolonging the readers’ attention.
Suspense is there to help keep the readers on their toes for a long period of time and that is why you can definitely say that suspense is not here to provide solutions.
If you are looking for resolutions then you need to look towards tension because tension is a high-intensity emotional release that helps complete and reveal or even break the situation of suspense.
That is why the duration of tension is short compared to suspense and tension is simply there to make sure this situation that has been holding the readers’ attention for this long period of time is finally going to end.
This is also the reason why tension is sometimes called mini-climaxes because it does exactly that of a climax but on a smaller and more intense scale that can be repeated multiple times which is not possible with a climax.
We hope this blog has been helpful for you to understand what is tension and what is suspense and how they can work together to create situations to improve the storyline.
You can use suspense and tension for any kind of story but it is going to be quite effective in a few specific genres like horror, crime, detective stories, spy stories etc.
Both are equally important if you want to create a situation where the story will look complete, probable and realistic.
If you are an author then you probably understand this better than anyone else of how to use suspense and tension in your craft.
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