on Writers Helping Writers:

“I read your pages,” said my critique partner. “And I think it’d really increase the tension if you tore the one page out of the book that your main character needs.”

It was a great suggestion. My main character was poring over hospital records, searching for a clue about her daughter’s disappearance. In my original draft, she discovered that the records for the day in question simply didn’t exist. But if that crucial page had been torn out instead, the stakes and tension would skyrocket.

I thought about it for a few days, and finally decided against making the change. Why?

Because adding tension for tension’s sake can backfire, creating a shallow narrative that doesn’t resonate with readers.