Episode 53: Giving Your Story Tension

Notes

Names are important and in this episode the Verbivore mispronounces Renee Ahdieh’s last name. Here is some guidance from her website as to how it should be pronounced:

Q. How do you pronounce your name? - It’s definitely a tricky one—a flat “a” (like in “apple”) + dee + eh. Just put some Middle Eastern oomph behind it, and you’ve got it.

If you totally tuned out to that, I pronounce my name in the first few seconds of THIS video.

We used many different resources to prepare for this episode including our own experience. Here are a few resources we found useful:

Ted ED - How to make your writing suspenseful - Victoria Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk

Masterclass - 7 Ways to Build Tension in Your Story

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-build-tension-in-your-story

Masterclass - 10 Tips for Writing a Page-Turner

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-page-turner#10-tips-for-writing-a-pageturner

Writer’s Digest - How to Write a Page Turner: 5 Steps For Writers https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-write-a-page-turner-5-steps-for-writers

Now Novel - How to Create Tension in Writing: 8 Methods

https://www.nownovel.com/blog/how-to-create-tension-in-writing/

The Verbivore quoted H.P Lovecraft towards the end of the episode, which is also referenced in the Ted Ed video How to make your writing suspenseful by Victoria Smith. Here is the full quote:

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." – H.P Lovecraft

Books Mentioned

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Light from Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)