Creating Conflict and Tension in MG & YA: Elana K Arnold

 

Elana K. Arnold writes books for and about children and teens. She earned her master's degree in Creative Writing from UC Davis and lives in Huntington Beach, CA, with her family and a menagerie of animals. 

Here we'll be talking about: conflict, tension, stakes, and suspense. 

Suspense is one thing that can create tension, but it's not the only thing. 

To create conflict it's important to know this question:  What does the character want, and why can't they have the thing they want? 

A good question to ask in mg and ya to tap into the internal conflict is: What is my character's wound?

Elana encourages us to get comfortable about being uncomfortable with our work. It's such a good measurement for if a scene needs work. 

Are your scenes flat? Scenes become flat if:

• the character has no clear goal
• everyone says exactly what they mean
• the outcome is predictable
• nothing changes if the character fails
• the conflict repeats without escalating 

Where does tension come from? 

• When your character has competing desire(s)
• When the character is missing necessary information
• When things go from bad to worse (escalation) 
• When the character has limited options

A great second question to ask: What else do they want that making perusing that first desire difficult? 

A key is to avoid casual connections between scenes (and then...), instead make sure they are causal (because, therefore, but...).