on Fiction University:
Tension isn’t about what’s happening—it’s about what might happen next.
Great stories keep us on the edge of our seats, but they aren’t always packed with nonstop explosions or fight scenes. Sometimes, it’s a drip-drip-drip of water that plays on your nerves, a heavy silence before someone drops a secret that will change everything, or a glance that lingers too long and means so much. What makes us tense is the anticipation—that nagging sense that something bad could happen any second.
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The movie Sanctum is a fantastic example of how to take advantage of tension. Set in a labyrinth of underwater caves where one wrong move means death, it layers danger, dread, and impossible choices until viewers are holding their breath right alongside the characters. Even though I’ve never been cave diving, I have dived wrecks with tight, confined spaces, and I know how quickly “this is fine” can shift into “this can kill me.” One wrong turn, one bad decision, and you’re in real trouble.
That’s the essence of tension—putting your characters in situations where any outcome could spell disaster.
Even if you’re not writing about life-or-death situations, making readers desperate to see what happens next is a skill that benefits every novel.
Let’s look at three ways Sanctum raises the tension and how you can use them in your own scenes:
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 