What is tension? With regard to reading, tension is the single-
most effective way to keep a reader turning pages. But it's also
one of the hardest things for a writer to pull off. Focus on
micro-tension. If you can keep the reader engaged from moment to
moment then, eventually, they will reach the end of the book.
Those moments add up. For example, (since me and the fam just
recently re-watched one of our fave movies of all-time, I'm
using it) in Jurassic Park's T-Rex scene. You know which one I'm
talking about. THE T-Rex scene. That scene is full of tense
moments. Individual moments that keep you on the edge of your
seat, but that also contribute to the story as a whole. In each
moment, the viewer wonders only about what will happen in that
moment. That is what makes it tense. When Lex is so scared she
can't even get the flashlight turned off and it keeps blasting
light on the T-Rex and drawing its attention, are you at all
worried, in that moment, about Dennis Nedry's plan to steal the
embryos? I should hop